Turning a Shove into a Nudge? A “Labeled Cash Transfer” for Education
Level 2 - randomized trial
Level 2 by design analogy (randomized controlled field experiment in economics).
OpenAlex W2118199904 · doi:10.1257/pol.20130225
What was done
Authors evaluated a government-run "labeled cash transfer" (LCT) program in poor rural communities in Morocco using a randomized experiment. The intervention provided small cash transfers to fathers of school-aged children that were explicitly framed and labeled as educational support, but were not strictly conditional on school attendance. Variations testing formal conditionality and recipient gender (mothers versus fathers) were also evaluated.
What was found
The abstract reports no exact numerical effect sizes, sample counts, or confidence intervals. It reports that the labeled cash transfer produced large gains in school participation. Adding explicit attendance conditionality or directing payments to mothers instead of fathers made almost no difference to the outcomes. The program also increased parental beliefs that education is a worthwhile investment.
Why it matters
Standard conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are administratively costly to monitor and enforce. Demonstrating that an unconditional transfer with a simple behavioral label (a "nudge") achieves similar participation gains offers a more cost-effective policy tool for human capital development in low-income settings.
Limits
The abstract provides no exact sample sizes, point estimates, or p-values. Findings reflect poor rural communities in Morocco, which may not generalize to urban settings or regions with different baseline enrollment dynamics and gender roles. The abstract does not assess actual learning outcomes or long-term educational attainment.
Cited by
- supports Experimental studies in developing countries show that simply renaming a cash benefit substantively alters how recipients allocate and spend the money.