The No-Birth Bonus Scheme: The Use of Savings Accounts for Family Planning in South India

Ridker, Ronald G.

doi:10.2307/1972656

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The first was conducted on multiple tea estates in South India (Ridker, 1980). Husbands and wives were employed and lived on the same estate and tended to spend most of their lives on the same estate, which was responsible for health care costs (including those related to maternity/child health) as well as pensions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incentives to promote family planning

Heil

Gaalema

Herrmann

2012

Preventive Medicine

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Objective Over the past 60 years, population control has become an increasingly urgent issue worldwide as a growing population strains already limited resources. The use of financial incentives to promote family planning is an innovative approach that has potential to make a contribution to efforts to better manage population growth. This report reviews eight studies that examined the effect of incentives on family planning. Method Published studies that tested the impact of incentives to promote some aspect of family planning and included an appropriate control or comparison condition were reviewed. Results Incentives have been used to promote attendance at contraceptive education sessions, adoption and continuation of contraceptive methods, sterilization, and to limit family size. All but one of the eight studies reviewed reported positive outcomes, but weaknesses in study design and execution limit the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn. Conclusion Review of this literature suggests that family planning behaviors, like other behaviors, are sensitive to incentives. Given the tremendous need for efficacious interventions in global efforts to manage population growth, further research on this topic using more rigorous experimental methods is warranted.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incentives to promote family planning

Heil

Gaalema

Herrmann

2012

Preventive Medicine

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“…What people say of their motives must always be taken with a pinch of salt, but evidence based on actual behaviour points in the same direction. Ridker (1980), for example, reports a substantial fall in fertility among women participating in a no-birth bonus scheme run by three Indian tea estates. Chernichovsky (1982) reports evidence in a cross-sectional survey of an Indian village that income received when parents are economically productive has a positive effect on fertility, while expected income at retirement has a negative effect.…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Children and pensions

Cigno

1992

J Popul Econ

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Recent economic explanations of changes in fertility behaviour have focussed on the effects of labour-market-related incentives. The present paper draws attention to another set of incentives, those connected with the transfer of resources over time. The theoretical implications of intergenerational altruism as a possible motive for having children and making transfers to them are considered, and contrasted with those arising from the competing hypothesis that such actions are motivated by old-age-security considerations. From a comparison of these theoretical predictions with the findings of a number of empirical studies, it would appear that self-interested concern for one's old age, rather than any great love for future members of one's dynasty, is or has been so far the dominant force driving fertility and intergenerational transfers worldwide.There is a saying that the population of the world can be divided into two -those who starve and those who diet. To this one could add that, in those parts of the world where there are people who starve, there is also a population explosion problem, while in more affluent parts, where there are people who worry about their waistline, the problem is population ageing. As economists, we tend to explain these demographic differences in terms of differences in the structure of incentives. Much has been made, for example, of the effects of labour-market-related incentives on fertility and life-expectancy. In this address, I shall focus on another set of incentives, those pertaining to the intertemporal allocation of resources. Besides contributing to the understanding of the important issues that I have mentioned, this approach will allow me to draw together two apparently unrelated

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“…The only study that involved deferred incentives (i.e., incentives promised for the future) was carried out in South India during the period 1971-78 (Ridker, 1980), on 18 tea-producing estates. A "no-birth bonus" scheme was introduced for couples who agreed to limit their family size.…”

Section: Deferred Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The "no-birth bonus" scheme used on tea estates was discussed earlier (Ridker, 1980). For experimental purposes, the 18 estates were divided into three groups (Types I, II, and III) with approximately 1,000 women of childbearing age in each group.…”

Section: Impact On Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Incentives and Disincentives in the Indian Family Welfare Program

Satia¹,

Maru²

1986

Studies in Family Planning

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The Indian family welfare program has offered financial incentives since the early 1960s to both family planning motivators and acceptors of sterilization and the IUD. This article reviews the available evidence regarding the impact of incentives on the quality and quantity of family planning services in India. Administrative concerns related to the implementation of incentive programs are discussed, and the current debate on disincentives, as well as the brief period when disincentives were used, is summarized. The studies reviewed, though few in number and varying in quality and methodology, indicate that incentives to acceptors help to increase the level of contraceptive acceptance, especially when they are part of a well designed strategy of service delivery and client motivation. Incentives do not appear to have an adverse effect on quality of services and acceptors, and they do not seem to influence method choice. Disincentives, if they are used, should not impinge on fundamental individual rights of either the parents or the child.

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The No-Birth Bonus Scheme: The Use of Savings Accounts for Family Planning in South India

Cited by 19 publications

References 1 publication

Incentives to promote family planning

Incentives to promote family planning

Children and pensions

Incentives and Disincentives in the Indian Family Welfare Program

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