Conditional Cash Transfers, Female Bargaining Power and Parental Labour Supply

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence has indicated that Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) do not have an aggregate effect on adult labour supply, however little attention has been paid to the role of other intrahousehold dynamics. This paper examines how the bargaining power structure of households affects the parental labour supply response to CCT programmes. We analyse randomized experimental designs from rural areas of Honduras (PRAF), Mexico (PROGRESA), and Nicaragua (RPS), and find that CCT programmes slightly change paternal and maternal labour supply and that this effect depends on the distribution of power in the household.