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The Impact of Cash Transfers on School Enrollment: Evidence from Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Hessel Oosterbeek

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Juan Ponce

    (FLASCO-Ecuador)

  • Norbert Schady

    (World Bank)

Abstract

This paper presents evidence about the impact on school enrollment of a program in Ecuador that gives cash transfers to the 40 percent poorest families. The evaluation design consists of a randomized experiment for families around the first quintile of the poverty index and of a regression discontinuity design for families around the second quintile of this index, which is the program's eligibility threshold. This allows us to compare results from two different credible identification methods, and to investigate whether the impact varies with families' poverty level. Around the first quintile of the poverty index the impact is positive while it is equal to zero around the second quintile. This suggests that for the poorest families the program lifts a credit constraint while this is not the case for families close to the eligibility threshold.

Suggested Citation

  • Hessel Oosterbeek & Juan Ponce & Norbert Schady, 2008. "The Impact of Cash Transfers on School Enrollment: Evidence from Ecuador," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-037/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20080037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Orazio Attanasio & Emla Fitzsimons & Ana Gómez & Martha Isabel Gutierrez & Costas Meghir & Alice Mesnard, 2006. "Child education and work choices in the presence of a conditional cash transfer programme in rural Colombia," IFS Working Papers W06/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jose Rosero & Hessel Oosterbeek, 2011. "Trade-offs between Different Early Childhood Interventions: Evidence from Ecuador," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-102/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Juan Esteban Saavedra & Sandra Garcia, 2012. "Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries A Meta-analysis," Working Papers WR-921-1, RAND Corporation.
    3. M. Caridad Araujo & Mariano Bosch & Norbert Schady, 2017. "Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Intergenerational Poverty Trap?," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Poverty Traps, pages 357-382, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Guillermo Cruces & Gary S. Fields & David Jaume & Mariana Viollaz, 2015. "The growth-employment-poverty nexus in Latin America in the 2000s: Ecuador country study," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-076, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Saavedra, Juan Esteban & Garcia, Sandra, 2012. "Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Meta-analysis," Working Papers 921-1, RAND Corporation.
    6. Sebastian Galiani & Patrick J. McEwan & Brian Quistorff, 2017. "External and Internal Validity of a Geographic Quasi-Experiment Embedded in a Cluster-Randomized Experiment," Advances in Econometrics, in: Regression Discontinuity Designs, volume 38, pages 195-236, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Guillermo Cruces & Gary S. Fields & David Jaume & Mariana Viollaz, 2015. "The growth-employment-poverty nexus in Latin America in the 2000s: Ecuador country study," WIDER Working Paper Series 076, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Jose Rosero, 2012. "The ABC of Housing Strategies: Are Housing Assistance Programs Effective in Enhancing Children's Well Being?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-074/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Anja Gaentzsch, 2020. "Do conditional cash transfers (CCTs) raise educational attainment? An impact evaluation of Juntos in Peru," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(6), pages 747-765, November.
    10. Hidalgo, Diana & Onofa, Mercedes & Oosterbeek, Hessel & Ponce, Juan, 2013. "Can provision of free school uniforms harm attendance? Evidence from Ecuador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 43-51.
    11. Pauline Dixon, 2013. "International Aid and Private Schools for the Poor," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15122.
    12. Nabernegg, Markus, 2012. "El impacto del BDH en el gasto de bienes no deseados: Un análisis de regresión discontinua [The impact of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano in the expenditure for undesirable goods: A regression discon," MPRA Paper 41295, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Dominic Richardson & UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2018. "Key Findings on Families, Family Policy and the Sustainable Development Goals: Synthesis Report," Papers inorer948, Innocenti Research Report.
    14. Ponce, Juan & Bedi, Arjun S., 2010. "The impact of a cash transfer program on cognitive achievement: The Bono de Desarrollo Humano of Ecuador," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 116-125, February.
    15. Ryan Nehring, 2012. "Social Protection in Ecuador: A New Vision for Inclusive Growth," Policy Research Brief 28, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    16. Barrientos, Armando & Nino-Zarazua, Miguel, 2010. "Social Assistance in Developing Countries Database Version 5.0," MPRA Paper 20001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. M. Caridad Araujo & Mariano Bosch & Norbert Schady, 2017. "Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Inter-Generational Poverty Trap?," NBER Chapters,in: The Economics of Asset Accumulation and Poverty Traps National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. 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.
    19. Zurab Abramishvili & Lasha Lanchava, 2015. "Education for the Poor," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp542, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    20. Maria Heracleous & Mario González & Paul Winters, 2016. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Schooling Decisions: Evidence from Urban Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 95639, Inter-American Development Bank.
    21. Galiani, Sebastian & McEwan, Patrick J., 2013. "The heterogeneous impact of conditional cash transfers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 85-96.
    22. Saugato Datta & Joshua Martin & Catherine MacLeod & Laura B. Rawlings & Andrea Vermehren, 2024. "Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(2), pages 327-354, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cash transfers; school enrollment; regression discontinuity; randomized experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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