Work

Medium- and Long-Term Educational Consequences of Alternative Conditional Cash Transfer Designs: Experimental Evidence from Colombia

Year: 2017

Type: report

Abstract: We show that three Colombian conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs for secondary schools improve educational outcomes eight and 12 years after random assignment relative to a control group. Forcing families to save a portion of the transfers until they make enrollment decisions for the next academic year increases on-time enrollment in secondary school, reduces dropout rates, and promotes tertiary enrollment and completion in the long-term. Traditionally structured bimonthly transfers improve on-time enrollment and high school exit exam completion rates in the medium term, but do not affect long-term tertiary outcomes. A delayed transfer that directly incentivizes tertiary enrollment promotes secondary school on-time enrollment and enrollment—only in lower-quality tertiary institutions—in the medium term but not the long term.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w23275

Authors: Felipe Barrera-Osorio, Leigh Linden, Juan Saavedra

Institutions: University of Southern California, National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University, The University of Texas at Austin

Language: English

Topic: Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, No poverty, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation