Date of Graduation

Spring 5-14-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Economics

First Advisor

Bruce Wydick

Second Advisor

Jesse Anttila-Hughes

Abstract

Do cash transfer programs have heterogeneous treatment effects within the treatment group? Why do some households in these interventions seem to benefit more than others? What is the overall treatment effect of the Microenterprise Intervention? I address these questions through the study of a comprehensive microenterprise intervention program carried out in Kenya, Africa by a non-profit organization called the Village Enterprise Organization and I obtain economic outcome data from a randomized control trial that gives out conditional cash transfer that is conditional on business formation. The Microenterprise Intervention combines cash grants and mentorship and training to achieve long term economic effects. I carry out an ANCOVA specification model to obtain the average treatment effect and the results show there is an increase is the level of livestock assets held by the participants but no significant increase in the level of consumption. I further carry out a Lasso regression to estimate the heterogeneity in the treatment effect within the treatment group and I find that households whose household head is monogamously married and are literate benefit more compared to other households.

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