Impact of Cash Transfers on Income Distribution

Cash Transfers: Eligible households in treatment villages (approximately 2/3 of households) will receive transfers of approximately 1000 USD in the standard three-stage cash transfer program implemented by GiveDirectly. In the course of the registration process for the cash transfers, eligible individuals are provided with a mobile money account as well as a mobile phone if they do not yet have these. This is followed by three mobile money transfers, made in intervals of approximately two months: a small transfer (`Token') of approximately USD100 (nominal 2016 dollars); a large transfer (`Lump Sum A') of approximately USD450; and a second large transfer (`Lump Sum B') of USD450 minus the price of the mobile phone.

Note that, as this study is related to the study "Promoting Future Orientation Among Cash Transfer Recipients" (ID: AEARCTR-0000996), the cash transfer intervention is cross-cut with a goal-setting psychological intervention.

2016-11-01

2017-05-31

The key outcome variables of interest are the distributions of income, consumption expenditure and asset wealth (both levels and changes). These are all measured through household socioeconomic surveys at baseline and endline using standard approaches for measurement in low income and mixed livelihoods contexts.

Villages in the study area are randomly assigned to four treatment arms: cash transfer and psychological intervention, cash transfer only, psychological intervention only, pure control. Household eligibility is determined by a preliminary census of all households covering household composition, housing characteristics and a basic asset index. Eligible households in the cash transfer treatment villages are offered substantial cash transfers, while eligible households in the psychological intervention villages are offered an intervention that consists of two back-to-back ten-minute aspirational videos, a facilitated goal-setting exercise, and the distribution of a reminder. Comprehensive household surveys, covering productive activities, consumption, assets and networks, are carried out with eligible and ineligible households sampled from all villages before and after the interventions are conducted.

Computer, stratified random assignment.
The village level randomization was stratified by the percentage of people eligible for the cash transfer based on the eligibility criteria, the village size, a household asset index (TV, car, telephone etc) and a village services index (schools, health clinics, markets).

Village level randomization

Yes

Estimated: 315 villages

Estimated: 10446 households of which 7338 are eligible to receive the cash transfer (sampled through existing RCT) and 3108 are ineligible. Recruitment is ongoing.

Target distribution is 1/4 of villages in each arm; but randomization is phased and ongoing. The overall number of villages might not divisible by 4.