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Cash transfers, conditions, school enrollment, and child work : evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Schady, Norbert
  • Araujo, Maria Caridad

Abstract

The impact of cash transfer programs on the accumulation of human capital is a topic of great policy importance. An attendant question is whether program effects are larger when transfers are"conditioned"on certain behaviors, such as a requirement that households enroll their children in school. This paper uses a randomized study design to analyze the impact of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), a cash transfer program, on enrollment and child work among poor children in Ecuador. There are two main results. First, the BDH program had a large, positive impact on school enrollment, about 10 percentage points, and a large, negative impact on child work, about 17 percentage points. Second, the fact that some households believed that there was a school enrollment requirement attached to the transfers, even though such a requirement was never enforced or monitored in Ecuador, helps explain the magnitude of program effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Schady, Norbert & Araujo, Maria Caridad, 2006. "Cash transfers, conditions, school enrollment, and child work : evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3930, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3930
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping; Primary Education; Land and Real Estate Development; Municipal Housing and Land; Real Estate Development;
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