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The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Educational Inequality of Opportunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Andrés Ham
Andrés Ham*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Abstract

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Most conditional cash transfer evaluations have focused on estimating program effects on schooling, consumption, and labor supply. Fewer studies have addressed these outcomes using a distributive lens. This article uses data from three programs in Latin America to obtain evidence of their impact on educational inequality of opportunity, measured using primary enrollment. The main results indicate that groups considered vulnerable gain more in terms of access to education and that these interventions help level the playing field. They do not eliminate inequality of opportunity but are certainly a useful complement to equity-enhancing policies.

Resumen

Resumen

Muchas evaluaciones existentes de los programas de transferencias condicionadas han estimado los efectos en tasas de asistencia escolar, consumo y oferta laboral. Sin embargo, menos trabajos han interpretado estos resultados mediante un lente distributivo. Este artículo utiliza datos de tres programas en América Latina para determinar sus impactos sobre la desigualdad en oportunidades educativas, medido por tasas de asistencia a la primaria. Los principales resultados indican que los grupos vulnerables ganan más en acceso educativo y que los programas ayudan a igualar oportunidades. Sin embargo, las inequidades no se eliminan por completo, lo cual indica que estos programas son un complemento a otras políticas igualitarias.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , 2014 , pp. 153 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

I would like to thank María Laura Alzúa, Marcelo Bérgolo, Guillermo Cruces, Leonardo Gasparini, Werner Baer, and Oscar Mitnik for helpful and fruitful discussions; three anonymous referees for their insightful comments and constructive criticism to an earlier draft; seminar participants at Universidad Nacional de la Plata and the University of Warwick. This article is an extension of a CEDLAS project financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and led by Laura Ripani, María Laura Alzúa, Guillermo Cruces, and Leonardo Gasparini, from which the data sources were drawn. The majority of this work was carried out during my time at the Center for Social, Labor, and Distributional Studies (CEDLAS), Universidad Nacional de la Plata, and with funding from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CEDLAS, CONICET, the IDB, or the University of Illinois.

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