Beyond the Income Effect : Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Private Investments in Human Capital

Cruz, Marcio ; Ziegelhofer, Zacharias

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS;    AGED;    AGRICULTURE;    BANK ACCOUNT;    BENEFICIARIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6867
RP-ID  :  WPS6867

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In the past decade, conditional cashtransfer (CCT) programs have become an important componentof social policy in developing countries. While the impactsof these programs have been well researched with respect totheir effectiveness to achieve intended outcomes, less isknown about their impact on private expenditure decisions.This aspect has great policy relevance since changes inprivate household expenditures can either support orcounteract the aim of the programs. This essay investigatesthe impact of a CCT program on private household expendituredecisions in nutrition, health and education which are seenas principal contributors to child human capital. First,household expenditure behavior under a CCT program isdiscussed based on Heckman's model on the technology ofskill formation as a conceptual framework. The paper showshow intra-household preferences and perceptions on thesubstitutability or complementarity of investments canimpact household resource allocation decisions.Subsequently, the theoretical implications are tested in thecontext of the Brazilian CCT program Bolsa Família, usingthe Brazilian household expenditure survey. Evidence isfound that households increase their private expenditure infood and education disproportionally to the amount of cashtransfer, that is, more than would be expected whenconsidering the Engel curves of the expenditures under question.