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Finding the Benefits: Estimating the Impact of The S outh A frican Child Support Grant
Author(s) -
Coetzee Marisa
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
south african journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1813-6982
pISSN - 0038-2280
DOI - 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2012.01338.x
Subject(s) - beneficiary , weighting , robustness (evolution) , estimator , cash , econometrics , economics , actuarial science , revenue , statistics , medicine , mathematics , accounting , finance , chemistry , biochemistry , gene , radiology
This paper estimates the impact of the S outh A frican Child Support Grant ( CSG ) on child health, nutrition and education. Data from the 2008 S outh A frican National Income Dynamics Study are used to estimate the impact of the CSG on six different outcomes measuring child well‐being. We find a positive treatment effect of the CSG on children's height‐for‐age, progress through the school system, as well as household expenditure on food items using a continuous treatment estimator developed by H irano and I mbens. Robustness analysis using the inverse probability weighting approach by F lores and M itnik is also implemented. Although these estimates provide some evidence of a positive impact resulting from the CSG , they are not conclusive in showing that the cash transfers are spent mainly on improving the lives of beneficiary children, as the treatment effects are quite small.