The Effect of Monthly Cash Transfers during 5 Years on Households’ Wealth

We use rich register data and a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effects of a monthly cash transfer during 5 years on households’ wealth, labor supply, marital status, and fertility. We find that receipt of the transfer has a significantly negative effect on households’ wealth index. We also find that women who receive the transfer are less likely to be married and, therefore, to have a spouse who works. The sizes of these effects are larger for prior nonrecipients than for prior recipients. We find no effects on female labor supply or on fertility.