Unconditional Cash Transfer Program Research Articles

Implications of Cash Transfer Programs for Mental Health Promotion among Families Facing Significant Stressors: Using Ecological Systems Theory to Explain Successes of Conditional and Unconditional Programs.

The purpose of this paper is to apply Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory to explore the literature on how Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) programs might support positive mental health outcomes. The paper begins with transnational considerations of stress, such as poverty and COVID-19, and their impact on mental health. Bronfenbrenner's theory is applied to better understand the mechanisms by which CCT and UCT programs can potentially lead to positive outcomes for children and families who face such stressors. The implications of cash transfer programs are subsequently discussed in terms of how they might promote positive mental health outcomes among families globally. This theoretical application paper concludes with a call for transnational research to explore connections between cash transfer programs and mental health outcomes for children/adolescents and their parents/caregivers.

The impact of unconditional cash transfers on enhancing household wellbeing in Pakistan: evidence from a quasi-experimental design

Cash transfer programs have emerged as potent tools for alleviating poverty and enhancing the living conditions of the most deprived households in developing nations. Such initiatives have now become integral components of social protection systems in many developing countries, including Pakistan. Evaluating the efficacy of these safety nets is crucial to comprehend their value in terms of public expenditure. This research employed a well-being index to gauge the impact of unconditional cash transfers on the socioeconomics of recipients. By employing three rounds of the BISP impact assessment survey conducted in 2011, 2016, and 2019. The study measured the overall impact of cash transfers on well-being by utilizing Principal Component Analysis in conjunction with a Difference-in-Differences Quasi-Experimental design over the years. The findings of the study indicate that between 2011 and 2016, the socioeconomic status declined for both treatment and control groups, but the reduction was less pronounced among those who received treatment compared to the control group with insignificant. From 2016 to 2019, there was a marginal positive increase in socioeconomic status, although it was of insignificance. Overall, the well-being of both the control and treatment groups decreased from 2011 to 2019, with a slightly more pronounced improvement observed in the treatment group. This trend suggests that the impact of the BISP unconditional cash transfer program had a limited effect on altering the well-being of the beneficiaries. The lack of substantial impact from the BISP’s cash transfers on household well-being can be attributed to factors such as inflation, unemployment, economic slowdown, payment challenges, insufficient funding, and gaps between installments. The government of Pakistan should reconsider the substantial investment in BISP within the context of value for money. It is advisable for the government and policymakers to channel this substantial investment into income generation, capital asset development, microbusinesses, climate-resilient agriculture, and livestock in order to stimulate the real economy sectors.

Unconditional cash transfer programs and women’s empowerment: evidence from Pakistan

AbstractThis study explores the impact of unconditional cash transfers on the multiple dimensions of women’s empowerment in Pakistan. Emphasizing the importance of cultural and religious norms, empowerment is considered as a latent construct manifested through three distinct choice dimensions, viz., “self,” “familial,” and “economic.” For the empirical estimation, a structural equation model is used on the country-representative Impact Evaluation Survey data of 2015–16 for the Benazir Income Support Program. The measurement model identifies various indicators for the dimensions considered. The results confirm the importance of providing cash transfers to the country's poorest women in all three dimensions, while the impact on self-choices is almost 40% that of the impact on the other two aspects of empowerment. Our findings provide recommendations for the successful implementation of social assistance programs.

Money for Landlords, Peanuts for Peasants: Uncovering the Inequality Embedded in an Unconditional Cash Transfer Program in India

Money for Landlords, Peanuts for Peasants: Uncovering the Inequality Embedded in an Unconditional Cash Transfer Program in India

Welfare Effects of a Permanent Unconditional Cash Transfer Program: Evidence from Maricá, Brazil

Welfare Effects of a Permanent Unconditional Cash Transfer Program: Evidence from Maricá, Brazil

Free money's ideological nature: A comparative analysis of unconditional cash transfers in Eastern Africa

AbstractThis article compares two East African unconditional cash transfer (UCT) programs and how they have been interpreted by their target populations. While the US‐American NGO GiveDirectly focuses on poor households in Western Kenya in an allegedly unbureaucratic and digital way, the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) distributes cash transfers in a bureaucratic and analogue manner in Tanzania. While the narrative of “free money” instilled fears about occult actors and skepticism toward political hierarchies in some recipients, others considered UCTs as offering an opportunity to enlarge their individual freedom. We argue that this radical difference with regard to how our interlocutors interpreted UCTs was catalyzed by the portrayal of “free money” as a context‐independent carrier and store of value or, in other words, by UCT's socially produced “indeterminacy.”

Cash Transfers and Social Capital: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Malawi

Abstract We examine the social capital implications of conditional and unconditional cash transfer (CCT) programs in Malawi, randomly assigning adolescent women and their households to either program or to a control group. Our results show that cash transfers have a positive aggregate effect on social capital, proxied by trust and gift giving. They also show positive intention-to-treat effects on both trust and gift giving in the short run but a negative spillover effect on gift giving in the long run. Moreover, we find that CCTs have greater positive effects on trust than the unconditional cash transfers (UCT). Further analyses reveal that adolescents with initial reciprocal beliefs drive the increase in trust. These results contribute to the current debate on whether CCTs or UCTs are better policy tools, adding the important ‘externality’ of social capital formation.

The Psychology of Poverty: A Replication Based on Zimbabwe's Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Programme

Abstract We perform a scientific replication of a recent paper in this journal that reports evidence from Malawi that an unconditional cash transfer programme affects psychological states, such as life satisfaction and subjective well-being, as well as economic decisions involving intertemporal choice. Using data from Zimbabwe, we find similar results. Together, these two studies are the first from outside a laboratory setting that support the idea that poverty can have psychological effects that in turn influence intertemporal choice in a way that perpetuates poverty. These results, if found to hold in diverse settings, open up the policy space for a broader range of interventions that could reduce the number of people living in poverty. As this is a relatively new idea in economics with important policy implications, replicating these results in other settings is important before they can be widely generalised.

Does social assistance disincentivise employment, job formality, and mobility?

How do cash transfers affect employment, job formality, and mobility, especially in times of crises and economic recovery? I examine this question in the context of Indonesia’s major unconditional cash transfer (UCT) programmes, rolled out in a targeted manner in response to adverse economic shocks. Identification is based on a generalised difference-in-differences with propensity score matching approach exploiting three waves of nationally representative longitudinal data on household transfer receipts and labour market outcomes. Annual retrospective data in each survey wave allows me to look at immediate effects, potentially important due to the transient nature of the transfers. Consistent with the income and substitution effects, when cash transfers are distributed using a more precise proxy-means test and current, dynamic welfare information, beneficiaries are more likely to adjust their labour supply in order to qualify for or maintain their benefits. Individuals with lower skill levels show a more pronounced response, with a significant decrease in both employment and job formality. The larger effect on job formality highlights the importance of the adjustment margin through the substitution effect associated with the targeting design.

The dose-response association between LEAP 1000 and birthweight – no clear mechanisms: a structural equation modeling approach

BackgroundBirthweight is an important indicator of maternal and fetal health globally. The multifactorial origins of birthweight suggest holistic programs that target biological and social risk factors have great potential to improve birthweight. In this study, we examine the dose-response association of exposure to an unconditional cash transfer program before delivery with birthweight and explore the potential mediators of the association.MethodsData for this study come from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 impact evaluation conducted between 2015 and 2017 among a panel sample of 2,331 pregnant and lactating women living in rural households of Northern Ghana. The LEAP 1000 program provided bi-monthly cash transfers and premium fee waivers to enroll in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We used adjusted and unadjusted linear and logistic regression models to estimate the associations of months of LEAP 1000 exposure before delivery with birthweight and low birthweight, respectively. We used covariate-adjusted structural equation models (SEM) to examine mediation of the LEAP 1000 dose-response association with birthweight by household food insecurity and maternal-level (agency, NHIS enrollment, and antenatal care) factors.ResultsOur study included a sample of 1,439 infants with complete information on birthweight and date of birth. Nine percent of infants (N = 129) were exposed to LEAP 1000 before delivery. A 1-month increase in exposure to LEAP 1000 before delivery was associated with a 9-gram increase in birthweight and 7% reduced odds of low birthweight, on average, in adjusted models. We found no mediation effect by household food insecurity, NHIS enrollment, women’s agency, or antenatal care visits.ConclusionsLEAP 1000 cash transfer exposure before delivery was positively associated with birthweight, though we did not find any mediation by household- or maternal-level factors. The results of our mediation analyses may serve to inform program operations and improve targeting and programming to optimize health and well-being among this population.Trial RegistrationThe evaluation is registered in the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation’s (3ie) Registry for International Development Impact Evaluations (RIDIESTUDY- ID-55942496d53af) and in the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR202110669615387).

Ghana's Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (1000) Program Seasonally Impacts Birthweight: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis.

Objectives: Low birthweight (LBW) prevalence remains high in African countries and evidence of cash transfer impacts on birthweight, particularly by season of infant birth, is limited. This study examines overall and seasonal cash transfer impacts on LBW in rural Ghana. Methods: Data come from a longitudinal, quasi-experimental impact evaluation of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1,000 unconditional cash transfer program for impoverished pregnant or lactating women in rural districts of Northern Ghana. LEAP1000 program impacts on average birthweight and LBW were estimated for a multiply imputed sample of 3,258 and a panel sample of 1,567 infants using differences-in-differences models and triple difference models to assess impacts by season. Results: LEAP1000 decreased LBW prevalence by 3.5 and 4.1 percentage points overall and in the dry season, respectively. LEAP1000 increased average birthweight by 94, 109, and 79g overall, in the dry season, and in the rainy season, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings of positive LEAP1000 impacts on birthweight across seasons and on LBW in the dry season demonstrate the need to take seasonal vulnerabilities into account when designing and implementing programs for rural populations in Africa.

Effects of cash transfers on household resilience to climate shocks in the arid and semi arid counties of northern Kenya

ABSTRACT Climatic events and other natural-related disasters experienced in the arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya negatively affect the pastoral livelihoods of the communities. Addressing vulnerability to climate shocks among pastoral communities of Kenya’s Arid and Semi-lands presents a persistent challenge. Cash transfer programmes have increasingly grown as one mode of building household resilience. Understanding the role of cash transfer interventions on household resilience to climate shocks is key to policy programming. This paper aimed at determining the effects of cash transfers on household resilience to climate shocks. The paper evaluated the Hunger Safety Net Program, which is one of the largest unconditional cash transfer programs in Kenya. The Hunger Safety Net Program targeted poor people in northern Kenya including the counties of Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit, and Mandera. To establish the impact the paper compares households which received cash transfers with those that did not receive transfers. The panel fixed effects model was used to determine the effects of cash transfers on household resilience. The results indicate that cash transfers have positive significant effects on household resilience to climate shocks.

Does Relative Deprivation Condition the Effects of Social Protection Programs on Political Support? Experimental Evidence from Pakistan

AbstractCould perceived relative economic standing affect citizens’ support for political leaders and institutions? We explore this question by examining Pakistan's national unconditional cash transfer program, the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). Leveraging a regression discontinuity approach using BISP's administrative data and an original survey experiment, we find that perceptions of relative deprivation color citizen reactions to social protection. When citizens do not feel relatively deprived, receiving cash transfers has little sustained effect on individuals’ reported level of support for their political system and its leaders. However, when citizens feel relatively worse off, those receiving cash transfers become more politically satisfied while those denied transfers become more politically disgruntled. Moreover, the magnitude of the reduction in political support among non‐beneficiaries is larger than the magnitude of the increase in political support among beneficiaries. This has important implications for our understanding of the political ramifications of rising perceived inequality.

The impacts of cash transfers on household energy choices

AbstractThere are sizeable energy access deficits in the developing world. Leveraging panel data from the experimental impact evaluations of three unconditional cash transfer programs in Malawi and Zambia, we investigate how ultra‐poor households in rural areas adapt their energy portfolios when experiencing exogenous increases in income. Households make several changes to the primary fuel sources that they use on a regular basis after receiving 3 to 4 years of transfers—moving from fires to torches for lighting purposes and reducing collected firewood use for cooking purposes. In general, households are more likely to make income‐induced adjustments to lighting fuels than to cooking fuels. While facilitating some movement away from firewood (arguably the most inferior energy source), the unconditional cash transfers rarely enable households to completely abandon this fuel. This is understandable given the range of pressing needs facing the beneficiary households—such as food security, the enhancement of which is the primary purpose of the transfer programs. Although recipient households are able to meet a greater share of their energy needs with relatively improved fuels (such as charcoal/coal in Zambia) and obtain assets for generating solar power, the observed impacts are unlikely to be large enough to lead to meaningful health impacts (such as lower respiratory disease via reductions in indoor air pollution). However, the cash transfers appear to enhance well‐being in other ways through the energy use channel—for example, by reducing the time households spend foraging for fuel resources.

Cost and cost-efficiency of unconditional cash transfers in Tahoua, Niger

ABSTRACT We compared the costs and cost-efficiency of two unconditional cash transfer (UCT) programs in southern Niger – a ‘standard’ four-month program implemented during the June-September lean season and a six-month ‘modified’ UCT implemented April-September – each providing the same total cash transfer. The standard UCT was more cost-efficient based on all metrics. However, costs to beneficiaries were unevenly distributed due to program design decisions about cash delivery mechanisms, which eroded the net transfer value for some beneficiaries more than others. Beyond this finding, we contribute to the advancement of costing studies through the descriptive detail and transparent reporting of our analysis.

An Unconditional Cash Transfer Program for Low-Income New Yorkers Affected by COVID-19.

Early in the pandemic, New York City’s public hospital system partnered with multiple philanthropic foundations to offer an unconditional cash transfer program for low-income New Yorkers affected by COVID-19. The $1000 cash transfers were designed to help people meet their most immediate health and social needs and were incorporated into healthcare delivery and contact tracing workflows as a response to the public health emergency. To better understand program recipients’ experiences, researchers conducted 150 telephone surveys with randomly sampled cash transfer recipients and 20 in-depth qualitative interviews with purposefully sampled survey participants. Survey participants were predominantly Latinx (87%) and women (65%). The most common reported uses of the $1000 were food and rent. Most participants (79%) reported that without the $1000 cash transfer they would have had difficulty paying for basic expenses or making ends meet, with specific positive effects reported related to food, housing, and ability to work. The majority of survey participants reported that receiving the cash assistance somewhat or greatly improved their physical health (83%) and mental health (89%). Qualitative interview results generally supported the survey findings.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11524-022-00693-9.

The Welfare Effects of Social Assistance Programs for Women in India

Literature has established that the alarming female poverty rate is a crucial factor contributing to missing older women in India. Given this, the following research examines the role of an unconditional cash transfer programme (Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme) implemented in India on the household budget share incurred on cereals, pulses, vegetables; fruits and nuts, meat; eggs and fish, milk and milk products when the program recipient is an elderly woman. The paper uses the longitudinal household-level data (2004–05 and 2011–12) released by the India Human Development Survey and utilises a quasi-experimental framework of propensity score matching combined with fixed effects to estimate the effects of the pension on the disaggregated food budget share incurred by the pension recipient households. The findings in this paper suggest that women’s access to pension has a positive effect on budget share allocated on vegetables, fruits and nuts and meat, fish and eggs. The positive effects persist for continuous program recipients. Further, to address any concerns on endogeneity, an instrumental variable strategy has been used. This paper provides evidence that female pension recipient households in India do move towards nutrient-rich food items.

Determinants of Expenditure Patterns of Unconditional Cash Transfer Receipts in Kenya

Cash transfers take different forms -- unconditional or conditional. Higher- and middle-income Kenyans support the poor through cash and in-kind transfers. These private/individual transfers supplement the Government’s own cash and in-kind transfer programmes. Non-profit institutions and corporate sector are also involved in cash and in-kind transfers. However, some policy makers and others are skeptical about the viability of unconditional cash transfer programmes. They fear that poor households will use such cash transfers to buy alcohol, tobacco, or other “temptation goods.”This paper aims at: establishing the determinants of the items on which unconditional cash transfers are spent at the household level; determining if the concern often expressed by policy makers and others that poor households will use cash transfers to buy the so called “temptation goods” is justified; and determining if a case can be made for unconditional cash transfer in Kenya. We employed a multivariate regression technique to establish the determinants of cash transfer expenditures, using nationally representative household survey data. Our findings show that unconditional cash transfers are spent on food, education/school fees, health, investment/business, rent/housing, clothing, debt repayment, and others. Overall, households in Kenya seem to make “sensible” decisions in their expenditure of such income. They spend the money on items that are in line with their socioeconomic situation. The highest proportion of such income is spent on education which they consider as investment in human capital of their children. Next is expenditure on food and the pattern is consistent with our prior expectations. Expenditures on the so called “temptation goods” seem to be very small, if at all. These key priority expenditure patterns seem to invalidate the concern that cash transfers may be just “handouts” that promote purchase of the so-called “temptation goods” in addition to leading to dependency. Factors that influence how the recipients spend the cash include the household’s poverty severity rating, food poverty rating, location (urban or rural), nutritional status and gender and education level of head of household.In light of the above findings, when planning and executing government’s social protection programmes, the recipients should be given greater say than has been the case hitherto. During the disruptive times, there are opportunities for innovation in policy formulation and management of cash transfer programmes, especially the unconditional ones. The Government, donors, corporate and NGO sectors should be open to such innovations and the beneficiaries should be given lee-way in deciding how to spend the money, especially in disruptive times. This would improve effectiveness and sustainability of such programmes. Keywords: Cash transfer, multivariate regression, E-Views, pooled panel data DOI: 10.7176/JESD/13-4-05 Publication date: February 28 th 2022

Does the unconditional cash transfer program in South Africa provide support for women after child birth? Barriers to accessing the child support grant among women in informal work in Durban, South Africa

BackgroundThe child support grant (CSG) is the largest unconditional cash transfer program in Africa and aims to alleviate poverty and improve child health and nutrition in low-income families in South Africa. Among informal working women, the CSG is an important source of income after childbirth when informal workers are unable to work, but reports suggest that women experience delays in accessing the CSG. We explore experiences and challenges of accessing the CSG among informal workers in Durban, South Africa.MethodsWe undertook a longitudinal mixed-methods cohort study. Women informal workers were recruited during pregnancy and followed-up for up to one year after the baby was born. Quantitative questionnaires and semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to collect data about women’s plans for applying for the CSG, the application process, use of the CSG in the household, and household food insecurity. Interviews were conducted in IsiZulu by experienced researchers. Descriptive analysis of quantitative data used SPSS v26, and framework analysis using NVIVO v12.3 was used for qualitative analysis.ResultsTwenty-four informal working women were enrolled. The CSG received for older children was reported as an important and reliable source of income for mothers after childbirth. However, delays receiving the CSG for the new baby meant this support was unavailable to first-time mothers. The complex application process for the CSG required mothers to travel to various government departments to complete the required documentation, often taking the baby with them. This was costly and time-consuming for mothers who were already vulnerable, and led to delays in obtaining CSG funds. Many women experienced moderate or severe food insecurity before and after the baby was born. As a result, some mothers had to return to work earlier than planned, disrupting childcare and breastfeeding.ConclusionsCash transfer programmes can effectively support low income households and improve outcomes for mothers and children. In South Africa there is a need for innovative approaches to streamline CSG applications, so women can access the funds immediately post-delivery to fill a resource gap and provide support at a vulnerable time for mothers and their children.

The gift of free money: on the indeterminacy of unconditional cash transfers in western Kenya

AbstractIn the area surrounding the western Kenyan market town of Kaleko, almost half of the households targeted by the NGO GiveDirectly refused to participate in an unconditional cash transfer programme. Based on interviews and repeated visits to Kaleko over the last ten years, the article illuminates the reasons for the high refusal rate. Instead of understanding it as a technical problem to be fixed, the article situates it in local understandings of the economy as relational. Observing that different actors understood the transfer differently (e.g. as embedded in market exchanges with occult actors, asymmetrical gift relations, or political redistribution schemes), the article concludes that it was difficult for GiveDirectly to control how its cash transfer programme was interpreted locally because it did not accept the paradoxical nature of ‘the gift of free money’. If actors oppose money conceptually to the free gift, interpretations of unconditional cash are bound to be multiple and the transfer will remain indeterminable.