IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v72y2015icp277-295.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stopped in the Name of the Law: Administrative Burden and its Implications for Cash Transfer Program Effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Heinrich, Carolyn J.
  • Brill, Robert

Abstract

Cash transfer programs have achieved wide-ranging success in reducing poverty, yet there is little empirical research on how program rules and administrative capacity might limit program effectiveness. We examine administrative burden and quantify its implications for grant access and impacts in the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) program, as the age of eligibility and application requirements changed over time. We find that approximately 60% of the sampled children experienced an interruption or disconnection in cash transfer receipt, and that both timing and “dosage” loss are associated with adolescent engagement in risky behaviors, and for females, lower educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Heinrich, Carolyn J. & Brill, Robert, 2015. "Stopped in the Name of the Law: Administrative Burden and its Implications for Cash Transfer Program Effectiveness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 277-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:72:y:2015:i:c:p:277-295
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15000741
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shore-Sheppard Lara D., 2008. "Stemming the Tide? The Effect of Expanding Medicaid Eligibility On Health Insurance Coverage," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-35, July.
    2. Anne Case & Victoria Hosegood & Frances Lund, 2005. "The reach and impact of Child Support Grants: evidence from KwaZulu-Natal," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 467-482.
    3. Cohen, John M. & Grindle, Merilee S. & Walker, S. Tjip, 1985. "Foreign aid and conditions precedent: Political and bureaucratic dimensions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(12), pages 1211-1230, December.
    4. Jef L. Leroy & Marie Ruel & Ellen Verhofstadt, 2009. "The impact of conditional cash transfer programmes on child nutrition: a review of evidence using a programme theory framework," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 103-129, June.
    5. Kluve, Jochen & Schneider, Hilmar & Uhlendorff, Arne & Zhao, Zhong, 2007. "Evaluating Continuous Training Programs Using the Generalized Propensity Score," Ruhr Economic Papers 35, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2006. "Making Conditional Cash Transfer Programs More Efficient: Designing for Maximum Effect of the Conditionality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 20(1), pages 1-29.
    7. Jochen Kluve & Hilmar Schneider & Arne Uhlendorff & Zhong Zhao, 2012. "Evaluating continuous training programmes by using the generalized propensity score," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 175(2), pages 587-617, April.
    8. Álvarez, Carola & Devoto, Florencia & Winters, Paul, 2008. "Why do Beneficiaries Leave the Safety Net in Mexico? A Study of the Effects of Conditionality on Dropouts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 641-658, April.
    9. Virginia Hernanz & Franck Malherbet & Michele Pellizzari, 2004. "Take-Up of Welfare Benefits in OECD Countries: A Review of the Evidence," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 17, OECD Publishing.
    10. Ariel Fiszbein & Norbert Schady & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Margaret Grosh & Niall Keleher & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597.
    11. Sudhanshu Handa & Carolyn Huang & Nicola Hypher & Clarissa Teixeira & Fabio V. Soares & Benjamin Davis, 2012. "Targeting effectiveness of social cash transfer programmes in three African countries," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 78-108, March.
    12. Joakim Palme & Walter Korpi, 1998. "The Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality: Welfare State Institutions, Inequality and Poverty in the Western Countries," LIS Working papers 174, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    13. Laura B. Rawlings, 2005. "Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 20(1), pages 29-55.
    14. Jochen Kluve & Hilmar Schneider & Arne Uhlendorff & Zhong Zhao, 2012. "Evaluating continuous training programmes by using the generalized propensity score," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 175(2), pages 587-617, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kotlikoff, Laurence J. & Lagarda, Guillermo & Marin, Gabriel, 2023. "A Personalized VAT with Capital Transfers: A Reform to Protect Low-Income Households in Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12985, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Leight, Jessica & Hirvonen, Kalle & Zafar, Sarim, 2024. "The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis," OSF Preprints dnc2r, Center for Open Science.
    3. Groves, Allison K. & Gebrekristos, Luwam T. & Stoner, Marie C.D. & Gómez-Olivé, F Xavier & Kahn, Kathleen & Pettifor, Audrey E., 2024. "Assessing the durability of a cash transfer on physical intimate partner violence and sexual relationships among adolescent girls and young women in rural South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    4. Heinrich, Carolyn J. & Knowles, Matthew T., 2020. "A fine predicament: Conditioning, compliance and consequences in a labeled cash transfer program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Shreya Biswas & Upasak Das, 2021. "Whats the worth of a promise? Evaluating the indirect effects of a program to reduce early marriage in India," Papers 2104.12215, arXiv.org.
    6. Porisky, Alesha & Mohamed, Tahira Shariff & Muthui, Patrick Mutinda, 2023. "Kenya’s ‘Universal’ social pension: The politics of registration in Marsabit County," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    7. Halling, Aske & Bækgaard, Martin, 2022. "Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review," OSF Preprints 26xdj, Center for Open Science.
    8. Helen Elizabeth Denise Burchett & Dylan Kneale & Sally Griffin & Málica de Melo & Joelma Joaquim Picardo & Rebecca S. French, 2022. "Which Structural Interventions for Adolescent Contraceptive Use Have Been Evaluated in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-31, September.
    9. Pfutze, Tobias, 2019. "Should program graduation be better targeted? The other schooling outcomes of Mexico’s Oportunidades," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Carolyn J. Heinrich & Sayil Camacho & Sarah Clark Henderson & Mónica Hernández & Ela Joshi, 2022. "Consequences of Administrative Burden for Social Safety Nets that Support the Healthy Development of Children," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(1), pages 11-44, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tagel Gebrehiwot & Carolina Castilla, 2018. "Do safety net transfers improve household diets and reduce undernutrition? Evidence from rural Ethiopia," Working Papers PMMA 2018-03, PEP-PMMA.
    2. Juan M. Villa, 2014. "The length of exposure to antipoverty transfer programmes: what is the relevance for children's human capital formation?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 20614, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Guush Berhane & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Neha Kumar & Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, 2014. "Can Social Protection Work in Africa? The Impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 1-26.
    4. Ma, Zhao & Bauchet, Jonathan & Steele, Diana & Godoy, Ricardo & Radel, Claudia & Zanotti, Laura, 2017. "Comparison of Direct Transfers for Human Capital Development and Environmental Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 498-517.
    5. Juan M. Villa, 2018. "The continuous treatment effect of an antipoverty program on children's educational attainment: Colombia's Familias en Accion," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 1239-1262, August.
    6. Hilal Atasoy & Rajiv D. Banker & Paul A. Pavlou, 2016. "On the Longitudinal Effects of IT Use on Firm-Level Employment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 6-26, March.
    7. Rüdiger Wapler & Daniel Werner & Katja Wolf, 2018. "Active labour market policies in Germany: do regional labour markets benefit?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(51), pages 5561-5578, November.
    8. Kyle Colangelo & Ying-Ying Lee, 2019. "Double debiased machine learning nonparametric inference with continuous treatments," CeMMAP working papers CWP54/19, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. Ida D'Attoma & Silvia Pacei, 2018. "Evaluating the Effects of Product Innovation on the Performance of European Firms by Using the Generalised Propensity Score," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 19(1), pages 94-112, February.
    10. Sylvester Amoako Agyemang & Tomáš Ratinger & Miroslava Bavorová, 2022. "The Impact of Agricultural Input Subsidy on Productivity: The Case of Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1460-1485, June.
    11. Martin Persson, U. & Alpízar, Francisco, 2013. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Payments for Environmental Services—A Conceptual Framework for Explaining and Judging Differences in Outcomes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-137.
    12. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus & O'Connell, Philip J., 2011. "What Can Active Labour Market Policies Do?," Papers EC1, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    13. Steckenleiter, Carina & Lechner, Michael & Pawlowski, Tim & Schüttoff, Ute, 2019. "Do local public expenditures on sports facilities affect sports participation in Germany?," Economics Working Paper Series 1905, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    14. Clausen, Jens & Heinesen, Eskil & Hummelgaard, Hans & Husted, Leif & Rosholm, Michael, 2009. "The effect of integration policies on the time until regular employment of newly arrived immigrants: Evidence from Denmark," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 409-417, August.
    15. A. Giffin & B. J. Reich & S. Yang & A. G. Rappold, 2023. "Generalized propensity score approach to causal inference with spatial interference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 2220-2231, September.
    16. Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci, 2013. "Are the EU trade preferences really effective? A Generalized Propensity Score evaluation of the Southern Mediterranean Countries' case in agriculture and fishery," Working Papers 2/13, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    17. Choe, Chung & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Lee, Sang-Jun, 2011. "Do Dropouts Benefit from Training Programs? Korean Evidence Employing Methods for Continuous Treatments," IZA Discussion Papers 6064, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Takeshima, Hiroyuki, 2015. "Identifying the effects of market imperfections for a scale biased agricultural technology: Tractors in Nigeria," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211937, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Kyle Colangelo & Ying-Ying Lee, 2020. "Double Debiased Machine Learning Nonparametric Inference with Continuous Treatments," Papers 2004.03036, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2023.
    20. Peter H. Egger & Katharina Erhardt, 2024. "Heterogeneous effects of tariff and nontariff trade‐policy barriers in quantitative general equilibrium," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(2), pages 453-487, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:72:y:2015:i:c:p:277-295. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.