A healthier start: The effect of conditional cash transfers on neonatal and infant mortality in rural Mexico

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barham, Tania
• 署名单位: University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2010.01.003
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 74-85
• 关键词: Infant mortality; Neonatal mortality; Conditional cash transfers; Mexico; Impact evaluation; Demand incentive

摘要

Conditional cash transfer programs seek to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by building the human capital of poor children. Despite their popularity throughout the developing world, relatively little is known about their effect on children's health outcomes. This paper evaluates the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program, Progresa, on two important health outcomes: infant and neonatal mortality. It exploits the phasing-in of Progresa over time throughout rural Mexico to identify the impact of the program. The paper shows that Progresa led to a large 17% decline in rural infant mortality among the treated, but did not reduce neonatal mortality on average. The benefit-cost ratio is between 13 and 3.6. Tests for heterogeneity show larger declines for some groups including those municipalities whose pre-program levels of mortality were above the median, and those that prior to the program had higher illiteracy rates, and less access to electricity. Published by Elsevier By.