Thursday, February 21, 2008

[EQ] The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Health and Development in Rural Ecuador

Does Money Matter? The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Health and Development in Rural Ecuador


Christina Paxson, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University

Norbert Schady, World Bank

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4226, May 2007

 

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2007/05/03/000016406_20070503092958/Rendered/PDF/wps4226.pdf

 

“….This paper examines how a government-run cash transfer program targeted to poor mothers in rural Ecuador influenced the health and development of their children. This program is of particular interest because, unlike other transfer programs that have been implemented recently in Latin America, receipt of the cash transfers was not conditioned on specific parental actions, such as taking children to health clinics or sending them to school. This feature of the program makes it possible to assess whether conditionality is necessary for programs to have beneficial effects on children.

 

Random assignment at the parish level is used to identify the program’s effects. We find that the cash transfer program had positive effects on the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development of children, and the treatment effects were substantially larger for the poorer children than for less poor children.

Among the poorest children in our sample, children whose mothers were eligible for transfers had outcomes that were on average more than 20 percent of a standard deviation higher than those for comparable children in the control group. Treatment effects are somewhat larger for girls and for children with more highly educated mothers. We examine three mechanisms:
- better nutrition,
- greater use of health care, and
- better parenting
through which the transfers might influence child development. The program appeared to improve children’s nutrition and increased the chance they were treated for helminth infections. However, children in the treatment group were not more likely to visit health clinics for growth monitoring, and the mental health and parenting of their mothers did not improve.

 

 

 *      *      *     *

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

No comments: