Study: “Income Shocks and Reproductive Health: Evidence from Large-scale Randomized Cash Transfer Experiments in Zambia”
PI(s): Peterman, Amber
Affiliation(s): University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Institutional Patner(s): IIE/Hewlett Alumni Research Grant
Project Dates:
Start: 2011
End: 2013
Methods: Randomized Controlled Trial and Difference-in-Differences Multivariate Regression Analyses
Geographic Location(s): Zambia
Description:
Although there is promising recent evidence that cash transfers (CTs) have the potential to improve maternal health outcomes, questions remain about which aspects of the program are responsible for impacts, and virtually no evidence from Africa exists. This study explores the impact of Zambia’s child grant programme (CGP), a government operated large-scale unconditional CT programme, on a range of maternal health outcomes focusing on quality and quantity of prenatal care and skilled attendance at birth. CGP provides monthly transfers, primarily to female adults with children under-5. The impact evaluation is a randomised controlled trial, assigned at the community level. . Household survey data were collected from October, 2010, to October, 2012. The analyses use difference-in-differences multivariate regression analyses, taking advantage of the randomised design to identify casual impacts of transfers. The analysis is conducted both at the household level and the individual level (woman and birth) controlling for basic individual, household, and community-level characteristics. Results will provide evidence on the potential of unconditional CTs, targeted at general poverty objectives, towards improving maternal health, as well as specific programmatic recommendations for programming of the CGP.
Research Outputs:
Handa, Sudhanshu et al. (2015). Income Transfers and Maternal Health: Evidence from a National Randomized Social Cash Transfer Program in Zambia. Health Economics. DOI: 10.1002/hec.3136