Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-8r8nv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-10T15:54:41.112Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A cost-benefit framework for evaluating conditional cash-transfer programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2013

Robert J. Brent
Robert J. Brent*
Affiliation:
Fordham University, New York – Economics, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458, USA
*
Robert J. Brent, Fordham University, New York – Economics, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458, USAbrent@fordham.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Following the prototype of Mexico’s Progresa program, a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have initiated conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs. More recently, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have followed suit. However, no comprehensive framework to carry out a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) exists. This paper presents such a CBA framework for CCTs which enables design features such as targeting and conditionality to be separately evaluated. The framework is applied to an evaluation of a CCT program for orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. The role of conditionality in SSA and the need for distribution weights is discussed.

Keywords

CBA conditional cash transfersdistributional weightsKenyaOVC

Information

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , 01 August 2013 , pp. 159 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 2013

References

Akresh, R., de Walque, D., & Kazianga, H. (2012). Alternative cash transfer delivery mechanisms: impacts on routine preventative health clinic visits in Burkina Faso. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 17785.Google Scholar
Angelucci, M., & De Giorgi, G. (2009). Indirect effects of an aid program: How do cash transfers affect ineligibles’ consumption? American Economic Review, 99, 486–508.Google Scholar
Attanasio, O., Gomez, L. C., Murgueitio, C., Heredia, P., & Vera-Hernandez, M. (2004). Baseline report on the evaluation of familias en Accion. London: The Institute of Fiscal Studies.Google Scholar
Auriol, E., & Warlters, M. (2012). The marginal cost of public funds and tax reform in Africa. Journal of Development Economics, 97, 58–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avitabile, C. (2011). Does information improve the health behavior of adults targeted by a conditional transfer program? The Journal of Human Resources, 47, 785–825.Google Scholar
Baird, S., Chirwa, E., McIntosh, C., & Özler, B. (2010). The short-term impacts of a schooling conditional cash transfer program on the/sexual behavior of young women. Health Economics, 19 (S1), 55–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bobonis, G. J., & Finn, F. (2009). Neighborhood peer effects in secondary school enrollment decisions. Review of Economics and Statistics, 91, 695–716.Google Scholar
Bourguignon, F., Ferreira, F. H. G., & Leite, P. G. (2003). Conditional cash transfers, schooling, and child labor: Micro-simulating Brazil’s Bolsa Escola Program. The World Bank Economic Review, 17, 229–254.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (1984). Use of distributional weights in cost-benefit analysis: A survey of schools. Public Finance Quarterly, 12, 213–230.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (1998). Cost-Benefit Analysis for Developing Countries. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (2003). Cost-Benefit Analysis and Health Care Evaluations. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (2006). Applied Cost-Benefit Analysis (2nd ed.). Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (2010a). Setting priorities for HIV/AIDS interventions: A cost-benefit approach analysis. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (2010b). Overview of the field and the contributions in the handbook. In Robert, J.Brent (Ed.), Handbook on Research in Cost-Benefit Analysis (Chapter 1). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Brent, R. J. (2010c). Cost-benefit analysis and the evaluation of the effects of corruption on public projects. In Robert, J.Brent (Ed.), Handbook on Research in Cost-Benefit Analysis (Chapter 15). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Bryant, J. H. (2009). Kenya’s cash transfer program: Protecting the health and human rights of orphans and vulnerable children. Health and Human Rights, 11, 65–76.Google Scholar
Caldés, N., & Maluccio, J. (2005). The cost of conditional cash transfers. Journal of International Development, 17, 151–168.Google Scholar
Caldés, N., Coady, D., & Maluccio, J. (2006). The cost of poverty alleviation transfer programs: A comparative analysis of three programs in latin America. World Development, 34, 818–837.Google Scholar
Coady, D. P. (2000). The application of social cost-benefit analysis to the evaluation of PROGRESA. International Food Policy Research Institute, Final Report, November.Google Scholar
Coady, D. P., & Parker, S. W. (2004). Cost-effectiveness analysis of demand- and supply-side education interventions: The case of Progresa in Mexico. Review of Development Economics, 8, 440–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, D., & Skoufias, E. (2004). On the targeting and redistributive efficiencies of alternative transfer instruments. Review of Income and Wealth, 50, 11–27.Google Scholar
Hurrell, A., Ward, P., & Merttens, F. (2008). Kenya OVC-CT programme operational and impact evaluation. Baseline Survey Report, 2008, Oxford Policy Management.Google Scholar
Kakwani, N., Soares, F., & Son, H. H. (2005). Conditional cash transfers in African countries. United Nations Development Programme, Working Paper 9, November.Google Scholar
Kohler, H.-P., & Thornton, R. (2011). Conditional cash transfers and HIV/AIDS prevention: Unconditionally promising? The World Bank Economic Review, 26, 165–190.Google Scholar
Lalive, R., & Cattaneo, M. A. (2009). Social interactions and schooling decisions. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 91, 457–477.Google Scholar
Maluccio, J. A., & Flores, R. (2004). Impact evaluation of a conditional cash transfer program: The Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute; 2004. doi:10.2499/0896291464RR141.Google Scholar
Manda, D. K. (2003). Costs and benefits of eliminating child labor in Kenya. KIPPRA Working paper No. 10.Google Scholar
Manda, D. K., Mwabu, G., & Kimenyi, M. S. (2004). Human capital externalities and private returns to education in Kenya. University of Connecticut Working Paper 2004–08.Google Scholar
Morris, S. S., Flores, R., Olinto, P., & Medina, J. M. (2004). Monetary incentives in primary health care and effects on use and coverage of preventive health care interventions in rural honduras: Cluster randomised trial. Lancet, 364, 2030–2037.Google Scholar
Musembi, (2010). Results on operational impact evaluation of the cash transfer for orphans and vulnerable children program in Kenya. Impact Evaluation Workshop, Accra, Ghana.Google Scholar
Rawlings, L. B., & Rubio, G. M. (2005). Evaluating the impact of conditional cash transfers programs. The World Bank Economic Observer, 20, 29–55.Google Scholar
Riccio, J., Dechausay, N., Greenberg, D., Miller, C., Zawadi, R., & Verma, N. (2010). Towards reduced poverty across generations: Early finding from New York city’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program. MDRC Report, March 2010.Google Scholar
Schady, N. R., & Arajuo, M. C. (2008). Cash transfers, conditions and school enrollment in Ecuador. Economia, 8, 43–70.Google Scholar
Schubert, B., & Slater, R. (2006). Social cash transfers in low-income African countries: Conditional or unconditional? Development Policy Review, 24, 571–578.Google Scholar
Schultz, T. P. (2004). School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program. Journal of Development Economics, 74, 199–250.Google Scholar
Skoufias, E., & Coady, D. P. (2007). Are the welfare losses from imperfect targeting important? Economica, 74, 656–776.Google Scholar
Squire, L., & van der Tak, H. (1975). Economic Analysis of Projects. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins.Google Scholar
World Bank (2009). Project appraisal document on a proposed credit in the amount of SDR 33 million to the republic of Kenya for a cash transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project. Report No: 44040-KE, February 2009, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
World Bank (2010). The RESPECT study: Evaluating conditional cash transfers for HIV/STI prevention in Tanzania. Washington, DC: World Bank, Results Brief, Retrieved from: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/HIVExeSummary%28Tanzania%29.pdf.Google Scholar