Dozens of countries in the developing world have cash transfer programs with conditional, labeled, and unconditional attachments.  In Latin America in particular, these programs cover millions of households and cost between 0.2-0.7 GDP points.  Cash transfers have been shown to have substantial effects on short-term consumption and income poverty in addition to better utilization of education and health services.  However, can cash transfers help households escape poverty traps.

This presentation is based on the AMA Innovation Lab projects for the Conference on the Economics of Asset Dynamics and Poverty Traps. The goal of this workshop was to bring together empirical researchers with modelers working in the area of economic growth and poverty reduction.

This presentation took place in Washington DC, United States on June 29, 2016 by M. Araujo, Mariano Bosch Norbert Schady.