American Economic Review: Insights
ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)
The Fading Treatment Effects of a Multifaceted Asset-Transfer Program in Ethiopia
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 6,
no. 2, June 2024
(pp. 277–94)
Abstract
We study the long-run effects of a big-push "graduation" program in Ethiopia in which very poor households received a one-time transfer of productive assets (mainly livestock), technical training, and access to savings accounts. After seven years, treatment effects on wealth and consumption remain economically meaningful but dissipated relative to the two- and three-year results. Treatment effects on other outcomes attenuated further. Based on absolute well-being (e.g., food security) not dropping, we argue that the treatment effect dissipation is driven primarily by improved living standards for control households rather than losses of the previously accrued benefits for the treatment households.Citation
Barker, Nathan, Dean Karlan, Christopher Udry, and Kelsey Wright. 2024. "The Fading Treatment Effects of a Multifaceted Asset-Transfer Program in Ethiopia." American Economic Review: Insights, 6 (2): 277–94. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20230156Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- G51 Household Finance: Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
- I31 General Welfare; Well-Being
- I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development