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Conditioning out the poor? Consumption, inequality and the design of cash transfer programs

 

Autor institucional : National Bureau of Economic Research
Autor/Autores: Santosh Anagol, Thomas Fujiwara, Martin Navarrete
Fecha de publicación: 2025-05-20
Alcance geográfico: Interregional
Publicado en: Reino Unido
Descargar: Descargar PDF
Resumen: Conditionality can prevent poor households from receiving cash transfers. Re-analyzing five randomized evaluations of conditional cash transfers, we find: (1) non-compliers — households that do not meet education conditions — are common, representing 4.6% to 37% of eligible households; (2) non-compliers often have lower baseline consumption than compliers; (3) under standard social welfare function assumptions, a budget-neutral switch to unconditional cash transfers can raise the welfare gains from increased consumption by up to 46%, although we find important heterogeneity by context. Our results suggest that conditionality exacerbating consumption inequality can be quantitatively important for the welfare impacts of cash transfer programs.
   

 

 

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