The multidimensional impacts of the Conditional Cash Transfer program Juntos in Peru
Ricardo Morel Berendson & Liz Girón
#2022-012
Policy decisions are sensitive to the conceptualization of poverty and,
in line with the growing demand for multidimensional poverty
measurement, we conducted an impact evaluation of Peru's largest social
protection intervention - the conditional cash transfer program 'Juntos'
- to further understand its effects on multidimensional poverty. We
combine a propensity score matching with a difference-in-difference
approach to estimate and compare two multidimensional indices created
using the Alkire-Foster method. The first replicates the Global
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) while the other is a
Juntos-tailored MPI. We do not find robust and statistically significant
effects of the program in either index. Despite finding steeper
reductions among Juntos beneficiaries, particularly in education and
health indicators, these changes cannot be statistically attributed to
the program. We further conclude that using a multidimensional poverty
index can be a highly useful evaluation tool when thoroughly adapted to
the theory of change of the intervention under assessment.
JEL Classification: I32, I38
Keywords: conditional cash transfers, multidimensional poverty, Juntos, Peru