On the Design of Educational Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and Their Impact on Non-Education Outcomes: The Case of Teenage Pregnancy

Abstract

Using a simple model to characterize adolescents’ behavior, we show that the effect of educational Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs on teenage pregnancy depends on the limits and conditions of the programs. The model shows that when benefits are conditional on school success or when the program has a binding duration limit, the CCT reduces teenage pregnancy rates. Using original data, we estimate this relation for two different CCT programs implemented in Bogotá, Colombia. The two programs differ in that only one of them conditions benefit renewal on school success. The empirical results are consistent with the predictions of the model. Only the program that conditions renewal of the transfer, reduces average teenage pregnancy rates. We also find that, also consistent with our model, the other program reduces teenage pregnancy rates only for those girls for which the duration limit is binding.

The effect of education on teenage fertility: causal evidence for Argentina

“…Our results are in line with those reported by Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016, Berthelon andKruger (2011), andNovella andRipani (2016), but they contradict recent evidence from Alzúa et al (2016). The conflicting evidence may be due to Argentina's specific characteristics, which are different from the rest of the region.…”

“…On the one hand, the cross-country analysis of Alzúa et al (2016) based on 22 LAC countries 6 finds that education has no impact on teenage fertility for the region. On the other hand, there is evidence that education negatively affects teenage fertility for Colombia, Chile, and the Dominican Republic (Cortés et al 2010(Cortés et al , 2016Berthelon and Kruger 2011;and Novella and Ripani 2016). The evidence gap for LAC countries may be attributed to the country-specific factors analyzed by Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 Chile, Novella and Ripani (2016) for the Dominican Republic, and Alzúa et al (2016) for the entire LAC region.…”

“…Also, due to methodological differences, the impacts they intend to capture are different. While Alzúa et al (2016) and Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 try to capture the impact of an increase in years of education, Berthelon and Kruger (2011) capture the impact of an increase in the length of school day and Novella and Ripani (2016) capture the impact of non-formal education (from a job training program). Although both Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 and Alzúa et al (2016) attempt to estimate the impact of years of schooling, they exploit different sources of exogenous variation in education with different levels of compliances.…”

“…While Alzúa et al (2016) and Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 try to capture the impact of an increase in years of education, Berthelon and Kruger (2011) capture the impact of an increase in the length of school day and Novella and Ripani (2016) capture the impact of non-formal education (from a job training program). Although both Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 and Alzúa et al (2016) attempt to estimate the impact of years of schooling, they exploit different sources of exogenous variation in education with different levels of compliances. In Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016, compliance is very high because they exploit a CCT program for which the cash transfer is conditional on school attendance (and academic performance); Alzúa et al (2016) rely on mandatory schooling laws, which are difficult to enforce (particularly in economies with high informality, such as LAC countries).…”

“…Although both Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016 and Alzúa et al (2016) attempt to estimate the impact of years of schooling, they exploit different sources of exogenous variation in education with different levels of compliances. In Cortés et al (2010Cortés et al ( , 2016, compliance is very high because they exploit a CCT program for which the cash transfer is conditional on school attendance (and academic performance); Alzúa et al (2016) rely on mandatory schooling laws, which are difficult to enforce (particularly in economies with high informality, such as LAC countries). This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of education on teenage fertility for Argentina and helps to shed light on the conflicting evidence for LAC.…”