Title: The Effect of a Monthly Unconditional Cash Transfer on Families and Children’s Development through Four Years of Age: Findings from the Baby’s First Years Study
Abstract: Developmental differences between children growing up in poverty and their higher-income peers are frequently reported. However, the extent to which such differences are caused by differences in family income is unclear. To study the causal role of income on children’s development, the Baby’s First Years randomized control trial provided families with monthly unconditional cash transfers. One thousand racially and ethnically diverse mothers with incomes below the U.S. federal poverty line were recruited from postpartum wards in 2018-19, and randomized to receive either $333/month or $20/month for the first several years of their children’s lives. In this presentation, lessons learned and the effects of the cash transfer on children and families during the first four years of the study will be summarized. To preview findings, we find select positive impacts of the cash transfer on parents’ investments in their children, but little to no impact on other measures of family wellbeing. In addition, while there were impacts on some aspects of children’s brain activity at age 1, there are largely null impacts on standardized assessments of children’s development as well as measure of brain activity at age 4. Possible explanations for these results and policy implications will be discussed.
Bio: Dr. Magnuson is a Vilas Distinguished Professor of Social Work at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work and a past Director of the Institute of Research on Poverty at UW-Madison. She is a national expert on the wellbeing and development of economically disadvantaged children and their families, with specific attention to unconditional cash transfers and early childhood education. Magnuson’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Administration of Children and Families, Office of Research Planning and Evaluation), Spencer Foundation, and Heising-Simons Foundation. She is a former Associate Editor of Child Development and Developmental Psychology. Magnuson’s awards and honors include winner of University of Wisconsin–Madison Graduate School Romnes, Vilas Faculty, and Kellett awards; and she is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
