BY JACKSON RYTHER, SASHA TORCHIGINA, IGOR YAKOVINA, AND JUAN

CAMPANARIO

The Effect of Conditional Cash Transfers on Domestic Violence

Prevalence of CCTs

Source :Ariel Fizbein and Norbert Schady (2009) Conditional cash transfers: reducing present and future poverty, page 32.

Motivation

Domestic Violence is on the rise in ColombiaDo CCTs influence female wealth in a way

that threatens male ‘machismo’ leading to violent actions?

Literature

“Public Transfers and Domestic Violence: The Roles of Private Information and Spousal Control” by Gustavo J. Bobonis, Melissa González-Brenes and Roberto Castro

Program studied was Oportunidades, using the Mexico’s National Survey on Relationships within the Household (ENRIDEH) 2003

Findings• There is a lower incidence rate

of domestic violence among beneficiary households.

• Large and significant reductions (5.1 – 7.0 percent) in incidences of physical abuse

• Moderate increase in incidence rates of emotional violence or threats of violence (not statistically different from zero).

Colombia

Population: 48.32 million As of 2013, according to the World Bank, the

poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines is 30.6 percent of the population.

Familias en Acción , implemented in 2002Similar to Mexico’s Oportunidades

(Bobonis study)Requirements

School Attendance (at least 80% in two-month cycle) Basic preventative health check-ups

Two Possibilities

1. As women become less financially dependent on men, domestic violence decreases through female empowerment.

2. As women become less financially dependent, the men feel threatened, due to a loss of control and power, leading to more domestic violence.

Hypothesis

We hypothesize that since conditional cash transfers are given to women, there will be a decrease in male-to-female domestic violence within beneficiary households of Familias en Accion compared to the domestic violence of non-beneficiary households.

Survey Data

Colombia’s National Demographic and Health Survey data from 2010

Over 53,000 women aged 13-49 surveyedConcerned with determining variables of

Violence Wealth Beneficiary status

Variables

To merge the sets, the variables v001 (cluster number) and v002 (household number) were used.

Physical violence Husband ever pushed, slapped, punched, or

forced sexEmotional violence

Felt neglected by husband, felt husband didn’t trust with money, husband ever accused [her] of unfaithfulness

MethodsWe imported the data into stata, and

merged the household records with the individual records for women using identification numbers.

Found relevant variablesMade regressions for Physical and

Emotional violence

Data on Physical Violence

Data on Emotional Violence

Additional Findings

What are the effects of Familias en Acción on violence with regard to household structure?

Household structure defined by variables Is the female the head of the household? Does the female work? Who decides how to spend money?

Conclusion

When looking at our regression for violence, regarding the wealth index and beneficiary status, we see that Familias en Acción has a positive coefficient and for the most part is statistically significant.

When looking at our regression for violence, regarding the wealth index, beneficiary status, and other variables relating to household structure, we see that Familias en Acción still has a positive coefficient but the value is not statistically different form 0.

Machismo effect?