We study a recent merit-based financial program for the poor in Colombia. We exploit sharp eligibility rules in household wealth and standardized test scores to identify the causal effect of financial aid on postsecondary enrollment and academic performance. We find large positive effects on...

In this paper we assess the impact of a Minimum Income Scheme (MIS) which has been operating in the Basque Country, one of Spain's 17 regions, for more than twenty years. In particular, we test whether the policy delays entry into employment for recipients. In addition, we test the efficacy of...

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a minimum income scheme (MIS) in the Basque Country, one of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions. In particular, we assess whether the policy delays entry into employment for recipients, as well as the extent to which activating policies aimed at enabling...

This study examines foreign aid effectiveness in poverty reduction in Africa with focus on the role of regional fiscal policy on education and health. The study employs panel dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimation technique and covers the period 1980-2017. The results reveal that...

To examine poverty on China's campuses, we utilize the Chinese College Students Survey carried out in 2010. With poverty line defined as the college-specific expenditures a student needs to maintain the basic living standard on campus, we find that 22 percent of college students in China are...

Since the creation of the National System of Researchers (SNI) in 1984, research and technological development recognizes the work of researchers adhering to the SNI, by granting an economic stimulus, gradual and correlated to the level of importance of their productivity and scientific...

Making higher education more accessible for the poor serves the equity objective. Until today, the main policy tool to achieve this objective is funding public higher institutions. This has been shown to have no significant correlation on the enrollment of the poor by earlier studies. This paper...

Covering the full population of applicants to the Jamaican Conditional Cash Transfer Program (PATH), we explore whether receiving PATH since childhood altered the academic gains from attending a more preferred public secondary school. To uncover causal associations, we implement a double...

Conditional Cash transfer (CCT) programs have been shown to have positive effects on a variety of outcomes including education, consumption and health visits, amongst others. We estimate the long-run impacts of the urban version of Familias en Acción, the Colombian CCT program on crime,...