title: Wealth differentials in the impact of conditional and unconditional cash transfers on education: findings from a community-randomised controlled trial in Zimbabwe.
abstract: We investigated (1) how household wealth affected the relationship between conditional cash transfers (CCT) and unconditional cash transfers (UCT) and school attendance, (2) whether CCT and UCT affected educational outcomes (repeating a year of school), (3) if baseline school attendance and transfer conditions affected how much of the transfers participants spent on education and (4) if CCT or UCT reduced child labour in recipient households. Data were analysed from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of CCT and UCT in 4043 households from 2009 to 2010. Recipient households received $18 dollars per month plus $4 per child. CCT were conditioned on above 80% school attendance, a full vaccination record and a birth certificate. In the poorest quintile, the odds ratio of above 80% school attendance at follow-up for those with below 80% school attendance at baseline was 1.06 (p = .67) for UCT vs. CCT. UCT recipients reported spending slightly more (46.1% (45.4-46.7)) of the transfer on school expenses than did CCT recipients (44.8% (44.1-45.5)). Amongst those with baseline school attendance of below 80%, there was no statistically significant difference between CCT and UCT participants in the proportion of the transfer spent on school expenses (p = .63). Amongst those with above 80% baseline school attendance, CCT participants spent 3.5% less (p = .001) on school expenses than UCT participants. UCT participants were no less likely than those in the control group to repeat a grade of school. CCT participants had .69 (.60-.79) lower odds vs. control of repeating the previous school grade. Children in CCT recipient households spent an average of .31 fewer hours in paid work than those in the control group (p < .001) and children in the UCT arm spent an average of .15 fewer hours in paid work each week than those in the control arm (p = .06).
authors.affiliation: a Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe) , Firetail Ltd. , London , UK.|b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Rory
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.affiliation: b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.|c Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research , Biomedical Research and Training Institute , Harare , Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nyamukapa
authors.affiliation: b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.|c Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research , Biomedical Research and Training Institute , Harare , Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregson
authors.affiliation: b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: c Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research , Biomedical Research and Training Institute , Harare , Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mushati
authors.affiliation: b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Ranjeeta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: b Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology , School of Public Health, Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Eaton
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015030:Zimbabwe
keywords: Cash transfers; Zimbabwe; education; wealth inequalities