Wealth Differentials in the Impact of Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfers on Education: Findings from a Community-Randomised Controlled Trial in Zimbabwe
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We investigated (1) how household wealth affected the relationship
between conditional cash transfers (CCT) and unconditional cash
transfers (UCT) and school attendance, (2) whether CCT and UCT
affected educational outcomes (repeating a year of school), (3) if
baseline school attendance and transfer conditions affected how
much of the transfers participants spent on education and (4) if CCT
or UCT reduced child labour in recipient households. Data were
analysed from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of CCT and UCT
in 4043 households from 2009 to 2010. Recipient households received
$18 dollars per month plus $4 per child. CCT were conditioned on
above 80% school attendance, a full vaccination record and a birth
certificate. In the poorest quintile, the odds ratio of above 80% school
attendance at follow-up for those with below 80% school attendance
at baseline was 1.06 (p = .67) for UCT vs. CCT. UCT recipients reported
spending slightly more (46.1% (45.4–46.7)) of the transfer on school
expenses than did CCT recipients (44.8% (44.1–45.5)). Amongst
those with baseline school attendance of below 80%, there was no
statistically significant difference between CCT and UCT participants
in the proportion of the transfer spent on school expenses (p = .63).
Amongst those with above 80% baseline school attendance, CCT
participants spent 3.5% less (p = .001) on school expenses than UCT
participants. UCT participants were no less likely than those in the
control group to repeat a grade of school. CCT participants had .69
(.60–.79) lower odds vs. control of repeating the previous school
grade. Children in CCT recipient households spent an average of .31
fewer hours in paid work than those in the control group (p < .001)
and children in the UCT arm spent an average of .15 fewer hours in
paid work each week than those in the control arm (p = .06).
between conditional cash transfers (CCT) and unconditional cash
transfers (UCT) and school attendance, (2) whether CCT and UCT
affected educational outcomes (repeating a year of school), (3) if
baseline school attendance and transfer conditions affected how
much of the transfers participants spent on education and (4) if CCT
or UCT reduced child labour in recipient households. Data were
analysed from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of CCT and UCT
in 4043 households from 2009 to 2010. Recipient households received
$18 dollars per month plus $4 per child. CCT were conditioned on
above 80% school attendance, a full vaccination record and a birth
certificate. In the poorest quintile, the odds ratio of above 80% school
attendance at follow-up for those with below 80% school attendance
at baseline was 1.06 (p = .67) for UCT vs. CCT. UCT recipients reported
spending slightly more (46.1% (45.4–46.7)) of the transfer on school
expenses than did CCT recipients (44.8% (44.1–45.5)). Amongst
those with baseline school attendance of below 80%, there was no
statistically significant difference between CCT and UCT participants
in the proportion of the transfer spent on school expenses (p = .63).
Amongst those with above 80% baseline school attendance, CCT
participants spent 3.5% less (p = .001) on school expenses than UCT
participants. UCT participants were no less likely than those in the
control group to repeat a grade of school. CCT participants had .69
(.60–.79) lower odds vs. control of repeating the previous school
grade. Children in CCT recipient households spent an average of .31
fewer hours in paid work than those in the control group (p < .001)
and children in the UCT arm spent an average of .15 fewer hours in
paid work each week than those in the control arm (p = .06).
Date Issued
2016-02-22
Date Acceptance
2015-11-27
Citation
Psychology, Health & Medicine, 2016, 21 (8), pp.909-917
ISSN
1354-8506
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Start Page
909
End Page
917
Journal / Book Title
Psychology, Health & Medicine
Volume
21
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
Licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
Licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Grant Number
084401/Z/07/Z
Subjects
Cash transfers
Zimbabwe
education
wealth inequalities
Public Health
1701 Psychology
1503 Business And Management
Publication Status
Published