Are Cash Transfers Made to Women Spent Like Other Sources of Income?

Abstract

The Impact Evaluation Series has been established in recognition of the importance of impact evaluation studies for World Bank operations and for development in general. The series serves as a vehicle for the dissemination of findings of those studies. Papers in this series are part of the Bank's Policy Research Working Paper Series. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Consumption and Investment in Nicaragua

“…Estimated average effects of RPS on educational expenditures were also significant; for example, in 2002 the effect was about C$ 320, slightly larger than the per student value of the educational supplies transfer in Phase I (C$ 275). The observed increases in expenditures on food and education are also consistent with evidence that additional resources in the hands of women (recall that 95% of the designated household representatives, the only persons eligible to receive the transfers, were women) often lead to increased expenditures in these areas (Thomas, 1990;Schady and Rosero, 2007;Gitter and Barham, 2008).…”

The Effect of Cash, Vouchers, and Food Transfers on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador

“…Many studies have shown that cash transfer programs increase the share of food in total consumption, counter to Engel's Law, suggesting that households treat transfer income differently (Angelucci and Attanasio 2013;Attanasio, Battistin, and Mesnard 2012;Gilligan et al 2014;Schady and Rosero 2008;Attanasio and Lechene 2014;Bobonis 2009). These studies argue that increases in food shares are likely due to shifts in intrahousehold bargaining that align resources more in a woman's favor.…”

Generosity and sharing among villagers: Do women give more?

“…We expect that sharing within the household would be higher than sharing among anonymous individuals since resources are shared within households, although the level of resource pooling would be different across households for various reasons. Previous empirical evidences on household spending behavior showed that income and assets controlled by women are associated with better household food consumption than similar endowments controlled by men (Doss, 2006;Hoddinott & Haddad, 1995;Schady & Rosero, 2008). However, it is not clear whether this is due to changes in priority of spending from the household budget or if women share more of their resources with their family than men do.…”