IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/femeco/v25y2019i4p159-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cash Transfers, Labor Supply, and Gender Inequality: Evidence from South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Margherita Scarlato
  • Giorgio d'Agostino

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of the Child Support Grant (CSG) implemented in South Africa on the labor supply of the parents of beneficiary children. The aim is to assess whether the program improved or lessened gender inequality in the labor market. Using data from a national panel survey and applying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design that exploits an expansion in eligibility due to a discontinuous change in age eligibility, the results show that the CSG had a negative effect on the probability of parents of beneficiary children being employed and mixed effects on the participation in the labor force, with substantial heterogeneity by gender and by other individual and household characteristics. Overall, the evaluation suggests that the program provided support to members of vulnerable households in coping with the constraints of the South African labor market, but it did not reshape existing gender inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Margherita Scarlato & Giorgio d'Agostino, 2019. "Cash Transfers, Labor Supply, and Gender Inequality: Evidence from South Africa," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 159-184, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:25:y:2019:i:4:p:159-184
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2019.1648850
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13545701.2019.1648850
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13545701.2019.1648850?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sascha O. Becker & Peter H. Egger & Maximilian von Ehrlich, 2013. "Absorptive Capacity and the Growth and Investment Effects of Regional Transfers: A Regression Discontinuity Design with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 29-77, November.
    2. Esther Duflo, 2003. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, June.
    3. Reinhard Schiel & Murray Leibbrandt & David Lam, 2016. "Assessing the Impact of Social Grants on Inequality: A South African Case Study," International Economic Association Series, in: Timothy Besley (ed.), Contemporary Issues in Development Economics, chapter 8, pages 112-135, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Ximena V. Del Carpio & Karen Macours, 2010. "Leveling the intra-household playing field: compensation and specialization in child labor allocation," Research in Labor Economics, in: Child Labor and the Transition between School and Work, pages 259-295, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    5. Kleibergen, Frank & Paap, Richard, 2006. "Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 97-126, July.
    6. Victoria Hosegood & Anne Case & Cally Ardington, 2009. "Labor Supply Responses to Large Social Transfers: Longitudinal Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 22-48, January.
    7. Burns, Justine & Godlonton, Susan & Keswell, Malcolm, 2010. "Social networks, employment and worker discouragement: Evidence from South Africa," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 336-344, April.
    8. Emmanuel Skoufias & Vincenzo Di Maro, 2008. "Conditional Cash Transfers, Adult Work Incentives, and Poverty," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(7), pages 935-960.
    9. Jorge Agüero & Michael R. Carter & Julian May, 2007. "Poverty and Inequality in the First Decade of South Africa's Democracy: What can be Learnt from Panel Data from KwaZulu-Natal?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(5), pages 782-812, November.
    10. Sophie Mitra, 2009. "Disability Screening and Labor Supply: Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 512-516, May.
    11. Haroon Bhorat, 2012. "A Nation in Search of Jobs: Six Possible Policy Suggestions for Employment Creation in South Africa," Working Papers 12150, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    12. Rafael Novella & Laura Ripani & Claudia Vazquez, 2021. "Conditional cash transfers, female bargaining power and parental labour supply," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 422-436, March.
    13. Servaas van der Berg & Krige Siebrits & Bongisa Lekezwa, 2010. "Efficiency and equity effects of social grants in South Africa," Working Papers 15/2010, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    14. Marisa Coetzee, 2013. "Finding the Benefits: Estimating the Impact of The South African Child Support Grant," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(3), pages 427-450, September.
    15. Maxine Molyneux & With Nicola Jones & Fiona Samuels, 2016. "Can Cash Transfer Programmes Have ‘Transformative’ Effects?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(8), pages 1087-1098, August.
    16. María Alzúa & Guillermo Cruces & Laura Ripani, 2013. "Welfare programs and labor supply in developing countries: experimental evidence from Latin America," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1255-1284, October.
    17. Judith Gomersall, 2013. "The performance of the Child Support Grant: Review and research priorities," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4-5), pages 525-544, December.
    18. Nicolas Pons-Vignon & Aurelia Segatti, 2013. "'The art of neoliberalism': accumulation, institutional change and social order since the end of apartheid," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(138), pages 507-518, December.
    19. Sylvia Chant, 2008. "The 'Feminisation of Poverty' and the 'Feminisation' of Anti-Poverty Programmes: Room for Revision?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 165-197.
    20. Janina Hundenborn & Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 2016. "Drivers of Inequality in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 194, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    21. Boris Branisa & Stephan Klasen & Maria Ziegler & Denis Drechsler & Johannes Jütting, 2014. "The Institutional Basis of Gender Inequality: The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 29-64, April.
    22. Wilbert van der Klaauw, 2002. "Estimating the Effect of Financial Aid Offers on College Enrollment: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1249-1287, November.
    23. Margherita Scarlato & Giorgio d'Agostino & Francesca Capparucci, 2016. "Evaluating CCTs from a Gender Perspective: The Impact of Chile Solidario on Women's Employment Prospect," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 177-197, March.
    24. Kaushik Basu, 2006. "Gender and Say: a Model of Household Behaviour with Endogenously Determined Balance of Power," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(511), pages 558-580, April.
    25. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    26. World Bank, 2017. "South Africa Economic Update, January 2017," World Bank Publications - Reports 25971, The World Bank Group.
    27. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
    28. Schiel, Reinhard & Leibbrandt, Murray & Lam, David, 2014. "Assessing the impact of social grants on inequality: A South African case study," WIDER Working Paper Series 160, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    29. Anderson, Siwan & Eswaran, Mukesh, 2009. "What determines female autonomy? Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 179-191, November.
    30. Daniela Casale, 2004. "What has the Feminisation of the Labour Market ‘Bought’ Women in South Africa? Trends in Labour Force Participation, Employment and Earnings, 1995-2001," Working Papers 04084, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    31. World Bank, 2017. "South Africa Economic Update, September 2017," World Bank Publications - Reports 28439, The World Bank Group.
    32. Constanza Tabbush, 2010. "Latin American Women's Protection after Adjustment: A Feminist Critique of Conditional Cash Transfers in Chile and Argentina," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 437-459.
    33. Daniela Casale, 2004. "What has the Feminisation of the Labour Market ‘Bought’ Women in South Africa? Trends in Labour Force Participation, Employment and Earnings, 1995–2001," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 15(3-4), pages 251-275, July.
    34. Giorgio d’Agostino & Margherita Scarlato & Silvia Napolitano, 2018. "Do Cash Transfers Promote Food Security? The Case of the South African Child Support Grant," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(4), pages 430-456.
    35. Samuel Bazzi & Michael A. Clemens, 2013. "Blunt Instruments: Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Identifying the Causes of Economic Growth," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 152-186, April.
    36. Leila Patel & Tessa Hochfeld & Jacqueline Moodley, 2013. "Gender and child sensitive social protection in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 69-83, March.
    37. Haroon Bhorat & Sumayya Goga, 2013. "The Gender Wage Gap in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Re-examination," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(5), pages 827-848, November.
    38. Posel, Dorrit & Fairburn, James A. & Lund, Frances, 2006. "Labour migration and households: A reconsideration of the effects of the social pension on labour supply in South Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 836-853, September.
    39. Katherine Eyal & Justine Burns, 2016. "Up or Down? Intergenerational Mental Health Transmission and Cash Transfers in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 165, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    40. Taryn Dinkelman, 2004. "How Household Context Affects Search Outcomes Of The Unemployed In Kwazulu‐Natal, South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(3), pages 484-521, September.
    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. 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.
    2. Liu Yang & Yang Ren, 2020. "Has China’s New Round of Collective Forestland Tenure Reform Caused an Increase in Rural Labor Transfer?," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Giorgio d'Agostino & Francesco Giuli & Marco Lorusso & Margherita Scarlato, 2020. "Fiscal policy, labour market, and inequality: Diagnosing South Africa's anomalies in the shadow of racial discrimination," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-122, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    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. d'Agostino, Giorgio & Scarlato, Margherita, 2016. "Gender Inequality in the South African Labour Market: the Impact of the Child Support Grant," MPRA Paper 72523, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Giorgio d’Agostino & Margherita Scarlato & Silvia Napolitano, 2018. "Do Cash Transfers Promote Food Security? The Case of the South African Child Support Grant," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(4), pages 430-456.
    3. Margherita Scarlato & Giorgio D'Agostino, 2016. "Gender Disparities In The South African Labour Market: The Impact Of The Child Support Grant," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0210, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    4. von Fintel, Dieter & Pienaar, Louw, 2016. "Small-Scale Farming and Food Security: The Enabling Role of Cash Transfers in South Africa's Former Homelands," IZA Discussion Papers 10377, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    6. Mideros Andrés & O’Donoghue Cathal, 2015. "The Effect of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Adult Labour Supply: A Unitary Discrete Choice Model for the Case of Ecuador," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 225-255, December.
    7. Unnikrishnan, Vidhya & Imai, Katsushi S., 2020. "Does the old-age pension scheme improve household welfare? Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Leibbrandt, Murray & Lilenstein, Kezia & Shenker, Callie & Woolard, Ingrid, 2013. "The influence of social transfers on labour supply: A South African and international review," SALDRU Working Papers 112, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    9. Adediran, Olanrewaju Adewole, 2024. "The effect of women's decision-making on child nutritional outcomes in South Africa," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    10. Tobias Pfutze & Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán, 2019. "Can a Small Social Pension Promote Labor Force Participation? Evidence from the Colombia Mayor Program," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2019), pages 111-154, October.
    11. Rafael Novella & Laura Ripani & Claudia Vazquez, 2021. "Conditional cash transfers, female bargaining power and parental labour supply," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 422-436, March.
    12. Barrientos, Armando, 2012. "Social Transfers and Growth: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Find Out?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 11-20.
    13. Rafael Novella & Laura Ripani & Guillermo Cruces & Maria Laura Alzuá, 2012. "Conditional Cash Transfers, Female Bargaining Power and Parental Labour Supply," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 78223, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Juliana Mesén Vargas, 2018. "Income Effect on Labor Outcomes for People Living in Poverty: the case of PROGRESA," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2018015, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    15. Sofia Amaral & Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay & Rudra Sensarma, 2015. "Public Work Programs and Gender-based Violence: The Case of NREGA in India," Discussion Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    16. Solomon Asfaw & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Josh Dewbre & Alessandro Romeo & Paul Winters & Katia Covarrubias & Habiba Djebbari, 2012. "Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour – Methodological Guidelines for the From Protection to Production Project," Working Papers 101, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    17. Amar Hamoudi & Duncan Thomas, 2014. "Endogenous Co-residence and Program Incidence: South Africa's Old Age Pension," NBER Working Papers 19929, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Nicola Brandt, 2012. "Reducing Poverty in Chile: Cash Transfers and Better Jobs," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 951, OECD Publishing.
    19. Miguel Angel Borrella-Mas & Mariano Bosch & Marcello Sartarelli, 2019. "Heterogeneous Effect of a Non-contributory Pension. Evidence from Bolivia," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2019-35, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:femeco:v:25:y:2019:i:4:p:159-184. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RFEC20 .

    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.