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

Macours, Karen ; Schady, Norbert ; Vakis, Renos

American Economic Association

关键词: taxation and subsidies;    externalities;    redistributive effects;    environmental taxes and subsidies;    health and economic development;   

DOI  :  10.1257/app.4.2.247

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

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.