Are cash transfers a good strategy for improving children’s well-being? – Health Economist





How can we help improve the lives of children? Does it mean giving money to their families or providing goods or services in kind (eg free education, health care, food stamps, housing)? Should any cash or in-kind transfers be made unconditionally or subject to certain conditions (eg requirement to attend school)? Money transfers to families with children are used in many other countries, as well as in charitable organizations. GiveDirectlybut this approach is less common in the US. Examples of these ex-American experiments include:

  • Negative Canadian Income Tax (NIT): Mincome in Manitoba (1974-1979)
  • The Canadian Ontario Basic Income Pilot Project (OBIP) randomly assigned low-income participants to monthly cash transfers (initiated in 2017)
  • Child benefit in the Netherlands – depends on the age and number of children in the family, but not on income.
  • Spain Baby Bonus: Lump sum for all Spanish mothers after birth (started in 2007)
  • The BMINCOME experiment in Spain (Barcelona), modeled after Canada’s Mincome, in which 1,000 low-income people were randomly allocated between receiving approximately €1,700 per month or no remittances.
  • National basic income experiment in Finland (2017–2018)

Recent working paper Shah and Gennetian (2023) provide an overview of unconditional cash transfer programs for families with children.

Unlike the United States, dozens of low- and middle-income countries have used direct cash assistance—conditional or unconditional—as a central policy strategy, with a demonstrated positive effect on a range of economic and health measures, as well as on certain aspects of child health and schooling. . This paper examines an economic study of U.S. safety net and cash assistance programs for families with children, as well as findings from existing research on the impact of these programs on family investment mechanisms and children’s outcomes… We then review nine contemporary unconditional cash transfer programs…

The programs are summarized in the table below. You can see a larger table Here.

  • Payment amountA: Transfer amounts range from $1,000 per month to $150 every three months.
  • Number of participantsA: Usually 30 to 1000 people, most programs are for 100-200 people.
  • Statistical identification: 4 out of 9 use randomized controlled trial design.
  • right: There were different income thresholds (1x the federal poverty line, 2x below a fixed amount [<$52k]), and some were restricted to parents with children, while others gave money to any pregnant woman.