Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data

Veronica Amarante, Marco Manacorda (), Edward Miguel and Andrea Vigorito

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: There is limited empirical evidence on whether unrestricted cash social assistance to poor pregnant women improves children's birth outcomes. Using program administrative micro-data matched to longitudinal vital statistics on the universe of births in Uruguay, we estimate that participation in a generous cash transfer program led to a sizeable 15% reduction in the incidence of low birthweight. Improvements in mother nutrition and a fall in labor supply, out-of-wedlock births and mother's smoking all appear to contribute to the effect. We conclude that, by improving child health, unrestricted unconditional cash transfers may help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Keywords: Poverty relief program; maternal health; cash transfers; social assistance; Uruguay; birth outcomes; Low birthweight; Cash transfer program; Nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 J13 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-dev, nep-hea and nep-lam
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1106.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data (2012)
Working Paper: Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data (2011)
Working Paper: Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1106

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().