Schady, NorbertAraujo, Maria Caridad2012-06-192012-06-192006-06https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8452The impact of cash transfer programs on the accumulation of human capital is a topic of great policy importance. An attendant question is whether program effects are larger when transfers are "conditioned" on certain behaviors, such as a requirement that households enroll their children in school. This paper uses a randomized study design to analyze the impact of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), a cash transfer program, on enrollment and child work among poor children in Ecuador. There are two main results. First, the BDH program had a large, positive impact on school enrollment, about 10 percentage points, and a large, negative impact on child work, about 17 percentage points. Second, the fact that some households believed that there was a school enrollment requirement attached to the transfers, even though such a requirement was never enforced or monitored in Ecuador, helps explain the magnitude of program effects.CC BY 3.0 IGOCAPITA CONSUMPTIONCAPITA EXPENDITURECHILD LABOREDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESENROLLMENTENROLLMENT FOR CHILDRENENROLLMENT RATEENROLLMENT RATESGENDER DISPARITYGIRLSHIGHER ENROLLMENTHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLDSHOUSINGLATIN AMERICANNET ENROLLMENTPOINTSPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOPULATION CENSUSPOVERTY LINEPRIMARY ENROLLMENTPRIMARY ENROLLMENT RATEPRIMARY SCHOOLRURAL AREASSCHOOLINGSIMULATIONSSTANDARD DEVIATIONSTANDARD ERRORSTANDARD ERRORSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3930