Persistent effects of a conditional cash transfer: a case of empowering women through Kanyashree in India

Subarna Banerjee and Gitanjali Sen ()
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Subarna Banerjee: Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence Deemed to Be University
Gitanjali Sen: Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence Deemed to Be University

Journal of Population Economics, 2024, vol. 37, issue 4, No 1, 38 pages

Abstract: Abstract Launched in 2013 in West Bengal, India, Kanyashree Prakalpa is a conditional cash transfer program incentivizing girls to stay in school and delay marriage. The program provides annual scholarships to 13–18-year-old girls for remaining enrolled in school, and a lump-sum transfer upon attaining adulthood, conditional on remaining unmarried and pursuing education. Using pre- and post-program data and cohort-specific eligibility rules for 15–35-year-old women and by employing double-differences and triple-difference frameworks, we find that exposed women experience 7 to 8 percentage points higher likelihood of independent movement outside the home and have a lower tolerance for domestic violence. We find the affected cohort to have a 4 to 5 percentage points lower likelihood of justifying wife-beating by husbands. We find suggestive evidence of these results being mediated by access to bank accounts and increased schooling. This underscores the importance of education and financial independence as a pathway to women's empowerment.

Keywords: Conditional cash transfer; Education; Women; Empowerment; Domestic violence; Perception; Mobility; Kanyashree; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 I24 I25 I28 J10 J16 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-024-01045-4

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