Experimental Design
The 42 targeted localities were randomized into one of two equally sized treatment groups, the early or late group, at a public lottery carried out by the Government of Nicaragua in July 2000. (Experimental design had authorization from Government of Nicaragua, and was approved by the evaluating agency IFPRI and sponsor IDB.) To improve the likelihood that the selection of localities in the experimental groups would be well balanced in terms of poverty levels, a marginality index was used to classify the 42 localities into seven strata of six localities each. From each stratum three localities were randomly selected as early treatment and three as late treatment.
A program census, was implemented in May 2000 and and the 21 early treatment localities received their first transfers in November 2000. They were eligible to receive three years’ worth of cash transfers and received the last transfer in late 2003. Households in the late treatment localities were informed that the program would start in their localities later. The 21 late treatment localities were phased-in at the beginning of 2003. They were also eligible to receive three years’ worth of cash transfers. At the end of 2005, all program benefits were discontinued and the program no longer operated in these municipalities.
(In 2002, the study selected 21 localities in nearby municipalities as a non-experimental control group interviewed in 2002 and 2004.)