The Effects of Cash Transfers on Adult Labor Market Outcomes

Baird, Sarah ; McKenzie, David ; Ozler, Berk

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CASH TRANSFERS;    LABOR SUPPLY;    REMITTANCES;    CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS;    EMPLOYMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8404
RP-ID  :  WPS8404

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The basic economic model of labor supplyhas a very clear prediction of what should be expected whenan adult receives an unexpected cash windfall: they shouldwork less and earn less. This intuition underlies concernsthat many types of cash transfers, ranging from governmentbenefits to migrant remittances, will undermine work ethicsand make recipients lazy. This paper discusses a range ofadditional channels to this simple labor-leisure trade-offthat can make this intuition misleading in low- andmiddle-income countries, including missing markets, priceeffects from conditions attached to transfers, and dynamicand general equilibrium effects. The paper uses this as alens through which to examine the evidence on the adultlabor market impacts of a wide range of cash transferprograms: government transfers, charitable giving andhumanitarian transfers, remittances, cash assistance for jobsearch, cash transfers for business start-up, and bundledinterventions. Overall, cash transfers that are made withoutan explicit employment focus (such as conditional andunconditional cash transfers and remittances) tend to resultin little to no change in adult labor. The main exceptionsare transfers to the elderly and some refugees, who reducework. In contrast, transfers made for job search assistanceor business start-up tend to increase adult labor supply andearnings, with the likely main channels being thealleviation of liquidity and risk constraints.