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Experimental Evidence of Exposure to a Conditional Cash Transfer During Early Teenage Years: Young Women’s Fertility and Labo

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  • Macours, Karen
  • Barham, Tania
  • Maluccio, John

Abstract

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are one of most popular policy instruments for increasing investment in nutrition, health, and education in developing countries. For teenage girls, CCTs not only provide incentives and means to remain in school longer, but also may affect fertility outcomes through improved nutrition (with implications for the onset of puberty) or provision of reproductive healthcare information. Therefore, examining the fertility mechanism is crucial for understanding long-term impacts, in particular labor market outcomes, as young women’s decisions regarding economic, education, and reproductive activities are closely linked. This paper exploits an experimental design and a survey implemented 10 years after the start of a CCT program in Nicaragua that introduced random variation in program exposure during the early teenage years, ages critical for sexual maturity. Differential exposure to the CCT does not lead to long-term differences in grades attained or learning, but does lead to differential impacts on the age of menarche, young adult BMI, fertility, and subsequent labor market outcomes and income.

Suggested Citation

  • Macours, Karen & Barham, Tania & Maluccio, John, 2018. "Experimental Evidence of Exposure to a Conditional Cash Transfer During Early Teenage Years: Young Women’s Fertility and Labo," CEPR Discussion Papers 13165, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13165
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    1. Teresa Molina Millán & Tania Barham & Karen Macours & John A Maluccio & Marco Stampini, 2019. "Long-Term Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfers: Review of the Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 119-159.
    2. 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.
    3. Acosta, Karina & Taboada-Arango, Bibiana & Otero-Cortés, Andrea & Bonet-Morón, Jaime, 2024. "Evolución de las transferencias monetarias en Colombia," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    4. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    5. 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.
    6. Zhou, Lei & Jiang, Bo & Wang, Jingxi, 2020. "Do cash transfers have impacts on student Academic, cognitive, and enrollment outcomes? Evidence from rural China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    7. Maria Caridad Araujo & Karen Macours, 2021. "Education, Income and Mobility: Experimental Impacts of Childhood Exposure to Progresa after 20 Years," Working Papers halshs-03364972, HAL.
    8. Tomoki Fujii & Christine Ho & Rohan Ray & Abu S. Shonchoy, 2021. "Conditional Cash Transfer, Loss Framing, and SMS Nudges: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2109, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    9. Luis Laguinge & Leonardo Gasparini & Guido Neidhöfer, 2024. "The Long-Run Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers: the Case of Bolsa Familia in Brazil," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0328, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cct; Long-term effects; Education; Fertility; Labor markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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