There are two types of cash transfer programs:
We have written up results relevant to the impacts of both UCTs and CCTs. Because of our interest in a group which conducts UCTs, we are particularly interested in study results which are more directly relevant to UCTs.
Cash transfers are potentially attractive for individual donors because they allow the recipients of charity to choose how to spend funds allocated for them. Provided that local markets can supply it, if the recipients feel that they need food, they can use their cash to purchase it; if they need medical care, they can buy it. As we wrote in 2009:
Why do cash handouts seem to be so rare in the charity world? Perhaps it’s because extensive experience and study have shown this approach to be inferior to others. Or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that giving out cash fundamentally puts the people, rather than the charity, in control.
Below is a full list of the programs evaluated by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that we found.2 This list includes basic information about the program and key findings from the RCT that studied the program. In the following sections we provide more detail on the studies and their findings.
| Program | CCT or UCT? | Conditions | % of PCE3 | Key Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oportunidades (formerly PROGRESA) (1997-), Mexico4 | CCT | Health: checkups for all in household, lectures for 15+; Education: 80% attendance, complete middle school, compete grade 12 before 22.5 | 206 | 10-20% increase in food consumption (more); 6% increase in long-term consumption (more) |
| Programa de Asignacion Familiar (PRAF)(1998- ), Honduras7 | CCT | Health visits and 85% school enrollment8 | 99 | N/A (all outcomes measured were conditioned outcomes) |
| Red De Proteccion Social (RPS) (2000-), Nicaragua10 | CCT | Health: workshops, regular health care visits, up-to-date vaccinations, adequate weight gain; Education: enrollment, 85% attendance, grade promotion.11 | 2712 | ~15% increase in household expenditures; ~25% increase in food expenditures (more) |
| Atencion a Crisis (2005), Nicaragua13 | CCT | Education: enrollment, 85% attendance; occupational training course; business grant plan.14 | 1815 | ~30% higher food consumption; more use of health services; improved self-reported health but unimproved on anthropometric measures (more) |
| Bono de Desarrollo Humano (2003-), Equador16 | CCT but not monitored | No monitoring. Without being monitored: Health check-ups (0-5), Education: enrollment, 90% attendance.17 | 1018 | Mixed impact on school enrollment, child labor and cognitive development (more) |
| Programa Apoyo Alimentario, Mexico19 | CCT but not monitored | No monitored conditions20 | 11.521 | Slight improvements in weight for in-kind transfers (not for cash); slight decrease in self-reported sickness for both (more) |
| Zomba Cash Transfer Program, Malawi (2008-)22 | Both | Unconditional group and conditional group (80% or better school attendance)23 | 1524 | Improved school attendance & performance (more for conditional transfers); reduced psychological distress during but not after transfer period (more) |
A more detailed version of this table is available here (XLS); we also discuss each of these studies further below.
The high-quality evidence on cash transfers is generally encouraging, showing meaningful impacts on consumption. We review 7 programs below: studies of four programs report measures of food consumption and studies of another two programs report measures for general consumption; all reported consumption measures are substantial and significant. We have not found consistent impacts on health or education (we did not consider health or education effects in programs where payments were conditional on health or education decisions).
For all tables, statistical significance is reported as follows: no stars is not statistically significant, one star indicates p<.1, two stars indicates p<.05, three stars indicates p<.01. For all impacts, unless otherwise listed, the impact refers to the relative treatment effect, i.e., the difference in outcome measures between intervention and control groups.
We identified only one RCT of an unconditional cash transfer program (UCT): the Zomba cash transfer program. The treatment group was divided into two groups, one that received a CCT requiring school attendance, and another that received a UCT.
The study, discussed in four different papers to date, found the following impacts (sources in below table):
All results below are for the full group of participants, ages 13-22. The results are reported in proportions (except where noted) for the control group, and the results for the CCT and UCT participants are as compared to the control group results. So, for example, .047* (CCT), .039 (UCT), and .791 for control means that the control group results were 79.1%, the CCT results are 79.1%+4.7% and the UCT results are 79.1%+3.9%. In cases where outcomes were measured in standard deviation units, the interpretation of the impact does not depend on the control, which will generally be approximately 0 (i.e. the mean).
| Impact being evaluated | Control | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| School enrollment over six terms26 | 4.793 terms | 0.535*** (CCT) 0.231* (UCT) |
| School attendance (in all 3 terms in 2009)27 | 0.810 | .080** (CCT) .058 (UCT) |
| English test score (standard deviation units)28 | 0.140*** (CCT) -0.030 (UCT) |
|
| TIMMS math test score (standard deviation units)29 | 0.120* (CCT) 0.006 (UCT) |
|
| Non-TIMMS math test score (standard deviation units)30 | 0.086 (CCT) 0.063 (UCT) |
|
| Cognitive test score (standard deviation units)31 | 0.174*** (CCT) 0.136 (UCT) |
|
| Psychological distress during transfer period32 | 0.374 | -0.063** (CCT) -0.143*** (UCT) |
| Psychological distress after transfer period33 | 0.308 | -0.039 (CCT) -0.038 (UCT) |
| Ever married (CCT only discussed in paper) 34 | .277 (dropouts at baseline); .047 (schoolgirls at baseline)35 | -.113*** (dropouts at baseline); .001 (schoolgirls at baseline) |
| Ever pregnant (CCT only discussed in paper) 36 | .162 (dropouts at baseline37); .070 (schoolgirls at baseline) | -.051**(dropouts at baseline); -.001 (schoolgirls at baseline) |
| HIV prevalence38 | .03 (baseline schoolgirls) .08 (baseline dropouts) | -0.18 (combined CCT and UCT, baseline schoolgirls)39 +.02 (baseline dropouts)40 |
| Herpes simplex 2 prevalence41 | .03 (baseline schoolgirls) | -.023 (combined CCT and UCT, baseline schoolgirls)42 |
There are two examples of RCTs for CCTs without monitoring. In other words, though the program was originally intended to be a normal, monitored CCT, the participants received cash whether or not they met the “required” conditions. Unmonitored CCTs may allow for a better comparison to UCTs than do the normal CCTs.
Note that results from these studies pertaining to the effect of transfers on consumption are discussed below.
Bono de Desarrollo Humano
Although the program did not impose any explicit conditions,43 many participants believed that they needed to meet conditions to obtain funds.44
The program was studied via two methods: a sample of households with poverty scores around the first quintile were studied with a randomized controlled trial, and a regression discontinuity analysis was conducted at the program's cutoff point (the second quintile of the poverty index).45
Summary of impacts:
| Impact being evaluated | Ages | Baseline | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| School Enrollment46 | 6-1547 | 75% (poorest quintile), 85% (2nd quintile)48 | 10.3%** (1st quintile), no effect (2nd quintile).49 |
| 8 measures of health (including cognitive health)50 | 3-7 51 | N/A | The effects for fine motor control and long term memory are positive and statistically significant (p<.05); the others are positive and statistically insignificant (p>.05).52 |
| Height for age Z score53 | 0-1 | -1.0754 | -0.0355 |
| 2-3 | -1.1256 | -0.0657 | |
| 4-5 | -1.2358 | 0.0859 | |
| Growth control last 6 months60 | 3 to 7 | N/A | 2.7%61 |
| Economic activity in the last 7 days62 | 11-16 | 0.71463 | -0.080** (ITT)64 -0.245** (LATE)65 |
| Unpaid household services in the last 7 days66 | 11-16 | 0.786 67 | 0.008 (ITT)68 0.024 (LATE)69 |
| Any work in the last 7 days70 | 11-16 | 0.96571 | -0.026**(ITT)72 -0.080* (LATE)73 |
| Hours of economic activity in the last 7 days74 | 11-16 | 17.26475 | -1.672* (ITT)76 -5.110* (LATE)77 |
| Hours of unpaid household services in the last 7 days78 | 11-16 | 7.38279 | 0.381 (ITT)80 1.166 (LATE)81 |
| Total hours of work in the last 7 days82 | 11-16 | 24.64783 | -1.291 (ITT)84 -3.945 (LATE)85 |
| Monthly earnings from paid employment (dollars)86 | 11-16 | 16.93387 | -0.597 (ITT)88 -1.829 (LATE)89 |
| School Enrollment90 | 11-16 | 0.49191 | 0.062** (ITT)92 0.190** (LATE)93 |
| Share of expenditures spent on food94 | N/A | .52595 | .037**96 |
Programa Apoyo Alimentario
Programa Apoyo Alimentario compared a group that received cash transfers to a control group. The study also compared two groups that received in-kind transfers of food; results from those groups are not presented here.97 The participants’ fulfillment of conditions was not monitored.98 All impacts in the table represent ordinary least squares differences-in-differences, though units vary.99
The only statistically significant impact from the cash transfers on non-consumption measures was on the frequency of self-reported sickness, which was 9 percentage points less common for the treatment group. Slightly positive impacts were noted on height, anemia and weight as well.
| Impact being evaluated100 | Baseline | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 18% under-height101 | .13cm102 |
| Weight | 9% under-weight103 | .10kg104 |
| Sickness | 36% sick in last 4 weeks105 | -9%*106 |
| Anemia | 18%107 | -3%108 |
CCTs often measure a range of impacts, from enrollment in schools to information on nutritional intake, some of which are not conditional.109
Atencion a Crisis conditioned only on education but also found impacts for health, which are presented here, and consumption, which are presented below.
For Atencion a Crisis, statistically significant impacts were found on: consulting a doctor if sick, weight in last 6 months, and receiving vitamin A and deworming drugs in the last 6 months. The impact sizes range from 5-8.6%.
Atencion a Crisis:
| Impact being evaluated | Ages | Baseline/ Control | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Height-for-age Z score110 | 0-1111 | -0.76 | -0.140 |
| 2-3112 | -1.41 | -0.120 | |
| 4-5113 | -1.56 | -0.030 | |
| Birth weight in kg114 | 0-6115 | 2.987 | 0.161 |
| Weight-for-age z-score116 | 0-6 | -.958 | -.052 |
| Weight-for-height z-score117 | 0-6 | -0.070 | -.025 |
| Improved health status since last year118 | 0-6 | .510 | .102*** |
| Probability of being in bed for illness119 | 0-6 | .099 | -.035** |
| Number of days in bed for illness120 | 0-6 | .610 | -.330** |
| Consulted doctor if sick121 | 0-6 | .730 | .057** |
| Weight in last 6 months122 | 0-6 | .705 | .063*** |
| Received vitamin A or iron in last 6 months123 | 0-6 | .734 | .086*** |
| Received deworming drugs in last 6 months124 | 0-6 | .566 | .066*** |
It appears that while food consumption and overall consumption is higher in the treatment groups across the board, the size of the impact varies. Because of the differences in how the consumption impacts are reported across the studies, it is not possible to make a statement of the average treatment effect per unit of cash transferred.
We have compiled the data on consumption that we found in the chart below.
| Program | Impact being evaluated | Baseline/ Control | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oportunidades (formerly PROGRESA) | Direct effect: average monthly food consumption per adult equivalent for eligible households in treatment villages (in pesos)125 | 159.96 (Nov 1998) 159.92 (May 1999) 153.7 (Nov 1999) |
15.49*** (Nov 1998) 24.42*** (May 1999) 29.86*** (Nov 1999) |
| Externality effect: average monthly food consumption per adult equivalent for ineligible households in treatment villages (in pesos)126 | 222.61 (Nov 1998) 213.68 (May 1999) 206.71 (Nov 1999) |
-5.20 (Nov 1998) 20.72** (May 1999) 18.84** (Nov 1999) |
|
| Long-term consumption for treatment households after 5.5 years of transfers, compared to control households which received 4 years of transfers(in pesos, per capita)127 | 193.7128 | 10.83*** | |
| Short-term consumption for treatment households after 18 months of transfers (in pesos, per capita)129 | Not provided | 17.6*** (October 1998) 16.03*** (May 1999) 14.6*** (Nov 1999) | |
| Red De Proteccion Social (RPS) | Annual household expenditures (in córdobas)130 | 20,725131 | 2,817**132 |
| Annual per capita expenditures on food (in córdobas)133 | 2,760134 | 640***135 | |
| Atencion a Crisis | Household level per capita food consumption (in natural log of córdobas)136 | 8.028 | .310*** |
| Household level per capita staple consumption (in natural log of córdobas)137 | 7.214 | .195*** | |
| Household level per capita animal protein consumption (in natural log of córdobas)138 | 5.488 | 1.071*** | |
| Household level per capita fruit and vegetable consumption (in ln(córdobas))139 | 4.580 | 1.005*** | |
| Programa Apoyo Alimentario | Monthly food consumption per capita (in pesos) | 316140 | 17- 20%***141 |
| Total monthly consumption per capita (in pesos) | 524142 | 14.9- 18.6%***143 | |
| Total food consumption per adult equivalent (in pesos) | 334.65144 | 34.72**145 | |
| Total consumption per adult equivalent (in pesos) | 545.31146 | 53.61*147 |
A study of long-term effects of Oportunidades presents data on several long-term measures, comparing the treatment group (which received transfers for 5.5 years, from 1998 to 2003) to a group which was initially a control group but started receiving transfers 18 months after the treatment group did (1999 to 2003).148
The study presents data on the following long-term outcomes:
Oportunidades:
| Impact Being Evaluated | Duration of transfers | Control | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural Income | 5.5 years for original treatment group and 4 years for original control group152 | 24.6 | 2.4** |
| Goods produced at home | 5.5 years for original treatment group and 4 years for original control group153 | 12.4 | 2.0* |
| Consumption | 5.5 years for original treatment group and 4 years for original control group154 | 193.7 | 10.8** |
The Cochrane review’s conclusion on CCTs specifically on health outcomes is:
Looking at non-health outcomes, we see mixed effects on school enrollment (ranging from little effect for some age groups for Opportunidades to an impact of 12.8% for all ages for RPS).156
A few low and middle income countries have social entitlement programs that take the form of unconditional cash transfers. South Africa, for instance, has an Old Age Pension program that provides substantial cash transfers (more than twice the median income per capita for African households) to retirees.157 Including both the Old Age Pension and other programs, social support in South Africa makes up more than two thirds of the income of the bottom income quintile.158 There is some non-experimental evidence that unconditional cash transfers in South Africa have improved the health status (weight and height for age) of children.159
We do not have information about the cost-effectiveness of cash transfers as compared to other interventions.
On a per-person basis, cash transfers are costly relative to the health interventions we recommend most strongly. For instance, GiveDirectly, a cash transfer charity, gives poor households $1,000 over two years. For the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF), purchasing and distributing a single long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net costs approximately $5.50. Therefore, for the cost of Give Directly's transfer, AMF could provide 181 bednets covering approximately 326 people with nets for a little over 2 years.160 We believe that each person receiving a cash transfer likely benefits much more than they would from a bed net, but we doubt that they benefit proportionally to the higher cost.
There are a few potential adverse effects of cash transfers:
The study reports the average prices of goods in villages where cash transfers are given compared to the price in control villages. The only price differences reported are for goods that are the same ones distributed by the program's in-kind arm (including goods such as flour, rice and beans)165 The price for these goods was 2.7% higher in villages receiving cash transfers than in control villages, after one year. The results were not statistically significant.166
The authors measure whether there is a correlation between the remoteness of the village and the price effects.167 They find a positive correlation between remoteness and higher price inflation in villages where cash transfers are given, but the effect is not statistically significant.168
One major question we have about the study is why the authors do not compare the prices of all goods (rather than just the prices for goods distributed by the in-kind arm), since they also measured the prices of many other goods.169
The two randomized controlled trials that report spending on alcohol do not seem to find large increases due to cash transfers.170
There has been one RCT comparing physical cash transfers with electronic transfers to a recipient's cell phone.172 The study found that transferring money to cell phones was cheaper than transferring physical cash to individuals, though the initial cost of the cell phones made the cell phone transfer more expensive than handing out cash. Had the study continued longer, the cheaper ongoing costs of the cell phone transfer mechanism would have made up for the higher initial costs.173 The study also finds that recipients of the cell phone transfer recipients had to walk less than 25% as far, on average, as those who received physical cash in order to “cash out” their transfers (0.9 vs. 4.04 km).174 The cell phone transfers also appear to have increased the diversity of crops grown and consumed by people who received them, relative to the “placebo” group that just received physical transfers and a cell phone.175 The study did not find any adverse effects of using cell phone transfers relative to handing out physical cash.
We relied on two major meta-reviews in our research on CCTs: a World Bank review176 and a Cochrane review.177 Of the meta-reviews that we found, we relied on these two because they included a high percentage of RCTs and they presented the data from the studies clearly.
See Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH) and Programa Apoyo Alimentario in the programs table below.
The only program with an RCT that we know about which we left out is a program which is gives cash to recipients for going to get the results of HIV tests. See Lagarde et al. 2009, Pg 17.
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 268.
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 19. Elsewhere, Fiszbein and Schady report figures for Oportunidades as high as 33% and notes, "The transfer amounts as a proportion of per capita expenditures (or consumption) are not the same across all tables in the report
because of differences in the surveys used, including their coverage and year." Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 110.
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 264
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 272.
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 270.
Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 258.
"Localities were randomly assigned into three treatment groups and one control group. Two of the treatment groups were assigned to receive food transfers with and without receiving a health and nutrition education package, and a third to a cash transfer of equal value to the food basket plus the education package...The PAL program offers nutrition and health education sessions (platicas), as well as participation in program-related logistic activities. However, given that attendance of the platicas is not a requirement for the receipt of the benefits, the PAL program is essentially an unconditional transfer program...The original food basket transferred consists of the following basic products: powdered fortified milk (8 packages of 240 gr. each), beans (2 kg), rice (2 kg), corn flour (3 kg), soup pasta (6 packages of 200 g), vegetable oil (1 lt.), cookies (1 kg), corn starch (100 g), chocolate drink in powder) (400 g), cereals (ready-to-eat) (200 g), and sardines (2 cans of 425 gr. each). The basket offers approximately 400 calories per day per capita for an average household of 4.2 equivalent adults.” Skoufias, Unar, and Gonzalez-Cossio 2008, Pgs 8-9.
Skoufias, Unar, and Gonzalez-Cossio 2008, Pg 15.
Baird, McIntosh, and Ozler 2011.
“Monthly school attendance for all girls in the CCT arm was checked and payment for the following month was withheld for any student whose attendance was below 80% of the number of days school was in session for the previous month.” Baird, McIntosh, and Ozler 2011, Pg 9.
“The average offer to the households consisted of $10/month – for a total of $100 for the school year transferred in equal amounts for 10 months. $10/month represents roughly 15% of total monthly household consumption in our sample households at baseline, which places this program in the middle-to-high end of the range of relative transfer sizes for conditional cash transfer programs elsewhere.” Baird et al. 2009, Pg 12.
Baird et al. 2009, Table 4, Pg 28.
"Dropouts at baseline" and "schoolgirls at baseline" refers to the participants who had dropout or in-school status when the baseline measurements were taken).
"Dropouts at baseline" and "schoolgirls at baseline" refers to the participants who had dropout or in-school status when the baseline measurements were taken)
Baird et al., "Effect of a cash transfer programme for schooling on prevalence of HIV and Herpes Simplex 2 in Malawi," Pg 6-7.
Note that p-values are not included in the paper
"The study was not powered to detect eff ects on HIV prevalence in baseline dropouts." Baird et al., "Effect of a cash transfer programme for schooling on prevalence of HIV and Herpes Simplex 2 in Malawi," Pg 6-7.
Baird et al., "Effect of a cash transfer programme for schooling on prevalence of HIV and Herpes Simplex 2 in Malawi," Pg 6.
P-values are not included in the paper.
"In this paper we evaluate the impact of a cash transfer to the poorest 40 percent families on school enrollment in Ecuador. While the program aims at increasing school attendance and visits to health care centers, the program does not impose any explicit requirement for children of treated families to attend school or visit health centers." Oosterbeek, Ponce and Schady 2008, Pg 1.
"While the formal rules of the program make it an unconditional program, this appears not to be the case in the perception of a substantial part of the potential beneficiaries. Before the actual implementation of the program there was a publicity campaign, which mentioned the need for households to enroll their children in school and take them to health care centers. Some surveys indicate that 1/3 of the beneficiaries state that they believe that the transfers are conditional, so that they will probably respond to the program as if it poses explicit requirements with regard to school enrollment and visits to health care centers." Oosterbeek, Ponce and Schady 2008, Pg 2.
"An interesting feature of the design of the program’s impact evaluation is that it consists of a randomized experiment and of a regression discontinuity design. In the experiment 1309 families around the first quintile of the poverty index were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. For the regression discontinuity design data were collected from 1221 families around the second quintile of the poverty index, which is the program’s threshold for eligibility." Oosterbeek, Ponce and Schady 2008, Pg 2.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is actually a regression-estimated counterfactual for the population that actually received the cash transfers. No actual control group means were reported. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “intention to treat” (ITT) estimate (merely comparing the people who won and lost the lottery). Because there was significant noncompliance with the lottery results, lottery winners were only 32.7 percentage points more likely to receive cash transfers than lottery losers. This should not bias the reported results for the impact of winning the lottery, but it makes them a lower bound estimate of the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer. Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
This is the “local average treatment effect” estimate, which assesses the effect of actually receiving a cash transfer for the portion of the experimental population that received the cash transfers as a result of the experiment (about 32.7% of the treatment group). Edmonds and Schady 2011, Table 2, Pg 31.
“Localities were randomly assigned into three treatment groups and one control group. Two of the treatment groups were assigned to receive food transfers with and without receiving a health and nutrition education package, and a third to a cash transfer of equal value to the food basket plus the education package.” Skoufias, Unar, and Gonzalez-Cossio 2008, Pg 8.
“The PAL program offers nutrition and health education sessions (platicas), as well as participation in program-related logistic activities. However, given that attendance of the platicas is not a requirement for the receipt of the benefits, the PAL program is essentially an unconditional transfer program... The original food basket transferred consists of the following basic products: powdered fortified milk (8 packages of 240 gr. each), beans (2 kg), rice (2 kg), corn flour (3 kg), soup pasta (6 packages of 200 g), vegetable oil (1 lt.), cookies (1 kg), corn starch (100 g), chocolate drink in powder) (400 g), cereals (ready-to-eat) (200 g), and sardines (2 cans of 425 gr. each). The basket offers approximately 400 calories per day per capita for an average household of 4.2 equivalent adults.” Skoufias, Unar, and Gonzalez-Cossio 2008, Pg 8-9.
“Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are programs that transfer cash, generally to poor households, on the condition that those households make prespecified investments in the human capital of their children. Health and nutrition conditions generally require periodic checkups, growth monitoring, and vaccinations for children less than 5 years of age; perinatal care for mothers and attendance by mothers at periodic health information talks. Education conditions usually include school enrollment, attendance on 80–85 percent of school days, and occasionally some measure of performance. Most CCT programs transfer the money to the mother of the household or to the student in some circumstances.” Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pg 1.
The table is not very clear, but elsewhere the authors seem to indicate that the table refers to ages 0-6. "Table 6 shows that overall food expenditures increased among treated households, and expenditures on nutrient-rich food such as animal proteins, fruit and vegetables increased more than proportionally. Treatment effects on indicators of food intake of individual children under the age of 7 show a similar pattern." Macours, Schady and Vakis 2008, Pg 17.
"We find that household per capita consumption in 2003 is 10.84 pesos higher for original treatment households, and this difference is statistically significant (first column in Table 5). This impact amounts to a 5.6 percent increase in consumption for treatment households, even 4 years after controls started receiving program benefits [and 5.5 years after treatment groups began receiving benefits]." Gertler, Martinez, Rubio-Codina 2012, Pg 16.
Gertler, Martinez, Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 5, Pg 16.
Gertler, Martinez, Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 8, Pg 19.
Maluccio and Flores 2005, Pg 27, Table 4.1.
Baseline for treatment group. Maluccio and Flores 2005, Pg 27, Table 4.1.
Difference in differences between 2000 and 2002 and treatment and control. Maluccio and Flores 2005, Table 4.1, Pg 27.
Maluccio and Flores 2005, Table 4.3, Pg 30.
Difference in differences between 2000 and 2002 and treatment and control. Maluccio and Flores 2005, Table 4.3, Pg 30.
Macours, Schady and Vakis 2008, Pg 39.
Macours, Schady and Vakis 2008, Pg 39.
"The identification in this paper relies on experimental variation in program treatment, generated through the Oportunidades randomized evaluation. The evaluation
sample includes all households in 506 rural communities in 7 states. Communities were randomly assigned to treatment (320 communities) and control (186 communities)
groups, which were phased into the program at different points in time as part of the program’s national scale-up. Eligible households in treatment communities. The study also compares the two groups in the short term, before the control group received transfers. began receiving benefits starting in March/April of 1998, while eligible households in control communities were incorporated in November/December of 1999." Gertler, Martinez, and Rubio-Codina 2012, Pg 5-6.
"...we estimate that an 18-month exposure to the program resulted in a 9.6 percent increase in agricultural income." Gertler, Martinez, and Rubio-Codina 2012, Pg 2.
Consumption data from Gertler, Martinez and Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 4, Pg 14.
Gertler, Martinez and Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 4, Pg 14.
Gertler, Martinez and Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 5, Pg 16.
Gertler, Martinez and Rubio-Codina 2012, Table 5, Pg 16.
"...the cash transfer was 150 pesos per month." Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Pg 13.
Skoufias, Unar, and Gonzalez-Cossio 2008, Pg 15.
About 89 percent of households in the in-kind and cash villages were eligible to receive transfers (and received them). Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Pg 12.
"The data for our analysis come from surveys of stores and households conducted in the experimental villages by the Mexican National Institute of Health both before and after the program was introduced. Baseline data were collected in the final quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2004, before villagers knew they would be receiving the program. Follow-up data were collected two years later in the final quarter of 2005, about one year after PAL transfers began in these villages. Our measure of post-program prices comes from a survey of local food stores. Enumerators collected prices for fixed quantities of 66 individual food items, from a maximum of three stores per village, though typically data were collected from one or two stores per village." Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Pg 14-15.
Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Table 1, Pg 33.
Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Table 2, Pg 35.
"Finally, we examine how these price effects differ depending on how geographically isolated the village is. First, isolated villages are typically less integrated with the world economy, so local supply and demand should matter more in the determination of prices (i.e., supply curves are steeper). Second, there is likely to be less competition on the supply side (i.e., among grocery shops) in these remote and typically smaller villages, which can make prices more responsive to transfers. For both of these reasons, the price effects of transfers may be more pronounced in remote villages, and we indeed see this pattern in the data. Since poorer villages are also typically more isolated (World Bank, 1994), these findings suggest that transfer programs targeting the ultra-poor may inherently have important
pecuniary effects."
Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Pg 3.
Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Table 6, Pg 38.
"Our final data set contains 6 basic PAL goods (corn flour, rice, beans, pasta, oil, fortified milk), 3 supplementary PAL goods (canned fish, packaged breakfast cereal, and lentils), and 51 non-PAL goods" Cunha, de Georgi, and Jayachandran 2011, Pg 15.
Note that both studies point out the unreliability of survey data about alcohol consumption.
“In practice, CCTs appear to have had, at most, modest disincentives for adult work. Two studies (Parker and Skoufias 2000; Skoufias and di Maro 2006) examine the effects of Oportunidades on adult labor supply; neither finds evidence of disincentive effects. The data used by Edmonds and Schady (2008) suggest that the BDH program in Ecuador had no effects on adult labor supply; in a similar vein, Filmer and Schady (2009c) report that adult labor supply was largely unaffected by the CESSP program in Cambodia. Only in Nicaragua is there some evidence of significant negative effects on adult work: Maluccio and Flores (2005) show that the RPS resulted in a significant reduction in hours worked by adult men in the preceding week (by about 6 hours), with no effect among adult women.” Fiszbein and Schady 2009, Pgs 117-119.
Aker et al. 2011.
"Excluding the cost of the mobile phones, the per-recipient cost of the zap intervention falls to $8.80 per recipient. Thus, while the initial costs of the zap program were significantly higher, variable costs were 30 percent higher in the manual cash distribution villages." Aker et al. 2011, Pg 12.
Aker et al. 2011, Pg 10.
Aker et al. 2011, Tables 4 and 5.
Lagarde et al. 2009, “The impact of conditional cash transfers on health outcomes and use of health services in low and middle income countries.”
Lagarde, Haines, and Palmer 2009, Pg 1.
Adato and Bassett 2008, Pg 231-232.
“The ideal experiment to answer this question – i.e. a randomized controlled trial with one treatment arm receiving conditional cash transfers, another receiving unconditional transfers, and a control group receiving no transfers – has not previously been conducted anywhere,” Baird, McIntosh, and Ozler 2010, Pg 3.
This list is not explicitly stated to be comprehensive, but this seems to be a reasonable assumption. See Adato and Bassett 2008, Appendix, Pg 31-32.