PROGRESA Conditional Cash Transfer

Summary

PROGRESA is the most influential anti-poverty experiment in modern policy history. Its village-level randomization allowed clean causal identification of a conditional cash transfer program's effects on health, education, and consumption. Positive results across every dimension prompted the World Bank and IADB to fund replications across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The CCT model—cash transfers contingent on specific behaviors like school attendance—is now the dominant anti-poverty design worldwide, with PROGRESA as the foundational evidence.

Research question

"Do conditional cash transfers tied to school attendance and health clinic visits reduce poverty and improve human capital?"

Methodology

Result

Positive

School enrollment: +3.4 pp secondary (girls); child illness days: −23%; consumption: +11%; child stunting: −1 cm height gain; effects larger for girls and youngest children

Evidence strength

Strong

Randomized trial, replicated across multiple sites or studies.

Replication status

Replicated