Can rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit program

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationGovernment of Indiaen
cg.coverage.countryIndia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2IN
cg.coverage.regionAsia
cg.creator.identifierSuman Chakrabarti: 0000-0002-5078-2173en
cg.creator.identifierPhuong H Nguyen: 0000-0003-3418-1674en
cg.creator.identifierSamuel Scott: 0000-0002-5564-0510en
cg.creator.identifierPurnima Menon: 0000-0001-5988-2894en
cg.howPublishedGrey Literatureen
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.12.25320443en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Nutrition, Diets, and Health Uniten
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot rankeden
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food security
dc.contributor.authorRay, Soumyajiten
dc.contributor.authorChakrabarti, Sumanen
dc.contributor.authorPal, Sumantraen
dc.contributor.authorNguyen, Phuong Hongen
dc.contributor.authorScott, Samuel P.en
dc.contributor.authorMenon, Purnimaen
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-11T15:50:32Zen
dc.date.available2025-02-11T15:50:32Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/172957
dc.titleCan rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit programen
dcterms.abstractThis study evaluates the impact of India’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a large-scale conditional cash transfer (CCT) program targeting women during their first birth, on child nutrition. Using National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data from 2005 to 2021, we assess changes in growth for 296,782 children under five years old before and after PMMVY implementation. To address potential biases, we employ a quasi-experimental approach with a Triple Difference analysis, comparing first- to second-born children of CCT and non-CCT mothers. We find that potential exposure to PMMVY is associated with improvements in weight-for-age and height-for-age z-scores. These effects likely operate through increased pregnancy registration, antenatal care, and immunizations. PMMVY is cost-effective, with a short-run benefit-cost ratio of 1.35. This study underscores the importance of CCT programs targeting mothers in enhancing child nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceAcademicsen
dcterms.bibliographicCitationRay, Soumyajit; Chakrabarti, Suman; Pal, Sumantra; Nguyen, Phuong; Scott, Samuel P.; and Menon, Purnima. Can rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit program. MedRxiv Preprint. Available January 13, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.12.25320443en
dcterms.extent63 p.en
dcterms.issued2025-01-13en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-ND-4.0
dcterms.publisherMedRxiven
dcterms.subjectcash transfersen
dcterms.subjectnutritionen
dcterms.subjectchildrenen
dcterms.subjectmaternityen
dcterms.typePreprint

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