Peer Effects in Child Work Decisions: Evidence from PROGRESA Cash Transfer Program

Del Angel Marco (), Castillo Pónce Ramon A. and Grados Zamudio Rogelio O.
Additional contact information
Del Angel Marco: California State University Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA
Castillo Pónce Ramon A.: California State University Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA
Grados Zamudio Rogelio O.: Coordinación Nacional del Programa de Desarrollo Humano Oportunidades, Mexico City, Mexico

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2025, vol. 25, issue 3, 771-780

Abstract: This study examines the spillover effects of the PROGRESA program on ineligible children’s participation in economic activities by exploiting the randomized design of the intervention and employing an instrumental variable strategy. We find that the incidence of child work among ineligible children is strongly affected by peer group’s child work decisions. We also find that peer group school attendance has a significant but smaller effect on ineligible children’s participation in economic activities. Our findings are relevant for policy makers as they show that cash transfer programs can have an indirect spillover effect on child work.

Keywords: child work; social interactions; peer effects; cash transfer program; PROGRESA; child labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I31 J13 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2024-0368 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
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:bpj:bejeap:v:25:y:2025:i:3:p:771-780:n:1011

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyte ... rnal/key/bejeap/html

DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2024-0368

Access Statistics for this article

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy is currently edited by Hendrik Jürges and Sandra Ludwig

More articles in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().