Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar

This paper evaluates the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar, usi...

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Main Authors:	Datta, Saugato, Martin, Joshua, MacLeod, Catherine, Rawlings, Laura B., Vermehren, Andrea
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:	CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS HUMAN CAPITAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/584931628529502179/Do-Behavioral-Interventions-Enhance-the-Effects-of-Cash-on-Early-Childhood-Development-and-Its-Determinants-Evidence-from-a-Cluster-Randomized-Trial-in-Madagascar http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36111

id	okr-10986-36111
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-361112021-08-13T05:10:33Z Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar Datta, Saugato Martin, Joshua MacLeod, Catherine Rawlings, Laura B. Vermehren, Andrea CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS HUMAN CAPITAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS This paper evaluates the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar, using a multi-arm cluster-randomized trial. Three behavioral interventions (a Mother Leaders group and associated activities, by itself or augmented with a self-affirmation or a plan-making nudge) are layered onto a child-focused cash transfer program targeting children from birth to age six years. Approximately 18 months into the implementation of these interventions and 20 months since baseline, the study finds evidence that households in the behaviorally enhanced arms undertake more desirable parenting behaviors, interact more with their children, prepare more (and more diverse) meals at home, and report lower food insecurity than households that received only cash. Children from households in several of the behaviorally enhanced arms also perform better than children from households in the cash-only arm on several measures of socio-cognitive development, including language learning and social skills. 2021-08-12T13:20:59Z 2021-08-12T13:20:59Z 2021-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/584931628529502179/Do-Behavioral-Interventions-Enhance-the-Effects-of-Cash-on-Early-Childhood-Development-and-Its-Determinants-Evidence-from-a-Cluster-Randomized-Trial-in-Madagascar http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36111 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9747 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Madagascar
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS HUMAN CAPITAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS
spellingShingle	CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS HUMAN CAPITAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS Datta, Saugato Martin, Joshua MacLeod, Catherine Rawlings, Laura B. Vermehren, Andrea Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
geographic_facet	Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Madagascar
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9747
description	This paper evaluates the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar, using a multi-arm cluster-randomized trial. Three behavioral interventions (a Mother Leaders group and associated activities, by itself or augmented with a self-affirmation or a plan-making nudge) are layered onto a child-focused cash transfer program targeting children from birth to age six years. Approximately 18 months into the implementation of these interventions and 20 months since baseline, the study finds evidence that households in the behaviorally enhanced arms undertake more desirable parenting behaviors, interact more with their children, prepare more (and more diverse) meals at home, and report lower food insecurity than households that received only cash. Children from households in several of the behaviorally enhanced arms also perform better than children from households in the cash-only arm on several measures of socio-cognitive development, including language learning and social skills.
format	Working Paper
author	Datta, Saugato Martin, Joshua MacLeod, Catherine Rawlings, Laura B. Vermehren, Andrea
author_facet	Datta, Saugato Martin, Joshua MacLeod, Catherine Rawlings, Laura B. Vermehren, Andrea
author_sort	Datta, Saugato
title	Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
title_short	Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
title_full	Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
title_fullStr	Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
title_full_unstemmed	Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar
title_sort	do behavioral interventions enhance the effects of cash on early childhood development and its determinants? evidence from a cluster-randomized trial in madagascar
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2021
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/584931628529502179/Do-Behavioral-Interventions-Enhance-the-Effects-of-Cash-on-Early-Childhood-Development-and-Its-Determinants-Evidence-from-a-Cluster-Randomized-Trial-in-Madagascar http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36111
_version_	1764484450820816896

Do Behavioral Interventions Enhance the Effects of Cash on Early Childhood Development and Its Determinants? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Madagascar

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