IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v33y2024i2nhec4768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conditional cash transfers and women's reproductive choices

Author

Listed:
  • Sonia Laszlo
  • Muhammad Farhan Majid
  • Laëtitia Renée

Abstract

We study potential non‐targeted effects of a large‐scale national conditional cash transfer program—Peru's Juntos—on the fertility and reproductive decisions of adult beneficiaries. We use an event study design, exploiting time and geographic variation in the rollout of the program, to identify the causal effects of the program. We find that Juntos decreases the number of children that adult beneficiaries have and that these effects persist over time. We explore various mechanisms and find that Juntos does not affect fertility preferences but rather empowers women to avoid unwanted births. We provide evidence that this decrease is most likely due to better access to and more extensive use of modern birth control methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Laszlo & Muhammad Farhan Majid & Laëtitia Renée, 2024. "Conditional cash transfers and women's reproductive choices," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:33:y:2024:i:2:n:hec4768
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4768
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.4768?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    2. Tia Palermo & Lisa Hjelm & UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2016. "Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfers in Africa Do Not Increase Fertility: Issue Brief," Papers inores799, Innocenti Research Briefs.
    3. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    4. Grant Miller & Kimberly Singer Babiarz, 2016. "Family Planning Program Effects: Evidence from Microdata," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 42(1), pages 7-26, March.
    5. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "Using Differences in Knowledge across Neighborhoods to Uncover the Impacts of the EITC on Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2683-2721, December.
    6. James P. Huzel, 1980. "The Demographic Impact of the Old Poor Law: More Reflexions on Malthus," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 33(3), pages 367-381, August.
    7. Elizaveta Perova & Renos Vakis, 2012. "5 Years in Juntos: New Evidence on the Program’s Short and Long-Term Impacts," Revista Economía, Fondo Editorial - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, vol. 35(69), pages 53-82.
    8. Arindam Nandi & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2016. "The unintended effects of cash transfers on fertility: evidence from the Safe Motherhood Scheme in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 457-491, April.
    9. Tia Palermo & Sudhanshu Handa & Amber Peterman & Leah Prencipe & David Seidenfeld, 2016. "Unconditional government social cash transfer in Africa does not increase fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1083-1111, October.
    10. Aaron Richterman & Christophe Millien & Elizabeth F. Bair & Gregory Jerome & Jean Christophe Dimitri Suffrin & Jere R. Behrman & Harsha Thirumurthy, 2023. "The effects of cash transfers on adult and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7965), pages 575-582, June.
    11. Bold, Tessa & Kimenyi, Mwangi & Mwabu, Germano & Ng’ang’a, Alice & Sandefur, Justin, 2018. "Experimental evidence on scaling up education reforms in Kenya," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1-20.
    12. Gustavo Angeles & David Guilkey & Thomas Mroz, 2005. "The determinants of fertility in rural Peru: Program effects in the early years of the national family planning program," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 367-389, June.
    13. Sudhanshu Handa & Silvio Daidone & Amber Peterman & Benjamin Davis & Audrey Pereira & Tia Palermo & Jennifer Yablonski, 2018. "Myth-Busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 259-298.
    14. Jessica Todd & Paul Winters & Guy Stecklov, 2012. "Evaluating the impact of conditional cash transfer programs on fertility: the case of the Red de Protección Social in Nicaragua," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 267-290, January.
    15. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2016. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Program, and Social Security Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-43, May.
    16. Nur Cahyadi & Rema Hanna & Benjamin A. Olken & Rizal Adi Prima & Elan Satriawan & Ekki Syamsulhakim, 2020. "Cumulative Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: Experimental Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 88-110, November.
    17. Birdsall, Nancy M. & Griffin, Charles C., 1988. "Fertility and poverty in developing countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 29-55, April.
    18. Pritchett, Lant H. & DEC, 1994. "Desired fertility and the impact of population policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1273, The World Bank.
    19. Grant Miller and Kimberly Singer Babiarz, 2016. "Family Planning Program Effects: A Review of Evidence from Microdata - Working Paper 422," Working Papers 422, Center for Global Development.
    20. Nava Ashraf & Erica Field & Jean Lee, 2014. "Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2210-2237, July.
    21. Norbert Schady & Ariel Fiszbein & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Niall Keleher & Margaret Grosh & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597.
    22. Sarah Baird & Craig McIntosh & Berk Özler, 2011. "Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1709-1753.
    23. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    24. Molly Rosenberg & Audrey Pettifor & Nadia Nguyen & Daniel Westreich & Jacob Bor & Till Bärnighausen & Paul Mee & Rhian Twine & Stephen Tollman & Kathleen Kahn, 2015. "Relationship between Receipt of a Social Protection Grant for a Child and Second Pregnancy Rates among South African Women: A Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, September.
    25. Cornelius Christian & Lukas Hensel & Christopher Roth, 2019. "Income Shocks and Suicides: Causal Evidence From Indonesia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 905-920, December.
    26. Arindam Nandi & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2016. "The unintended effects of cash transfers on fertility: evidence from the Safe Motherhood Scheme in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 457-491, April.
    27. Jishnu Das, 2005. "Reassessing Conditional Cash Transfer Programs," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 20(1), pages 57-80.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Donald,Aletheia Amalia & Goldstein,Markus P. & Koroknay-Palicz,Tricia & Sage,Mathilde, 2024. "The Fertility Impacts of Development Programs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10848, The World Bank.
    2. Herrera Catalina & E. Sahn David, 2017. "Working Paper 281 - Early Childbearing, School Attainment and Cognitive Skills," Working Paper Series 2398, African Development Bank.
    3. Santiago Garganta & Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni & Mariano Tappatá, 2017. "The Effect of Cash Transfers on Fertility: Evidence from Argentina," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(1), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Diego A. Martin, 2023. "The Impact of a Rise in Expected Income on Child Labor: Evidence From Coca Production in Colombia," Growth Lab Working Papers 217, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    5. Catalina Herrera Almanza & David E. Sahn, 2018. "Early Childbearing, School Attainment, and Cognitive Skills: Evidence From Madagascar," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(2), pages 643-668, April.
    6. Diego A. Martin, 2023. "The Impact of a Rise in Expected Income on Child Labor: Evidence From Coca Production in Colombia," CID Working Papers 150a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Finlay, Jocelyn E., 2021. "Women’s reproductive health and economic activity: A narrative review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Miller, Grant & de Paula, Áureo & Valente, Christine, 2020. "Subjective Expectations and Demands for Contraception," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 73328, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    10. Gazeaud, Jules & Ricard, Claire, 2024. "Learning effects of conditional cash transfers: The role of class size and composition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    11. Jules Gazeaud & Claire Ricard, 2021. "Conditional cash transfers and the learning crisis: evidence from Tayssir scale-up in Morocco," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2102, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    12. Patel-Campillo, Anouk & Salas García, V.B., 2022. "Breaking the poverty cycle? Conditional cash transfers and higher education attainment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115021, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Patel-Campillo, Anouk & García, V.B. Salas, 2022. "Breaking the poverty cycle? Conditional cash transfers and higher education attainment," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    14. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Nasir Iqbal & Saima Nawaz & Siew Ling Yew, 2024. "Do unconditional cash transfers increase fertility? Lessons from a large‐scale program," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 74-96, January.
    15. Lenel, Friederike & Priebe, Jan & Satriawan, Elan & Syamsulhakim, Ekki, 2022. "Can mHealth campaigns improve CCT outcomes? Experimental evidence from sms-nudges in Indonesia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    16. Independent Evaluation Group, 2014. "Social Safety Nets and Gender : Learning from Impact Evaluations and World Bank Projects," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21365.
    17. Somdeep Chatterjee & Prashant Poddar, 2021. "From Safe Motherhood to Cognitive Ability: Exploring Intrahousehold and Intergenerational Spillovers," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(352), pages 1075-1106, October.
    18. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    19. Tia Palermo & Sudhanshu Handa & Amber Peterman & Leah Prencipe & David Seidenfeld, 2016. "Unconditional government social cash transfer in Africa does not increase fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1083-1111, October.
    20. Jaraitė, Jūratė & Kurtyka, Oliwia & Ollivier, Hélène, 2022. "Take a ride on the (not so) green side: How do CDM projects affect Indian manufacturing firms’ environmental performance?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

    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:wly:hlthec:v:33:y:2024:i:2:n:hec4768. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.