Beyond Cash: Assessing Externality and Behaviour Effects of Non-Experimental Cash Transfers

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Rights and PermissionsAll rights reserved.The text and data in this publication may be reproduced as long as the source is cited. Reproductions for commercial purposes are forbidden. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC -IG)Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco O, 7º andar 70052-900 Brasilia, DF -Brazil Telephone: +55 61 2105 5000 E-mail: ipc@ipc-undp.org URL: www.ipc-undp.orgThe International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth disseminates the findings of its work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. The papers are signed by the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions that they express are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the United Nations Development Programme or the Government of Brazil.Working Papers are available online at www.ipc-undp.org and subscriptions can be requested by email to ipc@ipc-undp.orgPrint ISSN: 1812-108X BEYOND CASH: ASSESSING EXTERNALITY AND BEHAVIOUR EFFECTS OF NON-EXPERIMENTAL CASH TRANSFERS *Rafael Perez Ribas,** Fábio Veras Soares,*** Clarissa Teixeira,*** Elydia Silva,**** and Guilherme Hirata,***** ABSTRACTIn this paper we propose a method to estimate externality effects in cash transfer programmes, even in cases when the benefit is not randomly assigned. Externality is assessed through the decomposition of the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) into participation (direct) effect and externality (indirect) effect. We also suggest a nonparametric decomposition to investigate whether changes in household outcomes are caused by the income transfer itself or by the other non-monetary components of the programme, such as conditionalities and family support services. We apply all these decompositions on the effect of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme on household consumption and savings in Paraguay. This was possible because of the presence of two distinct comparison groups, one within the village and potentially exposed to the externality, and another in a different village not affected by the programme. Furthermore, the evaluation survey collected information on both income and consumption. The results indicate that the programme has a small impact on consumption and a considerable impact on savings. In the absence of externality, however, the programme would have a higher effect on consumption, mostly associated wi...

The Impact of Cash Transfers: A Review of the Evidence from Low- and Middle-income Countries

“…Among the 31 studies reporting on impacts on food expenditure, 25 studies show at least one statistically significant effect, with 23 of these being an increase in food expenditure. Two studies report a decrease owing to a reduction in labour supply and possible prioritisation of savings over consumption (Dabalen et al, 2008;Ribas et al, 2010). Six studies find no significant impact, possibly due to changes in household behaviour or due to programme design and implementation features.…”