RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Income Shocks and Adolescent Mental Health
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 370
OP 403
DO 10.3368/jhr.48.2.370
VO 48
IS 2
A1 Sarah Baird
A1 Jacobus de Hoop
A1 Berk Özler
YR 2013
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/48/2/370.abstract
AB We investigate the effects of a positive income shock on mental health among adolescent girls using evidence from a cash transfer experiment in Malawi. Offers of cash transfers strongly reduced psychological distress among baseline schoolgirls. However, these large beneficial effects declined with increases in the transfer amount offered to the parents conditional on regular school attendance by the adolescent girls. Improved physical health, increased school attendance, personal consumption, and leisure contributed to the effects. There was also strong evidence of increased psychological distress among untreated baseline schoolgirls in treatment areas. All of these effects dissipated soon after the program ended.