A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Educational Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers

In this review of the educational impact of unconditional cash transfer programmes (UCTs), we systematically search the impact evaluation literature and find 38 papers that evaluate 22 programmes in 18 countries. We quantitatively synthesise the reported effect sizes from these papers using a random-effects meta-analysis model and find a statistically significant positive impact on both enrolment and attendance, suggesting that UCTs are an effective social intervention for policymakers aiming to improve educational attainment. In line with previous research syntheses of cash transfer programmes, we also find significant heterogeneity in effect sizes across studies, which we attempt to explain in a meta-regression with two programme design features and two country-specific characteristics. The results suggest that transfer size and whether the programme is a pilot are irrelevant to UCT impact. We also find no moderating effects of income per capita and the proportion of people living in poverty in the economy, lending no support to a recently developed theoretical framework for UCTs. The findings and limitations of the systematic review and meta-analysis yield three recommendations for future UCT evaluations.