Cash transfers: what does the evidence say?
A rigorous review of the impacts of cash transfers and the role of design and implementation features
Abstract
Cash transfers have been increasingly adopted by countries worldwide as central elements of their social protection and poverty reduction strategies. This rigorous review of the impact of cash transfers is the largest and most comprehensive review of its kind to date. It consolidates and assesses the body of evidence from 2000 to 2015, covering low- and middle-income countries worldwide, to provide policy-makers, practitioners and researchers with a single resource on the most rigorous and up-to-date evidence available.
The review covers the intended and unintended impact on individuals and households of non-contributory cash transfer programmes on 6 areas:
- monetary poverty
- education
- health and nutrition
- savings, investment and production
- employment
- empowerment
The outputs are: the full report; annexes to the report; annnotated bibliography; summary policy briefing; briefing paper on gender-related findings. There is also a journal article in ‘Journal of Social Policy’ published online 10 Oct 2018.
Citation
Bastagli, F.; Hagen-Zanker, J.; Harman, L.; Sturge, G.; Barca, V.;Schmidt, T.; Pellerano, L. Cash transfers: what does the evidence say? a rigorous review of the impacts of cash transfers and the role of design and implementation features. Overseas Development Insitute, London (2016), 299p
Bastagli, F.; Hagen-Zanker, J.; Harman, L.,.Barca, V,Sturge, G & Schmidt, T. (2018). The Impact of Cash Transfers: A Review of the Evidence from Low- and Middle-income Countries. Journal of Social Policy, 1-26. doi:10.1017/S0047279418000715