Alam, Andaleeb; Baez, Javier E.; Del Carpio, Ximena V.
Description:
The Punjab Female School Stipend
Program, a female-targeted conditional cash transfer program
in Pakistan, was implemented in response to gender gaps in
education. An early evaluation of the program shows that the
enrollment of eligible girls in middle school increased in
the short term by nearly 9 percentage points. This paper
uses regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference
analyses to show that five years into the program
implementation positive impacts do persist. Beneficiary
adolescent girls are more likely to progress through and
complete middle school and work less. There is suggestive
evidence that participating girls delay their marriage and
have fewer births by the time they are 19 years old. Girls
who are exposed to the program later, and who are eligible
for the benefits given in high school, increase their rates
of matriculating into and completing high school. The
persistence of impacts can potentially translate into gains
in future productivity, consumption, inter-generational
human capital accumulation and desired fertility. Lastly,
there is no evidence that the program has negative spillover
effects on educational outcomes of male siblings.