THE IMPACT OF THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT ON GRADE REPETITION AND CHILD HUNGER: EVALUATING THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE USING PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING

Mduduzi  BIYASE; Talent  ZWANE

Authors

Mduduzi BIYASE Senior Lecturer PhD, Department of Economics and Econometrics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: mbiyase@uj.ac.za. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1857-3205
Talent ZWANE Senior Lecturer PhD, Department of Economics and Econometrics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: ttzwane@uj.ac.za. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4039-9944

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the Child Support Grant (an unconditional transfer which provides cash to poverty-stricken households in order to alleviate poverty) on child hunger and grade repetition in South Africa. The study is based on the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data set for South Africa for the year 2008. We account for the non-random selection of recipient households by using propensity score matching method. The results show that the Child Support Grant has a negative, although, limited effect on child hunger and grade repetition in South Africa.

JEL Classification: I38, I21, O15

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