Download This PaperCash Transfer Programs and Household Labor Supply
35 Pages Posted: 6 Apr 2020 Last revised: 6 May 2025
Abstract
Employment helps reduce the risk of poverty. Through a randomized controlled trial, we evaluate the impact of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to low-income families with dependent children on household members' labor supply. Recipients are required to attend labor-market-oriented mentoring courses as a condition of the transfer. One year after admission to the program, fathers assigned to the CCT program are more likely to work (+14 percent) than fathers assigned to an unconditional cash transfer program or to a pure control group. No effect arises for mothers. Results seem to be explained by improved family networks and increased parental investments in activities that enhance labor market opportunities.
Keywords: household labor supply, poverty, conditional cash transfers, mentoring courses
JEL Classification: I10, I20, J24, I31
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