Government Transfers and Political Support

We estimate the impact of a large anti-poverty program - the Uruguayan PANES - on political support for the government that implemented it. The program mainly consisted of a monthly cash transfer for a period of roughly two and half years. Using the discontinuity in program assignment based on a pre-treatment score, we find that beneficiary households are 21 to 28 percentage points more likely to favor the current government (relative to the previous government). Impacts on political support are larger among poorer households and for those near the center of the political spectrum, consistent with the probabilistic voting model in political economy. Effects persist after the cash transfer program ends. We estimate that the annual cost of increasing government political support by 1 percentage point is roughly 0.9% of annual government social expenditures.Conditional cash transfers, redistributive politics, voting, regression discontinuity

School Attendance, Child Labor and Cash Transfers. An Impact Evaluation of PANES

In this paper we analyze the impact an emergency social assistance program, PANES, on school attendance and child labour. The program was carried out in Uruguay from April 2005 to December 2007. Specifically, we analyze the effects of the cash transfer component of the plan (Ingreso Ciudadano), and explore potential explanatory channels such as labour market outcomes, income and awareness of conditionalities. This research is based on a panel of successful and unsuccessful applicants to PANES. The first wave uses the administrative records of the program and the second wave is a follow-up survey that was gathered two months after the program ended and was specifically designed to carry out the impact evaluation of the program. In order to check the robustness of our results, we provide evidence based on two different identification strategies: a regression discontinuity approach using data from the second wave of the panel, and a difference-in-difference approach that exploits the longitudinal nature of the collected data. Our results indicate that the program did not affect school attendance or child labour, whether children are considered as one group or are disaggregated by age or sex. We also do not find any impact on household income, which suggests that income substitution does not explain the lack of results in terms of schooling. It therefore appears that either the size of the transfer was not generous enough to promote school attendance or that the determinants of child school attendance are more complex and require complementary interventions. Our results are particularly relevant for understanding of the role of cash transfers in middle-income countries where attendance rates at primary school are already high, and where the main challenge is to keep students in school at the secondary level. The data also allows us to explore the role of conditionalities. Only a small share of households was aware of the school enrolment condition (20%). Conditionalities were announced and are present in other social security programs in Uruguay, but were ultimately not monitored in this case. We did not find the conditionality to have any robust impact (as perceived by the household) on children’s school enrolment.Cash transfer program; Impact evaluation; School attendance, Child labour, Uruguay

Implementazione di algoritmi di stima della distanza con segnali a bassa frequenza

L’obiettivo di questo lavoro di tesi è stato quello di definire degli algoritmi in grado di comprendere le prestazioni raggiungibili dalla tecnica NFER alternativa in termini di ranging e accuratezza e, di conseguenza, dedurre se il sistema sia utilizzabile o meno

Emerging Issues on the Internet for the Legal Profession

The paper offers an overview of the emerging issues raised by the Internet in the legal profession. In particular, the extension of the attorney-client privilege; the application of the ethics principle of confidentiality to email communications; Internet connectivity and the security issues pertaining to it; and, general cyberlegalethics concerns raised by using the Internet, such as avoiding the unauthorized practice of law and verifying information found on the Web

Identification and Quantification of Zooplankton in NE Ohio Drinking Water Reservoirs

Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are present in most freshwater ecosystems and are usually harmless. When these algae swell in numbers, they release harmful toxins that can be detrimental to animal and human health, and can destroy ecosystems. For this reason, many scientists and engineers have studied these harmful algal blooms in an attempt to predict, prevent, or control them to keep people and ecosystems safe. One of the variables in this investigation is the presence and quantity of zooplankton. These animals could play an important role in the prevalence of cyanobacteria, but more information is needed to determine what that relationship is. This paper aims to take a step toward understanding that relationship, by identifying and quantifying the types of zooplankton in three reservoirs in northeast Ohio

Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data

There is limited empirical evidence on whether unrestricted cash social assistance to poor pregnant women improves children's birth outcomes. Using program administrative micro-data matched to longitudinal vital statistics on the universe of births in Uruguay, we estimate that participation in a generous cash transfer program led to a sizeable 15% reduction in the incidence of low birthweight. Improvements in mother nutrition and a fall in labor supply, out-of-wedlock births and mother's smoking all appear to contribute to the effect. We conclude that, by improving child health, unrestricted unconditional cash transfers may help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.Poverty relief program, maternal health, cash transfers, social assistance, Uruguay, birth outcomes,Low birthweight, Cash transfer program, Nutrition

Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data

There is limited empirical evidence on whether unrestricted cash social assistance to poor pregnant women improves children’s birth outcomes. Using program administrative micro-data matched to longitudinal vital statistics on the universe of births in Uruguay, we estimate that participation in a generous cash transfer program led to a sizeable 15% reduction in the incidence of low birthweight. Improvements in mother nutrition and a fall in labor supply, out-of-wedlock births and mother’s smoking all appear to contribute to the effect. We conclude that, by improving child health, unrestricted unconditional cash transfers may help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.