Should Transfers To Poor Families Be Conditional On School Attendance? A Household Bargaining Perspective

Cesar Martinelli () and Susan Parker ()

International Economic Review, 2003, vol. 44, issue 2, pages 523-544

Abstract: This article considers the welfare implications of transfers to poor families that are conditional on school attendance and other forms of investment in children's human capital. Family decisions are assumed to be the result of (generalized) Nash bargaining between the two parents. We show that, as long as bequests are zero, conditional transfers are better for children than unconditional transfers. The mother's welfare may also be improved by conditional transfers. Thus, conditioning transfers to bequest-constrained families have potentially desirable intergenerational "and" intragenerational welfare effects. Conditioning transfers to unconstrained families make every family member worse off. Copyright 2003 By The Economics Department Of The University Of Pennsylvania And Osaka University Institute Of Social And Economic Research Association.

View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.blackwell ... &year=2003&part=null link to full text (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0020-6598

Access Statistics for this article

International Economic Review is edited by Randall Wright

More articles in International Economic Review from Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association
Address: 160 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by ().