Are There Diminishing Returns to Transfer Size in Conditional Cash Transfers?
There is increasing evidence that conditional cash transfer programs can have large impacts on school enrollment, including in very poor countries. However, little is known about which features of program design -- including the amount of the cash...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090717133550 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4191 |
| Summary: | There is increasing evidence that
conditional cash transfer programs can have large impacts on
school enrollment, including in very poor countries.
However, little is known about which features of program
design -- including the amount of the cash that is
transferred, how frequently conditions are monitored,
whether non-complying households are penalized, and the
identity or gender of the cash recipients -- account for the
observed outcomes. This paper analyzes the impact of one
feature of program design -- namely, the magnitude of the
transfer. The analysis uses data from a program in Cambodia
that deliberately altered the transfer amounts received by
otherwise comparable households. The findings show clear
evidence of diminishing marginal returns to transfer size
despite the fact that even the larger transfers represented
on average only 3 percent of the consumption of the median
recipient households. If applicable to other settings, these
results have important implications for other programs that
transfer cash with the explicit aim of increasing school
enrollment levels in developing countries. |
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