UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Child education and work choices in the presence of a conditional cash transfer programme in rural Colombia

Attanasio, O.; Fitzsimons, E.; Gomez, A.; Lopez, D.; Meghir, C.; Mesnard, A.; (2006) Child education and work choices in the presence of a conditional cash transfer programme in rural Colombia. (IFS Working Papers W06/13). Institute for Fiscal Studies: London, UK. Green open access

[thumbnail of 2685.pdf]
Preview
PDF
2685.pdf

Download (484kB)

Abstract

The paper studies the effects of Familias en Accion, a conditional cash transfer programme implemented in rural areas in Colombia in 2002, on school enrolment and child labour. Using a quasi-experimental approach, our methodology makes use of an interesting feature of the data, which allows us to identify anticipation effects. Our results show that the programme increased school participation of 14 to 17 year old children quite substantially, by between 5 and 7 percentage points, and had lower, but non-negligible effects on enrolment of younger children of between around 1.5 and 2.5 percentage points. In terms of work, the effects are generally largest for younger children whose participation in domestic work decreased by around 10 to 12 percentage points after the programme but whose participation in income-generating work remained largely unaffected by the programme. We also find evidence of school and work time not being fully substitutable, suggesting that some, but not all, of the increased time at school may be drawn from children's leisure time.

Type: Working / discussion paper
Title: Child education and work choices in the presence of a conditional cash transfer programme in rural Colombia
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1920/wp.ifs.2006.0613
Language: English
Additional information: Please see http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/2698/ for related item
Keywords: JEL classification: I28, I38, J22, O15
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Economics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/2685
Downloads since deposit
765Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item