Ecuador Cash Transfer Effects on Child Health and Development

Rural Ecuador data from a government-run cash transfer program for poor mothers, used to assess impacts on child health and development. The dataset likely contains results from a parish-level randomized assignment study by Christina Paxson of Princeton University. Findings indicate positive effects on physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development, with larger impacts for poorer children, girls, and children of more educated mothers.

Use Cases

• Assessing the impact of unconditional cash transfers on child physical development based on program assignment.
• Comparing treatment effects between different socioeconomic groups, such as poorer versus less poor children.
• Analyzing gender-specific outcomes of cash transfer programs on child development.
• Investigating mechanisms like nutrition and healthcare use through which cash transfers influence child outcomes.

Strengths

• Data is based on a randomized assignment at the parish level, which supports causal inference.
• Study found treatment effects of more than 20 percent of a standard deviation for the poorest children.
• Analysis examines multiple child development domains: physical, cognitive, and socioemotional.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Christina Paxson, Princeton University

Collection Method

Random assignment at the parish level for a government-run cash transfer program.

Geography

Rural Ecuador