COnditiOnal Cash transfers (CCts) are prOgrams that

transfer cash, generally to poor households, on the condition that those households make prespecified investments in the human capital of their children. health and nutrition conditions generally require periodic checkups, growth monitoring, and vaccinations for children less than 5 years of age; perinatal care for mothers and attendance by mothers at periodic health information talks. education conditions usually include school enrollment, attendance on 80–85 percent of school days, and occasionally some measure of performance. most CCt programs transfer the money to the mother of the household or to the student in some circumstances. Countries have been adopting or considering adoption of CCt pro-grams at a prodigious rate. Virtually every country in latin america has such a program. elsewhere, there are large-scale programs in Bangladesh, indonesia, and turkey, and pilot programs in Cambodia, malawi, morocco, pakistan, and south africa, among others. interest in programs that seek to use cash to incentivize household investments in child schooling has spread from developing to developed countries— most recently to programs in new York City and Washington, dC. in some countries, CCts have become the largest social assistance program, covering millions of households, as is the case in Brazil and mexico. CCts have been hailed as a way of reducing inequality, especially in the very unequal countries in latin america; helping households break out of a vicious cycle whereby poverty is transmitted from one generation to another; promoting child health, nutrition, and schooling; and helping countries meet the millennium development goals. do those and other claims make sense? are they supported by Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz ed Pu bl ic Di sc lo su re A ut ho riz e