Work

The Impact of a Large-Scale Poverty-Targeted Cash Transfer Program on Intertemporal Choice

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: We use a social experiment to test whether the government of Zambia’s cash transfer program affects intertemporal choice. A cash transfer program may also alter expectations about future quality of life and make one happier, two conditions that can affect intertemporal decision-making and the desire to invest in the future. We find that the program affects time discounting and that psychological states are also strongly associated with time discounting, but psychological states do not mediate the effect of the cash transfer on time discounting.

Source: Economic Development and Cultural Change

DOI: 10.1086/702997

Authors: Sudhanshu Handa, David Seidenfeld, Gelson Tembo

Institutions: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, American Institutes for Research, University of Zambia

Language: English

Topic: Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: No poverty

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: UNICEF, Department for International Development