Does conditional cash transfer have any impact on private investment in human capital? A study on Bangladesh’s female stipend programme

Abstract

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) have become a major component of national developmentstrategies to alleviate existing poverty  level and to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty transmission through stimulating household‟s investment decision in human  capital. This study empirically investigates the impact of Female Stipend Programme (FSP) of Bangladesh on household‟s human  capital investment decision, emphasizing on educational expenditure, food consumption expenditure and per capita calorie intake. Applying the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) Techniques the study came up with the findings that the treatment group (stipend  recipient‟s family) shows a higher share of expenditure on food consumption out of total monthly expenditure and higher per capita  calorie intake(per day) than the control group (families who does not receive any kind of transfer including the FSP) but contrarily the  share of educational expenditure (out of total expenditure) is lower in the treatment group. There is also significant quintile wise  variation of programme‟s impact across different income groups as our findings displays that in higher quintiles the stipend recipient  families rather spend more on education out of their total income. Findings of this study has a significant policy implication as it  justifies the validation and importance of this stipend programme.