The impact of conditional cash transfers on marriage and divorce

Weathering the storm together: Does unemployment insurance help couples avoid divorce?

This study examines whether unemployment insurance benefit generosity impacts divorce, drawing on full population administrative data and a Swiss reform that reduced unemployment insurance maximum benefit duration. We assess the effect of the reform by comparing the pre- to the post-reform change in divorce rates among unemployed individuals who were affected by the reform with the change in divorce rates among a statistically balanced group of unemployed individuals who was not affected by the reform. Difference-in-differences estimates suggest that the reform caused a 2.8 percentage point increase in divorce (a 25% increase). Effects were concentrated among low-income couples (+58%) and couples with an unemployed husband (+32%) though gender differences are attributable to men's breadwinner status. Female main breadwinners were more strongly affected (+78%) than male main breadwinners (+40%). Results confirm the 'family stress model' which posits that job search and financial stress cause marital conflict. Policymakers should consider a broad array of impacts, including divorce, when considering reductions in unemployment insurance generosity.

Testing the Economic Independence Hypothesis: Union Formation Among Single Mothers in Chile

Despite the increasing proportion of single-mother families, the literature on union formation among unpartnered parents in Latin America is scant. Using a sample from a Chilean longitudinal survey ( N = 3,318), we estimated regression models to test associations between single mothers’ economic resources in 2010 and coresidence with the biological father of their children in 2012. We also examined whether these associations differed in subgroups with higher rates of labor market participation. We found that mothers’ paid work was not associated with union formation. Receiving government benefits and living with a parent were associated with lower probability of coresidence with the biological father, even among the most advantaged subgroups. We conclude that in contexts in which most mothers of young children are not doing paid work, economic resources coming from government and extended family may be more consequential than earnings’ potential in influencing single mothers’ union formation behavior.

On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms

Can increasing control over earnings incentivize a woman to work, and thereby influence norms around gender roles? We randomly varied whether rural Indian women received bank accounts, training in account use, and direct deposit of public sector wages into their own (versus husbands') accounts. Relative to the accounts only group, women who also received direct deposit and training worked more in public and private sector jobs. The private sector result suggests gender norms initially constrained female employment. Three years later, direct deposit and training broadly liberalized women's own work-related norms, and shifted perceptions of community norms.

Age Moderates the Association Between Microfinance Membership and Physical Abuse, Relationship Power, and Transactional Sex in Haitian Women

Microfinance interventions may have differential effects on relationship dynamics among subpopulations of women. We estimated the association between microfinance participation duration and physical abuse, relationship power, and transactional sex in a sample of Haitian women (n = 304). Furthermore, we tested for moderation by age. In older women, microfinance tended to be associated with reduced risk of violence, low relationship power, and transactional sex. These associations were not observed for younger women. Thus, older Haitian women may benefit from microfinance in ways that younger women do not. Future studies should examine whether additional training and resources could improve outcomes in younger women.

Healthcare at the Beginning of Life and Child Survival: Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment in Nigeria

Households in poor countries are encouraged (and sometimes coerced) to increase investments in formal health care services during pregnancy and childbirth. Is this good policy? The answer to a large extent depends on its effects on child welfare. We study the effects of a cash transfer program in Nigeria in which households were offered a payment of $14 conditioned on uptake of health services. We show that the transfer led to a large increase in uptake and a substantial increase in child survival driven by a decrease in in-utero child deaths. We present evidence suggesting that the key driver is prenatal health investments.

A conditional cash transfer and Women's empowerment: Does Bolsa Familia Influence intimate partner violence?

We apply mixed methods to explore how a conditional cash transfer (CCT) may influence intimate partner violence (IPV). Qualitative interviews with female beneficiaries of Bolsa Familia, Brazil's CCT program, and service providers suggest positive, negative, and null associations between CCTs and IPV are all plausible. These associations result from a combination of economic and psychological motivations. We also use quantitative methods to examine if the expansion of Bolsa Familia between 2004 and 2009 affects the female homicide rate and marital separations. Using municipal level data in a difference-in-differences analysis, we find null associations between Bolsa Familia and female homicides. When we examine the impact on marriages and separations, indicative of a change in the reservation utility of women within the household, we find no impact on marriages but Bolsa Familia is associated with an increase in separations, and, to a greater extent, separations of couples with children. These results suggest Bolsa Familia impacts women's agency within the family, but not to the extent that it reduces the most extreme form of IPV.

Marital Dissolution and Child Educational Outcomes in San Borja, Bolivia

Serial monogamy is likely an adaptive mating strategy for women when the expected future fitness gains with a different partner are greater than expected future fitness with one's current partner. Using interview data from more than 400 women in San Borja, Bolivia, discrete-time event history analyses and random effects regression analyses were conducted to examine predictors of marital dissolution, separated by remarriage status, and child educational outcomes. Male income was found to be inversely associated with women's risk of "divorce and remarriage," whereas female income is positively associated with women's risk of "divorce, but not remarriage." Children of women who divorce and remarry tend to have significantly lower educational outcomes than children of married parents, but women with higher incomes are able to buffer their children from the negative educational outcomes of divorce and remarriage. Counter to predictions, there is no evidence that women with kin in the community have a significant difference in likelihood of divorce or a buffering effect of child outcomes. In conclusion, predictors of divorce differ depending on whether the woman goes on to remarry, suggesting that male income may be a better predictor of a serial monogamy strategy whereas female income predicts marital dissolution only. Thus, women who are relatively autonomous because of greater income may not benefit from remarriage.