81460 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Social Protection in a Crisis: Argentina's Plan Jefes y Jefas Author(s) Emanuela Galasso and Martin Ravallion Contact egalasso@worldbank.org Country Argentina Organizing Theme Economic Opportunities and Access to Assets Status Completed Intervention Category Cash Transfer Sector Social Protection The article assesses the impact of Argentina's main social policy response to the severe economic crisis of 2002. The program was intended to provide direct income support for families with dependents and whose head had become unemployed because of the crisis. Counterfactual comparisons are based on a matched subset of applicants not yet receiving program assistance. Panel data spanning the crisis are also used. The program reduced Abstract aggregate unemployment, though it attracted as many people into the workforce from inactivity as it did people who otherwise would have been unemployed. Although there was a substantial leakage to formally ineligible families and incomplete coverage of those who were eligible, the program did partially compensate many losers from the crisis and reduced extreme poverty. Gender Connection Gender Informed Analysis Gender Outcomes Female labor force participation, income IE Design Difference in Difference Argentina experienced a severe economic crisis at the end of 2001. In response to the crisis, the government's main safety net provided a cash transfer of 150 pesos a month (about half the mean household income) to each eligible individual. Eligible individuals were unemployed household heads with dependents. Administrative records demonstrated Intervention that about half of the recipients of the program were women and likely not the household head. In 2002, in response to public concern about ineligible individuals receiving the program, participants were required to do a minimum of 20 hours a week of community work. Intervention Period 2002-2003 The typical Jefes participant in the sample is female (69 percent of participants), 36 years old, married and no the head of a household. Participants tend to come from larger Sample population households and are poorer than the average worker. The sample includes 31,374 individuals, 2,327 of which receive the program. 26.9 percent of the sample are eligible for the program. The study compares Jefes recipients to Jefes applicants who had not yet received the Comparison conditions program Last updated: 14 August 2013 1 enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database Unit of analysis Individual Level Evaluation Period 2001-2003 It is clear that the eligibility criteria was not enforced. A large share of the recipients were women who would not otherwise be in the labor force. The program reduced Results unemployment by about 2.5 percentage points. The work requirement represented a positive opportunity cost for participants. The program had a small effect on the poverty rate and a somewhat larger effect on the incidence of extreme poverty. A source of bias in the use of applicants as a comparison group is that participants may Primary study limitations have experienced larger income shocks in the crisis than applicants who had not yet joined the program. Funding Source Galasso, E., & Ravallion, M. (2004). Social protection in a crisis: Argentina’s Plan Jefes y Reference(s) Jefas. The World Bank Economic Review, 18(3), 367-399. Link to Studies http://wber.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/3/367.short Microdata Last updated: 14 August 2013 2