Do Early-Ending Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Crowd out School Enrollment?

AbstractScholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti-incumbent effects.

Download Full-text

On the Design of Education Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and Non Education Outcomes: The Case of Teenage Pregnancy

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1903672 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Darwin F. Cortes ◽

Juan Miguel Gallego ◽

Dario Maldonado

Keyword(s):

Teenage Pregnancy ◽

Conditional Cash Transfer ◽

Cash Transfer ◽

Transfer Programs ◽

Education Outcomes ◽

Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Download Full-text

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Empower Women? Insights from Brazil’s Bolsa Família

Latin American Politics and Society ◽

10.1017/lap.2019.60 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 53-74

Author(s):

Natasha Borges Sugiyama ◽

Wendy Hunter

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Conditional Cash Transfer ◽

Cash Transfers ◽

Conditional Cash Transfers ◽

Cash Transfer ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Transfer Programs ◽

Conditional Cash Transfer Programs ◽

Bolsa Familia ◽

The Relationship

ABSTRACTConditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) have emerged as an important social welfare innovation across the Global South in the last two decades. That poor mothers are typically the primary recipients of the grants renders easy, but not necessarily correct, the notion that CCTs empower women. This article assesses the relationship between the world’s largest CCT, Brazil’s Bolsa Família, and women’s empowerment. To systematize and interpret existing research, including our own, it puts forth a three-part framework that examines the program’s effects on economic independence, physical health, and psychosocial well-being. Findings suggest that women experience some improved status along all three dimensions, but that improvements are far from universal. A core conclusion is that the broader institutional context in which the Bolsa Família is embedded—that is, ancillary services in health and social assistance—is crucial for conditioning the degree of empowerment obtained.

Download Full-text