Research Insights: Can Cash Transfer Programs Increase Labor Supply?
Peer Reviewed
Date issued
December 2019
Publication
Subject
Labor Market;
Conditional Cash Transfer;
Labor Force
JEL code
O18 - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis • Housing • Infrastructure;
O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development;
J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure;
J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply;
J46 - Informal Labor Markets;
D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation
Country
Bolivia
Category
Catalogs and Brochures
Starting in 2006, Bolivia implemented a non-targeted, nationwide conditional cash transfer program that delivered transfers to households of school-age children conditional on attendance. The program increased the probability of working and the number of weekly work hours among parents of eligible children, mainly in areas with limited access to formal financial services. The program allowed mothers of eligible children to work more as they used the transfers to start or scale up small businesses. In turn, as mothers entered the labor force, overworked fathers were able to work fewer hours.
