The Social Safety Nets Team of the Social Protection & Labor Unit,
Human Development Network, is pleased to sponsor this presentation by

Norbert Schady (DECRG)

In the last few decades, cash transfer programs, including conditional cash transfers, have been adopted by developing countries at a prodigious rate.  The impact of these programs on schooling, health, and nutrition has been studied in a variety of settings.  Much less is known about the impact of cash transfers on measures of development in early childhood, including cognitive development.  Yet this is a very important policy topic given the effect that development in early childhood has on outcomes later on in life, including in school and in the labor market.

Norbert Schady (DECRG) presented the results from recent work he has done evaluating the impact of cash transfers on ECD outcomes in Ecuador and Nicaragua.  The data collected in both countries is unusually rich.  Measures of cognitive development include language acquisition, short- and long-term memory, and visual integration (executive function); measures of physical development include hemoglobin status, height and weight, gross and fine motor skills.  Both studies are based on a random assignment of households to "treatment" and "control" groups, and include visits to households at baseline and follow-up.  The results suggest that cash transfers can have significant, and quantitatively important effects on some measures of child development, although the effects tend to be concentrated among the poorest households.  The papers also suggest that cash transfers made by social programs tend to be used differently from other sources of income - even when no explicit strings or conditions are attached.  This may be a result of the social marketing of these programs, or of the fact that transfers are generally made to women.

Presentation & Background Materials

"The Impact of Cash Transfer Programs on Early Childhood Development" (277kb pdf)

Does Money Matter? The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Development in Rural Ecuador (149kb pdf)
by Christina Paxson and Norbert Schady, December 2007

"Cognitive Development among Young Children in Ecuador: The Roles of Wealth, Health, and Parenting" (746kb pdf)
The Journal of Human Resources XLII(1), Winter 2007
by Christina Paxson and Norbert Schady

Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and the Development of Young Children: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment (435kb pdf)
by Karen Macours, Norbert Schady and Renos Vakis, June 2008