Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades
Open accessAbstract
Background Many governments have implemented conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes with the goal of improving options for poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. Families enrolled in CCT programmes receive cash in exchange for complying with certain conditions: preventive health requirements and nutrition supplementation, education, and monitoring designed to improve health outcomes and promote positive behaviour change. Our aim was to disaggregate the effects of cash transfer from those of other programme components.Methods In an intervention that began in 1998 in Mexico, low-income communities (n=506) were randomly assigned to be enrolled in a CCT programme (Oportunidades, formerly Progresa) immediately or 18 months later. In 2003, children (n=2449) aged 24-68 months who had been enrolled in the programme their entire lives were assessed for a wide variety of outcomes. We used linear and logistic regression to determine the effect size for each outcome that is associated with a doubling of cash transfers while controlling for a wide range of covariates, including measures of household socioeconomic status.Findings A doubling of cash transfers was associated with higher height-for-age Z score (beta 0.20, 95% CI 0.09-0.30; p<0.0001), lower prevalence of stunting (-0.10, -0.16 to -0.05; p<0.0001), lower body-mass index for age percentile (-2.85, -5.54 to -0.15; p=0.04), and lower prevalence of being overweight (-0.08, -0.13 to -0.03; p=0.001). A doubling of cash transfers was also associated with children doing better on a scale of motor development, three scales of cognitive development, and with receptive language.Interpretation Our results suggest that the cash transfer component of Oportunidades is associated with better outcomes in child health, growth, and development.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Postpartum depression prevention strategies decrease abuse and neglect of children.
“Reduction of child abuse and neglect 120”
From Preventive strategies for mental health (2018) · cites this paper as [120]
Cites
Sen, A. K. (2009) · doi:10.1007/978-1-137-28787-8_94 · Cited by 15,886 · see citing works
Filmer, D. P., & Pritchett, L. H. (2001) · Demography · doi:10.2307/3088292 · Cited by 5,842 · see citing works
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development
(2000) · doi:10.17226/9824 · Cited by 4,484 · see citing works
(2000) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.37-3451 · Cited by 4,188 · see citing works
Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries
Grantham-McGregor, S., Cheung, Y. B., Cueto, S., Glewwe, P., Richter, L., & Strupp, B. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)60032-4 · Cited by 3,630 · see citing works
Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families
Becker, G. S., & Tomes, N. (1986) · Journal of Labor Economics · doi:10.1086/298118 · Cited by 2,913 · see citing works
Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries
Walker, S. P., Wachs, T. D., Meeks Gardner, J., Lozoff, B., Wasserman, G. A., Pollitt, E., & Carter, J. A. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)60076-2 · Cited by 2,133 · see citing works
The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies
Moser, C. O. N. (1998) · World Development · doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(97)10015-8 · Cited by 2,009 · see citing works
How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?
Ravallion, M. D., & Datt, G. (1996) · The World Bank Economic Review · doi:10.1093/wber/10.1.1 · Cited by 1,801 · see citing works
Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention
Zigler, E. (2000) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511529320 · Cited by 1,381 · see citing works
How Money Matters for Young Children's Development: Parental Investment and Family Processes
Yeung, W. J., Linver, M. R., & Jeanne Brooks-gunn, B. (2002) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00511 · Cited by 1,181 · see citing works
Engle, P. L., Black, M. M., Behrman, J. R., Cabral de Mello, M., Gertler, P. J., Kapiriri, L., Martorell, R., & Young, M. E. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)60112-3 · Cited by 1,151 · see citing works
Self-citationSocioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities.
Noble, K. G., McCandliss, B. D., & Farah, M. J. (2007) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00600.x · Cited by 1,041 · see citing works
Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children
Noble, K. G., Norman, M. F., & Farah, M. J. (2005) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00394.x · Cited by 1,038 · see citing works
What money can't buy: family income and children's life chances
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.35-1231 · Cited by 940 · see citing works
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Henninger, N. (2010) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1581 · Cited by 936 · see citing works
The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children’s intellectual development
Guo, G., & Harris, K. M. (2000) · Demography · doi:10.1353/dem.2000.0005 · Cited by 758 · see citing works
Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs
Rawlings, L. B. (2005) · The World Bank Research Observer · doi:10.1093/wbro/lki001 · Cited by 710 · see citing works
Gertler, P. (2004) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/0002828041302109 · Cited by 703 · see citing works
Self-citationLagarde, M., Haines, A., & Palmer, N. (2007) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.298.16.1900 · Cited by 672 · see citing works
The Effect of Income on Child Development
Blau, D. M. (1999) · The Review of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.1162/003465399558067 · Cited by 652 · see citing works
Measuring living standards with proxy variables
Montgomery, M. R., Gragnolati, M., Burke, K. A., & Paredes, E. (2000) · Demography · doi:10.2307/2648118 · Cited by 637 · see citing works
Long-term poverty and child development in the United States: Results from the NLSY
Korenman, S. D., Miller, J. E., & Sjaastad, J. E. (1995) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/0190-7409(95)00006-x · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Rivera, J. Á., Sotres‐Alvarez, D., Habicht, J., Shamah, T., & Villalpando, S. (2004) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.291.21.2563 · Cited by 389 · see citing works
Earnings, Schooling, Ability, and Cognitive Skills
Boissiere, M., Knight, J. B., & Sabot, R. H. (1985) · Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford) · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Measuring Bilingual Children's Receptive Vocabularies
Umbel, V. M., Pearson, B. Z., Fernández‐Santaella, M. C., & Oller, D. K. (1992) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01678.x · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Behrman, J. R., & Hoddinott, J. F. (2005) · Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0084.2005.00131.x · Cited by 300 · see citing works
de Janvry, A., & Sadoulet, É. (2006) · The World Bank Economic Review · doi:10.1093/wber/lhj002 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Improving Cognitive Ability in Chronically Deprived Children
McKay, H., Sinisterra, L., McKay, A., Gomez, H., & Lloreda, P. (1978) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.635585 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Mistry, R. S., Biesanz, J. C., Taylor, L. C., Burchinal, M., & Cox, M. J. (2004) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.5.727 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Reassessing Conditional Cash Transfer Programs
Das, J. (2005) · The World Bank Research Observer · doi:10.1093/wbro/lki005 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Measuring Bilingual Children's Receptive Vocabularies
(1992) · doi:10.2307/1131250 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Age Differences in the Impact of Nutritional Supplementation on Growth
Schroeder, D. G., Martorell, R., Rivera, J. Á., Ruel, M. T., & Habicht, J. (1995) · Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/125.suppl_4.1051s · Cited by 215 · see citing works
[Standardization of quantitative epidemiological methods in the field].
Habicht, J. (1974) · PubMed · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Poverty Experiences of Young Children and the Quality of Their Home Environments
Garrett, P., Ng'andu, N. H., & Ferron, J. M. (1994) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00754.x · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Results and Implications of the INCAP Follow-up Study
Martorell, R. (1995) · Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/125.suppl_4.1127s · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Boivin, M. J., Green, S. D. R., Davies, A. G., Giordani, B., Mokili, J. L., & Cutting, W. A. M. (1995) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.14.1.13 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Measuring health and poverty: a review of approaches to identifying the poor
Falkingham, J. C., & Namazie, C. Z. (2002) · ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) · Cited by 144 · see citing works
IS PROGRESA WORKING? SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF AN EVALUATION BY IFPRI
Skoufias, E., & Skoufias, E. (2000) · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · doi:10.22004/ag.econ.16017 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Poverty Experiences of Young Children and the Quality of Their Home Environments
Garrett, P., Ng'andu, N. H., & Ferron, J. M. (1994) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1131387 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Stecklov, G., Winters, P., Todd, J. E., & Regalía, F. (2007) · Population Studies · doi:10.1080/00324720701300396 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Watanabe, K., Flores, R., Fujiwara, J., & Tran, L. T. H. (2005) · Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/135.8.1918 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Patterns of Linear Growth in Rural Guatemalan Adolescents and Children
Martorell, R., Schroeder, D. G., Rivera, J. Á., & Kaplowitz, H. J. (1995) · Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/125.suppl_4.1060s · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Breslau, N., Johnson, E. O., & Lucia, V. C. (2001) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1023/a:1010396027299 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Bateman, J. R., & Guzman, M. (2001) · Developmental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1207/s15326942dn2001_3 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Bonvecchio, A., Pelto, G. H., Escalante, E., Monterrubio, E., Habicht, J., Nava, F., VILLANUEVA, M., Safdie, M., & Rivera, J. Á. (2007) · Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/137.2.440 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
From poverty assessment to policy change : processes, actors and data
McGee, R., & Brock, K. (2001) · OpenGrey (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique) · Cited by 51 · see citing works
In response to Natera et al., “Estimation of daily micronutrient intake of Filipinos”
Florencio, C. A. (2003) · Food and Nutrition Bulletin · doi:10.1177/156482650302400410 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Medical Compliance and Income-Health Gradients
Case, A. C., Roux, I. L., & Menendez, A. (2004) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/0002828041302046 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
Schady, N. (2006) · Economía · doi:10.1353/eco.2006.0021 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Larsson, G., & Wilde‐Larsson, B. (2001) · Mental Retardation · doi:10.1352/0047-6765(2001)039 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Handbook of early childhood intervention, 2nd edn
Barnett, B. E. W. (2001) · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1046/j.1440-1614.2001.0949i.x · Cited by 18 · see citing works
[Acquirement of the Spanish vocabulary among rural and urban students of the 9th region].
Muñoz, F., Quilodrán, C., Velásquez, P. G., et al. (1992) · PubMed · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Socioeconomic status and the brain: mechanistic insights from human and animal research
Hackman, D. A., Farah, M. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2897 · Cited by 1,409 · see citing works
Engle, P. L., Fernald, L. C., Alderman, H., Behrman, J., O'Gara, C., Yousafzai, A., de Mello, M. C., Hidrobo, M., Ulkuer, N., Ertem, I., et al. (2011) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60889-1 · Cited by 995 · see citing works
Self-citationPoverty and mental disorders: breaking the cycle in low-income and middle-income countries
Lund, C., De Silva, M., Plagerson, S., Cooper, S., Chisholm, D., Das, J., Knapp, M., & Patel, V. (2011) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60754-x · Cited by 929 · see citing works
Williams, D. R., Costa, M. V., Odunlami, A. O., & Mohammed, S. A. (2008) · Journal of Public Health Management and Practice · doi:10.1097/01.phh.0000338382.36695.42 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
Family Poverty Affects the Rate of Human Infant Brain Growth
Hanson, J. L., Hair, N., Shen, D. G., Shi, F., Gilmore, J. H., Wolfe, B. L., & Pollak, S. D. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080954 · Cited by 430 · see citing works
Mdege, N. D., Man, M.-S., Taylor (nee Brown), C. A., & Torgerson, D. J. (2011) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.12.003 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Selecting and Improving Quasi-Experimental Designs in Effectiveness and Implementation Research
Handley, M. A., Lyles, C. R., McCulloch, C., & Cattamanchi, A. (2018) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014128 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Stevens, G. A., Finucane, M. M., Paciorek, C. J., Flaxman, S. R., White, R. A., Donner, A. J., & Ezzati, M. (2012) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60647-3 · Cited by 384 · see citing works
Ranganathan, M., & Lagarde, M. (2012) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.11.015 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Racism and Health II: A Needed Research Agenda for Effective Interventions
Williams, D. R., & Mohammed, S. A. (2013) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/0002764213487341 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Common Variants in Psychiatric Risk Genes Predict Brain Structure at Birth
Knickmeyer, R. C., Wang, J., Zhu, H., Geng, X., Woolson, S., Hamer, R. M., Konneker, T., Lin, W., Styner, M., & Gilmore, J. H. (2014) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs401 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Li, S., Xu, Y., Zheng, L., Pang, H., Zhang, Q., Lou, L., & Huang, X. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.789305 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Addressing Child Poverty: How Does the United States Compare With Other Nations?
Smeeding, T., & Thévenot, C. (2016) · Academic Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.acap.2016.01.011 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Very Early Childhood Development
Aboud, F. E., & Yousafzai, A. K. (2016) · Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (Volume 2): Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health · doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0348-2_ch13 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fernald, L. C., Gertler, P. J., & Neufeld, L. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (MX)
- Corresponding author
- Fernald, Lia CH
- Venue
- The Lancet
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-03
- Volume
- 371
- Issue
- 9615
- Pages
- 828-837
- ISSN
- 0099-5355 (ISSN-L)
- 0140-6736
- PMC
- PMC2779574
- OpenAlex
- W2161097564
- Cited by
- 596
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 93.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The Lancet (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Fogarty International Center (K01TW006077)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD040864)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Public Health and Nutrition
- Keywords
- conditional cash transfers, Oportunidades, PROGRESA, child growth, stunting, childhood overweight, children's motor development, child cognitive development, receptive language, child health, low-income households
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child Development, Child Welfare, Child, Preschool, Community Health Services, Community Participation, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Infant, Male, Mexico, Motivation, Poverty, Rural Health, Social Welfare, Logistic Models
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review