Table 1 Summary of adult labor impacts of different types of cash transfers
From: The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes
Transfer type | Typical impact on labor outcomes |
|---|---|
Government cash transfers: CCTs | No effect on total work or leisure; Small effects on self-employment and entrepreneurship in the short run; mixed evidence on adult labor outcomes for young adults who were children in beneficiary households. |
Government cash transfers: UCTs | Cash transfers to working age adults have resulted in a change in the type of work, with more self-employment and own agriculture. Pensions decrease amount worked by the elderly, and have mixed results on other adults living with them, with some doing more migration and self-employment, and others enjoying more leisure. |
Charitable giving and humanitarian transfers | No short-term effect on total work or work income when given in non-disaster/non-refugee situation, reduced work slightly among refugees. Few studies consider labor outcomes or look long-term. |
Remittance transfers | Limited impact on labor of adults in receiving household; some evidence of a positive impact on self-employment in some cases, but more common is no impact. |
Cash transfers for search assistance and finding work | Increases job search, resulting in a temporary reduction in work, but then in a higher chance of being employed in higher paying work. Impacts strongest when subsidy is for finding work in a different labor market, including fostering internal migration. |
Cash transfers for business start-up and growth | Small grants have typically increased business start-up and survival, and increased business earnings. Impacts on work, and total labor income tend to be smaller, but still positive. Larger grants targeted at higher-growth entrepreneurs also have created jobs for others. |
Combination transfers of cash, training, and assets | Ultra-poor programs changed type of work towards more livestock-rearing, increased total work hours and work income. Unclear how much of this is due to cash versus other program components. General equilibrium effect increases wages for other occupations in the village. |