Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

Karen Macours · Norbert Schady · Renos Vakis

224 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Economic Journal Applied Economics

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Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare Early Childhood Education and Development Child Nutrition and Water Access

Abstract

Cash transfer programs have become extremely popular in the developing world. A large literature analyzes their effects on schooling, health and nutrition, but relatively little is known about possible impacts on child development. This paper analyzes the impact of a cash transfer program on early childhood cognitive development. Children in households randomly assigned to receive benefits had significantly higher levels of development nine months after the program began. There is no fade-out of program effects two years after the program ended. Additional random variation shows that these impacts are unlikely to result from the cash component of the program alone. (JEL H23, I15, J13, O15)

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References

1977The CES-D Scale 1997The analysis of household surveys 2006Skill Formation and the Economics of Investing in Disadvantaged Children 1999Mental accounting matters 2007Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects 2008Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects 2009Conditional Cash Transfers 1995Health nutrition and economic development.

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2016Improving Education in Developing Countries 2022A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of cash transfers on subjective well-being and mental health in low- and middle-income countries 2017Unconditional cash transfers for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities: effect on use of health services and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries 2011Investing in Young Children: An Early Childhood Development Guide for Policy Dialogue and Project Preparation 2016Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods

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