This document presents a quasi-experimental impact evaluation of Bolivia's Renta Dignidad, a universal and non-contributory old age pension. Causal effects on direct, future, and indirect beneficiaries are identified, taking advantage of a reduction in age of eligibility from 65 to 60 years in...

Public works programs in developing countries can reduce poverty in the long term and help lowskilled workers cope with economic shocks in the short term. But success depends on a scheme's design and implementation. Key design factors are: properly identifying the target population; selecting...

During a period of COVID-19-induced job losses and mobility restrictions, the government of Colombia's launched Empléate, an innovative Pay-for-performance (P4P) program that targeted impoverished and vulnerable workers. Empléate operated at a national scale and had a novel financial...

This paper shows how a theory-consistent demand system can be used to quantify recipient welfare under in-kind and cash transfers. Since welfare under an in-kind subsidy depends on the extent to which the transfer is extra-marginal, I compute the shadow prices at which a recipient would be as...

This paper studies the effects of cash versus in-kind transfers on child labor. Using data from a program which randomly transferred either cash or a basket of food to poor households in Mexico, I find that the cash transfer reduced children's work participation by a significantly larger margin...

Aid programs in developing countries are likely to affect all households living in the treated areas, both eligible and non-eligible ones. Studies that focus on the treatment effect on the treated may fail to capture important spillover effects. We exploit the unique design of an aid program's...

Aid programs in developing countries are likely to affect all households living in the treated areas, both eligible and non-eligible ones. Studies that focus on the treatment effect on the treated may fail to capture important spillover effects. We exploit the unique design of an aid program's...