Children鈥檚 Schooling and Work in the Presence of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Rural Colombia
Abstract
The paper studies the effects of Familias en Acci贸n, a conditional cash transfer program implemented in rural areas in Colombia since 2002, on school enrolment and child labor. Using a difference鈥恑n鈥恉ifference framework, our results show that the program increased school participation of 14鈥�17鈥恲ear鈥恛ld children quite substantially, by between 5 and 7 percentage points and had lower effects on the enrolment of younger children, in the region of 1鈥�3 percentage points. The effects on work are largest in the relatively more urbanized parts of rural areas and particularly for younger children, whose participation in domestic work decreased by around 13 percentage points after the program, as compared to a decrease of 10 percentage points for older children in these same areas. The program had no discernible impacts on children鈥檚 work in more rural areas. Participation in income鈥恎enerating work remained largely unaffected by the program. We also find evidence of school and work time not being fully substitutable, suggesting that some, but not all, of the increased time at school may be drawn from children鈥檚 leisure time.
Citation
Economic Development and Cultural Change (2010) 58 (2) 181-210 [DOI: 10.1086/648188]