Smoothing, discounting, and demand for intra-household control for recipients of conditional cash transfers

Abstract

Inter-temporal preferences are important determinants of investment decisions, including investments in human capital. Yet, little is known about these preferences for recipients of conditional cash transfers (CCTs). We simultaneously estimate utility curvature (preference for consumption smoothing), discounting, and present biasedness for such recipients. We also introduce a financially motivated method of measuring willingness to forgo funds to control household finances. We find that female participants in a CCT program in Guatemala have very high degrees of utility curvature and low discount factors, which may lead to low levels of investment by participants in the human capital of the household. We also find that intra-household conflict is not significantly related to consumption smoothing, discounting, or present bias.

Intra-household allocation with shared expenditure choices: experimental evidence from Filipino migrants

“…Our results highlight significant differences between intra-and interhousehold transfers where the former lean towards more productive (investmenttype) goods. This conclusion supports the policy design of conditional cash transfers programs based on the intra-household transfer hypothesis (see, for instance recently, Bergolo andGalván 2018 andAycinena et al 2019).…”

Discounting and Digit Ratio: Low 2D:4D Predicts Patience for a Sample of Females

“…To maximize comparability, we restricted attention to female ENCOVI respondents in a comparable age bracket. For detailed results of this comparison, see Aycinena et al ( 2015 ). Not surprisingly, there are limitations with the comparison between our sample and the ENCOVI data.…”