The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school

Jessica Leight, Daniel O. Gilligan, Michael Mulford and Sarim Zafar

No 2421, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: What is the optimal timing for a cash transfer targeting increased secondary school enrollment? We present evidence from a randomized trial in rural Ethiopia showing a CCT increases enrollment and reduces child marriage. The largest effects are observed for youth offered the transfer a year prior to their (potential) matriculation; in this cohort, there is also a significant in-crease in the probability students pass the primary school leaving exam. By contrast, reduced treatment effects are observed for prior dropouts, and a generalized random forest analysis suggests this primarily reflects different observable characteristics (lower academic performance) among this sub-sample.

Keywords: cash transfers; social protection; education; youth; secondary education; Ethiopia; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-16
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:183379

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