Speaker: Paula Gonzalez
Title: Distinct Economic Pathways: Cash Transfers and Multifaceted Livelihoods Programs in Nigeria
Abstract: Do anti-poverty programs simply increase economic activity, or do they create different types of local economies? I study a multi-arm intervention that combines a structural livelihoods program with unconditional cash transfers, allowing me to separate structural support from liquidity. All programs increase activity relative to pure control. But adding cash does not merely scale up what the structural program achieves. Instead, liquidity reshapes how households organize production and allocate labor across spouses. In both nonfarm enterprise and agriculture, the effects of cash depend critically on the institutional environment created by the structural program. The results suggest that structural programs shape the direction of economic activity, while cash changes scale and intra-household allocation, producing a distinct economic equilibrium rather than a simple additive effect.
Maggie Hendrix
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