Conditional Cash Transfers :Reducing Present and Future Poverty

Fiszbein, Ariel ; Schady, Norbert ; Ferreira, Francisco H.G. ; Grosh, Margaret ; Keleher, Niall ; Olinto, Pedro ; Skoufias, Emmanuel

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ABSENTEEISM;    ABUSE;    ACCESS TO EDUCATION;    ACCOUNTING;    ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-7352-1
RP-ID  :  47603

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 report shows that there is goodevidence that conditional cash transfers (CCTs) haveimproved the lives of poor people. Transfers generally havebeen well targeted to poor households, have raisedconsumption levels, and have reduced poverty, by asubstantial amount in some countries. Offsetting adjustmentsthat could have blunted the impact of transfers, such asreductions in the labor market participation ofbeneficiaries, have been relatively modest. Moreover, CCTprograms often have provided an entry point to reformingbadly targeted subsidies and upgrading the quality of safetynets. The report thus argues that CCTs have been aneffective way to redistribute income to the poor, whilerecognizing that even the best-designed and best-managedprogram cannot fulfill all of the needs of a comprehensivesocial protection system. CCTs therefore need to becomplemented with other interventions, such as workfare oremployment programs and social pensions. The report alsoconsiders the rationale for conditioning the transfers onthe use of specific health and education services by programbeneficiaries. Conditions can be justified if households areunder investing in the human capital of their children, forexample, if they hold incorrect beliefs about the returns tothese investments; if there is "incompletealtruism" between parents and their children; or ifthere are large externalities to investments in health andeducation. Political economy considerations also may favorconditional over unconditional transfers: taxpayers may bemore likely to support transfers to the poor if they arelinked to efforts to overcome poverty in the long term,particularly when the efforts involve actions to improve thewelfare of children.