Poverty, Irrationality, and the Value of Cash Transfers

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Daniel Acland
Keyword(s):  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Net Benefit ◽  
Value Of Cash ◽  
Rational Preferences

Abstract It has been demonstrated that irrationality reduces the efficiency of individuals’ allocations, as measured by their “true” or rational preferences. There is also evidence that poverty increases irrationality of different sorts. As a result, the net benefit to society of a cash transfer from taxpayers to welfare recipients may not be zero. The fact that the transfer will be allocated less efficiently by the recipients than by the taxpayers will reduce the value of the transfer, while if the transfer increases recipients’ rationality, it will increase the efficiency of the allocation of their pretransfer budgets, thus increasing the value of the transfer. The net effect on society will be positive or negative, depending in large part on the degree to which the transfer increases rationality. I model these effects in the context of present-biased preferences and explore the effect of irrationality, income, and the size of transfer on the value of transfers. I conclude that under a plausible range of conditions, transfers can generate a substantial positive net benefit. I also model the choices of a fully rational paternalist and find little support for paternalistic in-kind transfers.

Nesting Expectations: What Can the Mexican and Argentinean Cash Transfers Tell Us about the Development of Development?

1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Andrés Dapuez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Transfer Programs

Latin American cash transfer programs have been implemented aiming at particular anticipatory scenarios. Given that the fulfillment of cash transfer objectives can be calculated neither empirically nor rationally a priori, I analyse these programs in this article using the concept of an “imaginary future.” I posit that cash transfer implementers in Latin America have entertained three main fictional expectations: social pacification in the short term, market inclusion in the long term, and the construction of a more distributive society in the very long term. I classify and date these developing expectations into three waves of conditional cash transfers implementation.

Effect of Cash Transfer on School Dropout Rates using Longitudinal Data Modelling: A Randomized Trial of Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of girls (RISE) in Zambia

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 507-515
Author(s):  
Mutale Sampa ◽  
Choolwe Jacobs ◽  
Patrick Musonda
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Trial ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
School Dropout ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Dropout Rates ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Rural Zambia

Background: School dropout rates, as well as early marriages and pregnancies, are high among adolescent girls in rural Zambia. In the quest to fight this, the Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of girls (RISE) trial has been providing cash transfers and community dialogues to adolescent girls in rural Zambia. The overall goal of the study was to establish the effects of cash transfers on adolescent girls’ school dropout rates in selected provinces of Zambia. Methods: The study was nested in the RISE trial which is a cluster randomized trial conducted in Central and Southern provinces of Zambia. A total of 3500 adolescent girls were included in the study. Random intercepts model was used to model the individual effects estimates, taking account of the dependency that was likely to occur due to the repeated measurements and clustering in the study. Results: Girls who were married or cohabiting and girls who had given birth, were significantly less likely to be in school (OR=0.004, 95% CI {0.001-0.02}, p-value=<0.0001) and (OR=0.003, 95% CI {0.02-0.04}, p-value=<0.0001) respectively. Consistently receiving cash transfers increased the chance of a girl being in school (OR=8.51, 95% CI {4.50-16.08}, p-value=<0.0001). There was an indication that the combined intervention arm had a reduced chance of girls being in school, however, we could not rule out chance finding (OR=0.89, 95% CI {0.59-1.36}, p=0.606). Conclusion: The study found that marriage or cohabiting and giving birth whilst in school reduce the chances of the girl continuing schooling. No significant association could be attributed to the type of intervention, However, consistent receipt of cash transfers was shown to be a protective factor of school dropout rates in the study.

In-cash Transfers: from Passive to Empowered Beneficiaries in the Global South

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Katarina Pitasse Fragoso
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Public Services ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Public Policy Decisions

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in discussions advocating in-cash programmes as a way to alleviate poverty. Indeed, this represents a leap forward in comparison to in-kind programmes. However, little progress, at least in developing countries, has been achieved in answering the question of how the state should transfer the means of redressing deprivation to those who are living in poverty. This article addresses this issue by challenging anti-poverty programmes through a social-egalitarian framework. My main argument starts from the perspective that in-cash transfers are a necessary but not sufficient mechanism for poverty alleviation. I acknowledge that cash alone does not guarantee the poor an equally active role in influencing the public-policy decisions that affect their lives. I then suggest a participatory device to complement the cash-transfer proposal in order to give institutional opportunities to the poor to decide, together with practitioners, what should be done at the level of local public services.

scholarly journals Shonjibon cash and counselling: a community-based cluster randomised controlled trial to measure the effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers and mobile behaviour change communications to reduce child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanvir M. Huda ◽  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Tazeen Tahsina ◽  
Mohammad Mehedi Hasan ◽  
Afrin Iqbal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Child Undernutrition ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfers

Abstract Background Undernutrition is strongly associated with poverty - levels of undernutrition are higher in poor countries than in better-off countries. Social protection especially cash transfer is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to accelerate progress in improving maternal and child nutrition. A critical method to improve nutrition knowledge and influence feeding practices is through behaviour change communication intervention. The Shonjibon Cash and Counselling study aims to assess the effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers combined with a mobile application on nutrition counselling and direct counselling through mobile phone in reducing the prevalence of stunting in children at 18 months. Method The study is a longitudinal cluster randomised controlled trial, with two parallel groups, and cluster assignment by groups of villages. The cohort of mother-child dyads will be followed-up over the intervention period of approximately 24 months, starting from recruitment to 18 months of the child’s age. The study will take place in north-central Bangladesh. The primary trial outcome will be the percentage of stunted children at 18 m as measured in follow up assessments starting from birth. The secondary trial outcomes will include differences between treatment arms in (1) Mean birthweight, percentage with low birthweight and small for gestational age (2) Mean child length-for age, weight for age and weight-for-length Z scores (3) Prevalence of child wasting (4) Percentage of women exclusively breastfeeding and mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding (5) Percentage of children consuming > 4 food groups (6) Mean child intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat and micronutrients (7) Percentage of women at risk of inadequate nutrient intakes in all three trimesters (8) Maternal weight gain (9) Household food security (10) Number of events for child suffering from diarrhoea, acute respiratory illness and fever (11) Average costs of mobile phone BCC and cash transfer, and benefit-cost ratio for primary and secondary outcomes. Discussion The proposed trial will provide high-level evidence of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of mobile phone nutrition behavior change communication, combined with unconditional cash transfers in reducing child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh. Trial registration The study has been registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12618001975280).

Cash transfers and the social determinants of health: Towards an initial realist program theory

Evaluation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Owusu-Addo ◽  
Andre M. N. Renzaho ◽  
Ben J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Program Theory ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The Social

Cash transfers are a widely adopted social policy initiative for addressing poverty and vulnerability. Cash transfers’ exponential growth in low- and middle-income countries provides a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of how they work to impact the social determinants of health. This article reports on a realist qualitative approach to developing an initial program theory about the role of cash transfers in tackling the social determinants of health. A set of 12 initial hypotheses regarding how cash transfers might work to address the social determinants of health were developed from the data. Cash transfer key mechanisms of change found in the study included political will and leadership and news media framing at the macro level, collaboration and intersectoral working at the meso level, and household motivation, empowerment, choice making, awareness raising and risk-taking behaviour at the micro level. This study has developed initial hypotheses that can be tested and refined in future studies using a realist approach.

The Anti-Incumbent Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Sanches Corrêa ◽  
José Antonio Cheibub
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfer ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs ◽  
Latin American Countries

AbstractScholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti-incumbent effects.

scholarly journals Cash Transfers and Child Nutrition: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oladayo Nathaniel Awojobi
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Randomised Controlled Trials ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Nutritional Outcomes

This paper summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on cash transfers and child nutrition. The main purpose of the research is to assess the effectiveness of cash transfers in improving nutritional outcomes in vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa. Systematisation of the literary sources indicates that studies have justified cash transfer as social-income support that addresses a vital social determinant of health (income) for children in low-and-middle-income countries. The methodological basis of this study is a systematic review that searched a wide range of academic and grey literature databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. This study included cluster-randomised controlled trials (R.C.T.s), randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, mixed-methods studies, and non-randomised cluster trials. Studies included in this systematic review were screened for their eligibility. The systematic review uses the Cochrane data collection form to extract data from the included studies. It was not feasible to statistically combine the results of the studies due to the heterogeneity of most of the studies. Preferably, the review employs a narrative synthesis to present the estimated effects of cash transfers on children’s nutritional outcomes. The systematic review presents the results of data synthesis, of which eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the evidence from the systematic review indicates that cash transfer programmes targeted at children effectively improve anthropometric and nutritional outcomes. Further research is needed to spell out the multiple pathways to how cash transfers improve children’s nutritional outcomes. Moreover, this systematic review shows the importance of cash transfers in improving child nutrition. Policymakers should continue to employ institutional mechanisms to strengthen the nutritional status of children, especially the vulnerable ones since cash transfer intervention is a temporary measure.

scholarly journals The Determinant of Participation in The Social Activities: Case in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Bayu Kharisma
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Credit Association ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfers ◽  
The Impact

One of the most issues debated in the social capital literature is the unconditional cash transfer effect on social capital, especially regarding the potential of unmeasured targeted mechanisms at the community level about social relations. This article aims to identify the determinant of social capital in the form of household participation in social activities and the impact of unconditional cash transfers (BLT) on participation in social activities in Indonesia by using differences-differences approach (DID). The results showed that the most influential factor on household participation in social activities is the education level of the head of the household and the members of the productive age group. Meanwhile, unconditional cash transfers policy has a positive effect on the rotating saving and credit association. Thus, participation in social activities undertaken by the community undoubtedly has an important element in the success of government programs.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v7i2.7365

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (03) ◽  
pp. 569-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCESCA BASTAGLI ◽  
JESSICA HAGEN-ZANKER ◽  
LUKE HARMAN ◽  
VALENTINA BARCA ◽  
GEORGINA STURGE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evidence Base ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractThis article presents the findings of a review of the impact of non-contributory cash transfers on individuals and households in low- and middle-income countries, covering the literature of 15 years, from 2000 to 2015. Based on evidence extracted from 165 studies, retrieved through a systematic search and screening process, this article discusses the impact of cash transfers on 35 indicators covering six outcome areas: monetary poverty; education; health and nutrition; savings, investment and production; work; and empowerment. For most of the studies, cash transfers contributed to progress in the selected indicators in the direction intended by policymakers. Despite variations in the size and strength of the underlying evidence base by outcome and indicator, this finding is consistent across all outcome areas. The article also investigates unintended effects of cash transfer receipt, such as potential reductions in adult work effort and increased fertility, finding limited evidence for such unintended effects. Finally, the article highlights gaps in the evidence base and areas which would benefit from additional future research.

Social Cash Transfers in the Global South

2018 ◽  
pp. 139-212
Author(s):  
Lutz Leisering
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Systemic Approach ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Social Cash Transfers

Social cash transfers have mushroomed in the global South since the 2000s. This chapter maps the new landscape of cash transfers. What programmes have emerged in which countries, and how firmly are they institutionalized? How inclusive are the programmes, who is included, and who is left behind? Do cash transfers contribute to social citizenship? How do countries and continents differ? The chapter draws on a unique self-constructed database, which covers all identifiable cash transfer programmes in all Southern countries, and defines new indicators of inclusiveness. While the literature focuses on cash transfer programmes, the chapter focuses on entitlements to cash transfers (entitlement approach) and on cash transfer regimes (the ensemble of all cash transfer programmes in a country; systemic approach). The analysis reveals a massive spread of entitlements, with limitations, and great variations between programmes and between countries, indicating different notions of who is deserving and who is not.

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