Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T07:41:01.139Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conditionality in Public Policy Targeted to the Poor: Promoting Resilience?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Francesca Bastagli
Francesca Bastagli*
Affiliation:
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics E-mail: f.a.bastagli@lse.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores the role of conditionality in policies targeting the poor. By requiring beneficiaries to send their children to school and to undertake regular health visits, proponents argue, conditionalities improve human capital outcomes, promoting resilience. This widespread perception has led to the adoption of conditional cash transfers in many countries. Yet policy debate on conditionality does not always reflect a full appreciation of how behavioural, administrative and political economy variables influence outcomes. This paper identifies the multiple channels through which conditionality determines human capital outcomes and reviews the evidence on linkages between conditionality and processes of resilience.

Type
Themed Section on Resilience and Social Exclusion
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 127 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguero, J.M., Carter, M. and Woolard, I. (2006), ‘The impact of unconditional cash transfers on nutrition: the South African Child Support Grant’, mimeo.Google Scholar
Alderman, H. et al. (2006), ‘Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition’, Oxford Economic Papers, 58, Oxford University Press, pp. 450–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Álvarez, C., Devoto, F. and Winters, P. (2006), ‘Why do the poor leave the safety net in Mexico? A study of the effects of conditionality on dropouts’, Working Paper Series No. 2006–10, Department of Economics, American University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bastagli, F. (2007), ‘From safety net to social policy? The role of conditional cash transfers in welfare state development in Latin America’, paper presented at the RC19 ISA annual conference on ‘Global Social Policy: establishing a North–South dialogue’, Florence, September.Google Scholar
Besley, T. and Kanbur, R. (1990), ‘The principles of targeting’, Policy Research Working Paper Series 385, World Bank.Google Scholar
Bourguignon, F., Ferreira, F. and Leite, P. (2003), ‘Conditional cash transfers, schooling and child labor: micro-simulating Bolsa Escola’, DELTA Working Papers 2003−07, DELTA, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldés, N., Coady, D. and Maluccio, J. (2006), ‘The cost of poverty alleviation transfer programs: a comparative analysis of three programs in Latin America’, World Development, 34, 5, 818–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho Filho, I. (2001), ‘Household income as a determinant of child labor and school enrolment in Brazil: evidence from a social security reform’, mimeo, MIT, USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, D, Hoddinott, J., Grosh, M. E. (2004), ‘Targeting of transfers in developing countries world bank, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, J., Do, Q. T and Ozler, B. (2004), ‘Conditional cash transfers and the equity–efficiency debate’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3280, The World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Brauw, A. and Hoddinott, J. (2007), ‘Must conditional cash transfer programs be conditioned to be effective? The impact of conditioning transfers on school enrolment in Mexio’, preliminary draft, IFPRI, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
De Janvry, A. and Sadoulet, E. (2006a), ‘Making conditional cash transfer programs more efficient: designing for maximum effect of the conditionality’, University of California, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Janvry, A. and Sadoulet, E. (2006b), ‘When to use a CCT versus a CT approach?’, University of California at Berkeley and DECRG World Bank, note presented at the Third International Conference on Conditional Transfers in Istanbul, 26–30 July.Google Scholar
Deacon, A. (2004), ‘Justifying conditionality: the case of anti-social tenants’, Housing Studies, 19, 6, 911–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duflo, E. (2003), ‘Grandmothers and granddaughters: old age pension and intra-household allocation in South Africa’, The World Bank Economic Review, 17, 1, 1–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwyer, P. (2004), ‘Creeping conditionality in the UK: from welfare rights to conditional entitlements?’, Canadian Journal of Sociology, 29, 2.Google Scholar
Galasso, E. and Ravallion, M (2003), ‘Social protection in a crisis: Argentina's Plan Jefes y Jefas’, 5 November, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3165.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. (1993), ‘Children in poverty: resiliency despite risk’, Psychiatry, 56, 127−36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gelbach, J. and Pritchett, L. (1997), ‘More for the poor is less for the poor: the politics of targeting’, Policy Research Working Paper No. 1799, World Bank, July.Google Scholar
Graham, C. (2002), ‘Public attitudes matter: a conceptual frame for accounting for political economy in safety nets and social assistance policies’, Social Protection Discussion Paper Series No. 0233, World Bank.Google Scholar
Handa, S. and Davis, B. (2006), ‘The experience of conditional cash transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean’, Development Policy Review, 24, 5, 513–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kakwani, N. et al. (2005), ‘Conditional cash transfers in African countries’, IPC Working Paper No. 9, IPEA-UNDP.Google Scholar
Maluccio, J. (2005), ‘Coping with the “coffee crisis” in Central America: the role of the Nicaraguan Red de Protección Social’, FCND Discussion Paper No. 188, IFPRI, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Maluccio, J. and Flores, R. (2005), ‘Impact evaluation of a conditional cash transfer program the Nicaraguan Red de Protección Social’, Research Report No. 4, IFPRI, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rawlings, L. (2004), ‘A new approach to social assistance: Latin America's experience with conditional cash transfer programs’, Social Protection Discussion Paper Series No. 0416, Social Protection Unit, Human Development Network, The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schady, N. and Araujo, M.C. (2006), ‘Cash, conditions, school enrollment, and child work: evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3930, June 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoon, I. (2006), Risk and Resilience: Adaptations in Changing Times, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standing, G. (2003), ‘Minimum income schemes in Europe’, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (2005), ‘Attitudes to Social Justice’, in Pearce, N. and Paxton, W. (eds), Social Justice: Building a Fairer Britain, London: Institute for Public Policy Research/Politico's.Google Scholar
Todd, P.E. and Wolpin, K.I. (2007), ‘Ex-ante evaluation of social programs’, University of Pennsylvania, 6 July.Google Scholar
White, S. (2002), ‘Justice and conditionality: a social democratic approach’, IPPR presentation, London, December.Google Scholar
World Bank (2006), ‘What have we learned about the impacts of CCTs?’, The World Bank, June, http://info.worldbank.org/etools/icct06/DOCS/day2_Report.pdf.Google Scholar