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Does Child Sponsorship Pay off in Adulthood? An International Study of Impacts on Income and Wealth

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: We estimate the impact of international child sponsorship on adult income and wealth of formerly sponsored children using data on 10,144 individuals in six countries. To identify causal effects, we utilize an age-eligibility rule followed from 1980 to 1992 that limited sponsorship to children 12 years old or younger when the program was introduced in a village, allowing comparisons of sponsored children with older siblings who were slightly too old to be sponsored. Estimations indicate that international child sponsorship increased monthly income by $13-17 over an untreated baseline of $75, principally from inducing higher future labor market participation. We find evidence for positive impacts on dwelling quality in adulthood, and modest evidence of impacts on ownership of consumer durables in adulthood, limited to increased ownership of mobile phones. Finally, our results also show modest effects of child sponsorship on childbearing in adulthood.

Source: The World Bank Economic Review

DOI: 10.1093/wber/lhv081

Authors: Bruce Wydick, Paul Glewwe, Laine Rutledge

Institutions: University of San Francisco, University of Minnesota, University of Washington

Language: English

Topic: Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: No poverty, Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development