Demand and Supply-Side Determinants of Conditional Cash Transfer Program Effectiveness

SummaryThe Programa Nacional de Becas Estudiantiles is a conditional cash transfer program designed to promote human capital accumulation and reduce poverty among Argentine youth. This study follows a 1999 cohort of students for five years and uses matching methods with a comparison group of students excluded due to quotas to estimate average and marginal program impacts. Multilevel methods are used to explore the role of program management and execution in explaining variation between schools in student outcomes. The results suggest that the Becas program improved students’ attendance and performance, in part through program conditions requiring good attendance and academic progress for continued scholarship receipt.