Unconditional cash transfers and child schooling: a meta-analysis

Zhi Zheng Chong () and Siew Yee Lau ()
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Zhi Zheng Chong: Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia
Siew Yee Lau: University of Nottingham Malaysia

Empirical Economics, 2025, vol. 68, issue 2, No 7, 639-666

Abstract: Abstract There is growing rigorous evidence on the schooling impacts of unconditional cash transfers, but only few have systematically reviewed the literature. This paper fills the gap through applying a meta-regression analysis to 38 studies of 22 programmes in 18 countries. We find that unconditional cash transfers improve both student enrolment and attendance, and the result is robust to the exclusion of studies with a high risk of bias. We also find statistically significant heterogeneity in effect sizes across studies. The effect on enrolment is larger for a setting where average monthly labour income in the economy is lower and for secondary school students. However, we do not find other moderators in this paper, namely transfer size, whether the programme is pilot, and poverty head headcount ratio, explain the variation in effect sizes. Our paper highlights the need of more evaluations on the schooling impacts of unconditional cash transfers and how tweaks in programme design could make a difference.

Keywords: Unconditional cash transfer; School enrolment; School attendance; Meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 D10 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s00181-024-02647-3

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