Lessons from the Political Economy of Cash Transfer Programs: Does Cash Assistance Improve Women's Economic Empowerment?

Lessons from the Political Economy of Cash Transfer Programs: Does Cash Assistance Improve Women's Economic Empowerment? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Lessons from the Political Economy of Cash Transfer Programs: Does Cash Assistance Improve Women's Economic Empowerment? Nzabirinda Etienne This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6754513/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have become widely used tools in social protection policies aimed at alleviating poverty in developing countries. The study aims to assess the effects of CCT programs on women’s economic empowerment by examining key indicators, such as income growth, household expenditure, and improvements in children’s health and education. Using data from 3,255 households in Malawi, collected through the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study, the study employs a Difference-in-Difference (DiD) approach to analyze the impact of cash transfers on various economic outcomes for women and their families. The study finds significant improvements in women’s economic empowerment. Women experienced growth in their own income (DiD estimate = 0.003) and their partners' income (DiD estimate = 0.017). Additionally, improvements were observed in children’s health (DiD estimate = 0.008) and schooling (DiD estimate = 0.016). Expenditures on major purchases and family-related items also increased (DiD estimates = 0.012 and 0.017, respectively). The findings suggest that CCTs contribute to women's economic empowerment, although their effectiveness depends on program design and socio-political contexts. The study advocates for gender-sensitive policy design and targeted investments in women’s empowerment, alongside complementary interventions in education, healthcare, and income generation. Women's empowerment Cash transfer programs Economic empowerment Sub-Saharan Africa Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6754513","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":478003770,"identity":"1a013c9e-44f6-41fd-bed0-b80f95d94beb","order_by":0,"name":"Nzabirinda Etienne","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Rwanda","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nzabirinda","middleName":"","lastName":"Etienne","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-27 02:23:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6754513/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6754513/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":87810222,"identity":"86782eb1-b9e7-4b81-8869-e1168539363b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-29 09:09:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":443746,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FFinalrevisionpaperoncashgrant.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6754513/v1_covered_df4d5538-c0c8-4734-95e8-3d7236aa7caf.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Lessons from the Political Economy of Cash Transfer Programs: Does Cash Assistance Improve Women's Economic Empowerment?","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Women's empowerment, Cash transfer programs, Economic empowerment, Sub-Saharan Africa","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6754513/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6754513/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eConditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have become widely used tools in social protection policies aimed at alleviating poverty in developing countries.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe study aims to assess the effects of CCT programs on women’s economic empowerment by examining key indicators, such as income growth, household expenditure, and improvements in children’s health and education.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing data from 3,255 households in Malawi, collected through the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study, the study employs a Difference-in-Difference (DiD) approach to analyze the impact of cash transfers on various economic outcomes for women and their families.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe study finds significant improvements in women’s economic empowerment. 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