The effects of JUNTOS in Peru -

Abstract

In 2005, Juntos the Peruvian conditional cash program was implemented by Alejandro Toledo’s Government and managed by the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion. Juntos’ goal is to develop human capital and protecting children who continue to live in extreme poverty by decreasing inter-generational poverty. This paper examines the effect of the conditional cash transfer program (Juntos) in Peru. Since the program was implemented in 2005, the use of the young lives dataset would be an optimal choice to examine the effects of the program. The effect of Juntos on the health and education of children in Peru will be evaluated using the longitudinal aspect of the young lives data. Human capital gains are likely to have long-term effects on the economic wellbeing of children later in life. The findings of this paper would be of relevance to other conditions cash transfer programs. The difference in difference method was used, in addition to the propensity score matching to select the control and treatment group. The results showed that when the beneficiary has had Juntos for one round, the D-I-D estimator on health indicators are insignificant however its effects on the living conditions of the household and on school enrollment are significant. When the beneficiary receives Juntos for two consecutive rounds, health indicators are affected positively when looking at height however negatively on weight and BMI. In addition, the wealth index, housing quality and consumer durable index are affected negatively, lastly the enrollment and the time use of the child is not affected by juntos, even when it is for a long duration.