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: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099546503292242624/IDU060406d190123f0401b09d1e063433ba61257 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37243 |
| id |
okr-10986-37243 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
okr-10986-372432022-03-31T05:10:33Z Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital Mavridis, Dimitris De Walque, Damien CASH TRANSFERS EBOLA EDUCATION LEARNING ASSESSMENT IMMUNIZATIONS EFFECT OF EBOLA EPIDEMIC ON CHILDREN EBOLA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 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. 2022-03-30T20:05:09Z 2022-03-30T20:05:09Z 2022-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099546503292242624/IDU060406d190123f0401b09d1e063433ba61257 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37243 English Policy Reserch Working Paper;9989 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Western and Central (AFW) Africa Guinea |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
CASH TRANSFERS EBOLA EDUCATION LEARNING ASSESSMENT IMMUNIZATIONS EFFECT OF EBOLA EPIDEMIC ON CHILDREN EBOLA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN |
| spellingShingle |
CASH TRANSFERS EBOLA EDUCATION LEARNING ASSESSMENT IMMUNIZATIONS EFFECT OF EBOLA EPIDEMIC ON CHILDREN EBOLA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN Mavridis, Dimitris De Walque, Damien Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Western and Central (AFW) Africa Guinea |
| relation |
Policy Reserch Working Paper;9989 |
| description |
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. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Mavridis, Dimitris De Walque, Damien |
| author_facet |
Mavridis, Dimitris De Walque, Damien |
| author_sort |
Mavridis, Dimitris |
| title |
Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| title_short |
Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| title_full |
Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| title_fullStr |
Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Cash Transfers after Ebola in Guinea : Lessons Learned on Human Capital |
| title_sort |
cash transfers after ebola in guinea : lessons learned on human capital |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099546503292242624/IDU060406d190123f0401b09d1e063433ba61257 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37243 |
| _version_ |
1764486791517175808 |