Heterogeneous impacts of an unconditioal cash transfer programme on schooling
evidence from the Ghana LEAP programme

Publication date: 2015-10
Publication series:
Innocenti Working Papers
No. of pages: 33
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Abstract
The paper uses data from a quasi-experimental evaluation to estimate the impact of the Ghanaian
Government’s unconditional cash transfer programme on schooling outcomes. It analyses the impacts
for children by various subgroups – age, gender, cognitive ability – and finds consistent impacts. There are
differences across gender, especially on secondary schooling, with enrolment significantly higher for boys
13 years or older. For girls, the effect of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme
is to improve current attendance among those who are already enrolled in school (across all age groups).
The authors found a significant effect on the expenditure on schooling items such as uniforms and
stationary for these groups, which helps to explain the pathway of impact because these out-of-pocket costs
are typically important barriers to schooling in rural Ghana and most of Africa.
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