Poor Households' Productive Investments of Cash Transfers : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Niger

Stoeffler, Quentin ; Mills, Bradford ; Premand, Patrick

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: cash transfers;    productive assets;    investment;    poverty;    consumption;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7839
RP-ID  :  WPS7839

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 spreadrapidly as an instrument to raise household consumption andreduce poverty. Questions remain about the sustainability ofcash transfer impacts in low-income settings such asSub-Saharan Africa and, in particular, on whether cashtransfers can foster productive investments in addition toraising immediate consumption among the very poor. Thispaper presents evidence that a cash transfer project inrural Niger induced investments in assets and productiveactivities that were sustained among the very poor 18 monthsafter project completion. Results show lasting increases inlivestock assets and participation in saving groups(tontines). Cash transfers also contributed to improvedagricultural productivity, but no effects in terms ofdiversification of other household enterprises are found.Productive asset gains are, notably, largest among thepoorest of the poor, suggesting that small regular cashtransfers combined with enhanced saving mechanisms can relaxconstraints to asset accumulation among the extreme poor.