Raising primary school enrollment in developing countries

Few policies are as universally accepted as raising primary school enrolment in developing countries, but the policy levers for achieving this goal are not straight forward. This paper merges household survey data with detailed school supply characteristics from official sources, in order to estimate the relative impact of demand- and supply-side determinants of rural primary school enrolment in Mozambique. Policy simulations based on a set of “plausible” interventions show that demand-side interventions, particularly those aimed at raising rural adult literacy, will have the biggest impact on primary school enrolment rates.Education, Primary Developing countries. ,Literacy. ,Supply and demand. ,Mozambique. ,

Quality or quantity?

The role of school quality in determining educational outcomes has received much research attention in the United States. However, in developing countries, where a significant part of the school age population never attends school, policymakers must consider both quality and quantity when deciding how to maximize the impact of scarce investments. Acknowledging this difference in the policy environment in developing countries, this paper provides comparative estimates of the impact of quality versus quantity investments in school supply in rural Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries. Policy simulations show that improving school quality (through the pupil-teacher ratio) increases grade attainment and efficiency by approximately 9 percent with no impact on overall enrollment rates. However, these same results can be generated by increasing starting enrollment probabilities through the establishment of new schools in all rural villages that currently do not have schools. Furthermore, similar rates of increase in school achievement indicators can be achieved by building schools in only 56 percent of all villages currently without schools, provided these schools are placed in those villages that also do not have a school nearby. When cost information is considered, the main policy implication is that the expansion of school quantity through well targeted placement of new schools will provide the greatest increase in educational outcomes for Mozambique at this time.FCND ,School children. ,Education Economic aspects. ,Mozambique. ,

Matching the gold standard: Comparing experimental and non-experimental evaluation techniques for a geographically targeted program

We compare non-experimental impact estimates based on matching methods with those from a randomized evaluation to determine whether the non-experimental approach can “match” the so-called gold standard. The social experiment we use was carried out to evaluate a geographically targeted conditional cash transfer antipoverty program in Nicaragua. The outcomes we assess include several components of household expenditure and a variety of children’s health outcomes including breast feeding, vaccinations, and morbidity. We find that using each of the following improves performance of matching for these outcomes: 1) geographically proximate comparison samples; 2) stringent common support requirements; and 3) both geographic- and household-level matching variables. Even for a geographically targeted program, in which the selection is at the geographic-, rather than at the individual- or household-level, and in which it is not possible to find comparison individuals or households in the program locales, matching can perform reasonably well. The results also suggest that the techniques may be more promising for evaluating the more easily measured individual-level binary outcomes, than for outcomes that are more difficult to measure, such as expenditure.

Quality or quantity?

The role of school quality in determining educational outcomes has received much research attention in the United States. However, in developing countries, where a significant part of the school age population never attends school, policymakers must consider both quality and quantity when deciding how to maximize the impact of scarce investments. Acknowledging this difference in the policy environment in developing countries, this paper provides comparative estimates of the impact of quality versus quantity investments in school supply in rural Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries. Policy simulations show that improving school quality (through the pupil-teacher ratio) increases grade attainment and efficiency by approximately 9 percent with no impact on overall enrollment rates. However, these same results can be generated by increasing starting enrollment probabilities through the establishment of new schools in all rural villages that currently do not have schools. Furthermore, similar rates of increase in school achievement indicators can be achieved by building schools in only 56 percent of all villages currently without schools, provided these schools are placed in those villages that also do not have a school nearby. When cost information is considered, the main policy implication is that the expansion of school quantity through well targeted placement of new schools will provide the greatest increase in educational outcomes for Mozambique at this time.FCND ,School children. ,Education Economic aspects. ,Mozambique. ,

The Lure of Tequila and the Bestowing of Motherly Love: Does it Matter Whether Public Cash Transfers are Given to Women or Men? Evidence from the PROGRESA and PROCAMPO Programs in Rural Mexico

This paper aims at evaluating the impact of two different cash transfer programs in rural Mexico - Procampo and Progresa - on total consumption, food consumption and other outcomes like investment, schooling and health care. Progresa is targeted to women, while Procampo goes to farmers, mostly men and many of which are poor. We show that both programs boost consumption. However, they obtain this effect through different channels. Progresa is destined to consumption expenditure directly, while Procampo, which is paid to landholders, boosts investments and needs time to produce its benefits. Furthermore, we separate program from gender effects and show that cash transfer programs targeted to men are beneficial only when the recipients own means of production. This suggest that policy makers should take into account the relationship between gender and ownership of assets when designing poverty reduction programs.gender effect, program effect, rural poverty, Labor and Human Capital,

The Household and Individual-Level Productive Impacts of Cash Transfer Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Is Graduation from Social Safety Nets Possible? Evidence from Sub?Saharan Africa

In the last decade social cash transfer programmes have become extremely popular in sub?Saharan Africa, and are often portrayed as an instrument that can facilitate graduation out of poverty. The evidence on whether social cash transfers have had actual effects on graduation, however, is limited. This article provides a cross?country reflection of the potential effects of social cash transfers on graduation, drawing from impact evaluation results of cash transfer programmes in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho and Zambia. We analyse whether social cash transfers have improved the likelihood of graduation, through increased productivity, income generation and resilience to shocks. We identify which factors in terms of programme implementation and household characteristics can increase the likelihood of cash transfer programmes facilitating graduation from poverty

Intraclass Correlations Values in International Development: Evidence Across Commonly Studied Domains in sub-Saharan Africa

The sharp increase in the number of experimental studies evaluating development programs raises the need for accurate intraclass correlations (ICC) to conduct power calculations so that researchers can design studies to detect meaningful effects with sufficient statistical power. The intraclass correlation is an important parameter for determining the statistical power of cluster-randomized trials. The parameter is rarely available to researchers planning a study until after the design is set and data are already collected. This paper takes an important step towards helping researchers working in sub-Saharan Africa to accurately estimate appropriate sample sizes for their clustered RCTs. The study draws from rich data sets in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. We present ICCs for a wide range of domains common for development research. Our results suggest that ICCs for commonly studied indicators in sub-Saharan Africa are lower than is often assumed in power calculations. ICC values are especially low for indicators associated with child nutrition and food security, suggesting that cluster-RCTs might be a viable design even when faced with limited budgets because sample size requirements are not much different from an individual random assignment design

Matching the Gold Standard: Comparing Experimental and Nonexperimental Evaluation Techniques for a Geographically Targeted Program

Abstract We compare nonexperimental impact estimates based on matching methods with those from a randomized evaluation to determine whether the nonexperimental approach can “match” the so‐called gold standard. The social experiment we use was carried out to evaluate a geographically targeted conditional cash transfer antipoverty program in Nicaragua. The outcomes we assess include several components of household expenditure and a variety of children’s health outcomes, including breast‐feeding, vaccinations, and morbidity. We find that using each of the following improves performance of matching for these outcomes: (1) geographically proximate comparison samples, (2) stringent common support requirements, and (3) both geographic‐ and household‐level matching variables. Even for a geographically targeted program, in which the selection is at the geographic, rather than at the individual or household level, and in which it is not possible to find comparison individuals or households in the program locales, matching can perform reasonably well. The results also suggest that the techniques may be more promising for evaluating the more easily measured individual‐level binary outcomes than for outcomes that are more difficult to measure, such as expenditure

Age and Gender Effects on Time Discounting in a Large Scale Cash Transfer Programme

Understanding its determinants can provide vital insight into decisions ranging from savings and financial investment to smoking, obesity and human capital accumulation. This article contributes to a growing literature that seeks to identify the determinants of inter-temporal choice. We explore the role of income shocks, age and gender on time discounting using evaluation data from the Government of Kenya’s largest social protection programme, the Kenya Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC). Study participants were randomised to treatment and control arms in 2007 and data on time discounting was collected on participants four years after programme inception. Our paper confirms that middle-aged groups are more patient than younger and older adults. In contrast to the empirical evidence, females are less patient than males and this situation is more evident during young and adult life. Males lose their patient during old age. Considering the impact of the programme, the average treatment effect of the programme on time discounting is negligible. However, it varies strongly with age of the recipient, with large and statistically significant effects among prime-age recipients and no effects on younger or older recipients. Moreover, these results are stronger for females than males, an important result given that over 60 per cent of recipients in target households are females