Evaluating CCTs from A Gender Perspective: the Impact of Chile Solidario on Women’s Employment Prospect

Scarlato, Margherita and d'Agostino, Giorgio and Capparucci, Francesca (2014): Evaluating CCTs from A Gender Perspective: the Impact of Chile Solidario on Women’s Employment Prospect.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of Chile Solidario programme on labour market outcomes from a gender perspective. Chile Solidario was implemented as the main anti-poverty programme in Chile in 2002. The purpose of this conditional cash transfer is to provide poor families with auxiliary social services, including support for employment. We compare the gender impact of Chile Solidario using difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity design estimations based on data from the Chile Solidario Panel Survey. We find that the programme has a strong impact on labour market outcomes, but the positive effects are particularly important for men in the beneficiary families. This analysis suggests that cash transfers should be targeted more specifically to women’s needs to contribute to their empowerment.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Social Protection; Conditional Cash Transfers; Latin America; Gender; Impact Evaluation
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C10 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O54 - Latin America ; Caribbean

References

Adato, M. and Hoddinott, J. (eds.) (2010) Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Alsop, R., Bertelsen, M and Hollands, J (eds.) (2006) Empowerment in Practice: From Analysis to Implementation, World Bank, Washington D.C.

Antonopoulos, R. (2013) Expanding Social Protection in Developing Countries: A Gender-Perspective, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Working Paper No.757, New York.

Banerjee, A.V. and Duflo, E. (2007) The Economic Lives of the Poor, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(1), 141-168.

Barrientos, A. (2004) Latin America: Towards a Liberal-Informal Welfare Regime, in Gough, I. and Wood, G. (eds), Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Barrientos, A., Gideon, J. and Molyneux, M. (2008) New Developments in Latin America’s Social Policy, Development and Change, 39(5), 759-774.

Barrientos, A. and Hulme, D. (2009) Social Protection for the Poor and Poorest in Developing Countries: Reflections on a Quiet Revolution, Oxford Development Studies, 37(4), 439-456.

Barrientos, A. (2010) Protecting Capability, Eradicating Extreme Poverty: Chile Solidario and the Future of Social Protection, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 11(4), 579-597.

Barrientos, A. and Villa, J.M. (2013) Evaluating Antipoverty Transfer Programmes in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, WIDER Working Paper No.9, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki.

Bastagli, F. (2009) From Social Safety Net to Social Policy? The role of Conditional Cash Transfers in Welfare State Development in Latin America, International Policy Center for Inclusive Growth Working Paper No.60, UNDP, Brasilia.

Bradshaw, S. (2008) From Structural Adjustment to Social Adjustment: A Gendered Analysis of Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Mexico and Nicaragua, Global Social Policy, 8(2), 188-207.

Carneiro, P. Galasso, E. and Ginja, R. (2014) Tackling Social Exclusion: Evidence from Chile, CEMMAP Working Paper No. 24, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, London.

Castells, M. (2005) Globalización, Desarrollo y Democracia: Chile en el Contexto Mundial, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago de Chile.

Cecchini, S., Robles, C. and Vargas, L.H. (2012) The Expansion of Cash Transfers in Chile and its Challenges: Ethical Family Income, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Research Brief No.26. August, Brasilia.

Chant, S. (2008) The ‘Feminization of Poverty’ and the ‘Feminisation’ of Anti-poverty Programmes: Room for Revision?, Journal of Development Studies, 44 (2), 165-197.

Cook, S. and Razavi, S. (2012) Revisiting the Linkages from a Gender Perspective, UNRISD Research Paper No.7, UNIRISD, Geneva.

de Brauw, A. and Hoddinott, J. (2011) Must Conditional Cash Transfer Programs be Conditioned to be Effective? The Impact of Conditioning Transfers on School Enrollment in Mexico, Journal of Development Economics, 96(2), 359-370.

De la Guardia, F., Hojman, A. and Larrañaga, O. (2011) Evaluating the Chile Solidario Program: Results Using the Chile Solidario Panel and the Administrative Database, Estudios de Economia, 38(1), 129-168.

Duflo, E. (2012) Women Empowerment and Economic Development, Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051-1079.

Elson, D. (1999) L Markets as Gendered Institutions: Equality, Efficiency and Empowerment, World Development, 27(3), 611-627.

Escobar Latapí, A. and González de la Rocha, M. (2008) Girls, Mothers, and Poverty Reduction in Mexico: Evaluating Progresa-Oportunidades, in Razavi, S. (ed.) The Gendered Impacts of Liberalization: Towards Embedded Liberalism? Chapter 10, Routledge/UNRISD, New York, 435-468.

Fiszbein, A., Schady, N. (2009) Conditional Cash Transfers: Reducing Present and Future Poverty, The World Bank , Washington D.C.

Fultz, E. and Francis, J. (2013) Cash Transfers Programmes, Poverty Reduction and Empowerment of Women: A Comparative Analysis, ILO Working Paper No.4, ILO, Geneva.

Galasso, E. (2006) With their Effort and One Opportunity: Alleviating Extreme Poverty in Chile, Development Research Group, mimeo, World Bank, Washington D.C.

Galasso, E. (2011) Alleviating Extreme Poverty in Chile: The Short Run Effects of Chile Solidario, Etudios de Economia, 38(1), 101-127.

Henriquez,H. and Reca, I. (2005) Propuestas Para Fortalecer los Componentes de Genero en el Sistema de Proteccion Chile Solidario, in Riquelme, V. and Valenzuela, M. E. (eds.), Chile Solidario y los Desafíos de la Igualdad: Proyecto Genero, Pobreza y Empleo, ILO, Geneva, 77-156.

Jenson, J. (2009) Lost in Translation: The Social Investment Perspective and Gender Equality, Social Politics, 16(4), 446-483.

Larrañaga, O., Contreras, D. and Ruiz-Tagle, J. (2009) Evaluación de Impacto de Chile Solidario Para la Primera Cohorte de Participantes, Programa de Naciones Unidas Para el Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile.

Larrañaga, O., Contreras, D. e Ruiz-Tagle, J. (2012) Impact Evaluation of Chile Solidario: Lessons and Policy Reccommendations, Journal of Latin American Studies, 44, 347-371.

Martinez Franzoni, J. and Voorend, K. (2012) Blacks, Whites or Gray? Conditional Cash Transfers and Gender Equality in Latin America, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 19(3), 383-407.

MIDEPLAN (2008) Impactos en el Sistema Famiiar por la Incorporacion de Mujeres al Mundo del Trabajo, Programas de Empleo y Empleabilidad del Sistema Chile Solidario, Seminario Proteccion Social y Género, MIDEPLAN, Buenos Aires, mimeo.

Molyneux, M. (2006) Mothers at the Service of the New Poverty Agenda: Progresa/Oportunidades, Mexico’s Conditional Transfer Programme, Social Policy & Administration, 40(4), 425-449.

Molyneux, M. (2008) Conditional Cash Transfers: A ‘Pathway to Woman’s Empowerment?, Pathways to Women’s Empowerment Working Paper No.5, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton.

Palma, J. And Urzua, R. (2005) Anti-poverty Policies and Citizenry: The Chile Solidario Experience, Policy Papers No.12, UNESCO, Paris.

Raczynski, D. (2008) Sistema Chile Solidario y la Política de Protección Social en Chile. Lecciones del Pasado y Agenda para el Futuro, CIEPLAN, Santiago de Chile.

Soares, F. and Silva, E. (2010) Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes and Gender Vulnerabilities: Case Studies of Brazil, Chile and Colombia, IPC-IG Working Paper No.69, UNDP, Brasilia.

Staab, S. and Gerhard, R. (2011) Putting Two and Two Together? Early Childhood Education, Mothers’ Employmet and Care Services Expansion in Chile and Mexico, Development and Change, 42(4), 1079-1107.

Tabbush, C. (2010) Latin American Women’s Protection after Adjustment: A Feminist Critique of Conditional Cash Transfers in Chile and Argentina, Oxford Development Studies, 38(4), 437-459.

Valencia Lomelì, E. (2008) Conditional Cash Transfers as Social Policy in Latin America: An Assessment of their Contributions and Limitations, Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 475-499.