Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/89028 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-244
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
This paper estimates the impact of a large temporary poverty relief program, Uruguay’s PANES—on birth outcomes. Using program administrative data and longitudinal vital statistics, a significant and precisely estimated reduction in the fraction of low-weight newborns (less than 2,500 g. ) on the order of 10 to 20 percent was found to be a result of treatment. The cash (and in-kind) transfer components of the program were considered to drive the results, suggesting that unrestricted social assistance has the potential to positively affect birth outcomes, most likely through improved nutrition. Assuming that all the effect of the program was through the transfer, an elasticity of low birthweight with respect to welfare transfers on the order of around 0. 30 can be inferred.
JEL: 
I18
I32
I38
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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