We estimate the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program, Progresa, on the time mothers and older sisters spend taking care of children younger than 3. We exploit the random allocation of the program and heterogeneity in household composition for identification, and apply the methodology in Lewbel [2000]. We find that mothers in treatment households substitute their first teenage daughter in the provision of child care. As a result, daughters devote more time to schooling and less time to taking care of their younger siblings. Overall, total household hours to child care increase. These findings indicate that Progresa not only fosters human capital accumulation through keeping teenage girls in school but also through more and arguably better (mother provided) child care.
Authors
Marta Rubio Codina
Marta is a Research Associate, working at the Centre for Evaluation of Development Policies at IFS and at the Inter-American Development.
Pierre Dubois
Pierre is a Research Fellow at the IFS, a Professor of Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics and a co-editor of the JEEA.
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