Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital
This paper evaluates the effects of a program that transferred different amounts of cash to poor households in rural Guinea. The program’s aim was to improve children’s schooling and health outcomes in the immediate aftermath of the Ebola pandemic....
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099546503292242624/IDU060406d190123f0401b09d1e063433ba61257 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37243 |
| Summary: | This paper evaluates the effects of a
program that transferred different amounts of cash to poor
households in rural Guinea. The program’s aim was to improve
children’s schooling and health outcomes in the immediate
aftermath of the Ebola pandemic. In treated villages,
households received cash conditional only on attending
trainings promoting good health practices and schooling. The
program randomized at two levels. The first level was
between treated and control villages. The second level was
within treated villages. Households were randomly
distributed in three treatment arms: (i) no cash transfer,
(ii) a cash transfer of 8 USD/quarter/child over two years,
and (iii) a cash transfer twice as large as in group (ii).
School enrollment increased nationwide and rapidly in the
aftermath of Ebola. The authors find that it increased
significantly more in treated villages. From a low baseline
of around 40 percent of primary-school-age enrollment,
treated villages increased their school enrollment by more
than 11 percentage points compared to control villages. The
effect is higher for larger cash transfers compared to those
with no cash transfers in treated villages. School
enrollment also increased among untreated households in
treated villages, probably due to a combined effect—which
cannot be differentiated—from spillovers and from the
information campaigns. Despite the massive increase in
school enrollment, there is no evidence of effects on
learning measures. Health inputs such as vaccination
deteriorated overall in Guinea in the aftermath of Ebola,
and the program did not mitigate this fall. |
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