Maternal cash for better child health? The impacts of India's IGMSY/PMMVY maternity benefit scheme

Arbeitspapier

The maternity benefit scheme introduced as Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) in 2011 and renamed Pradhan Mantri Matriva Sahyog Yojana (PMMVY) in 2017, which incentivizes pregnant and lactating women to participate in various infant health-promoting activities, is India's largest conditional cash transfer program thus far. We approach IGMSY's geographically targeted pilot phase as a natural experiment and use data from a large national health survey to estimate its effects by a matched-pair differences-in-differences approach. Consistent with the program's objectives we find positive, albeit small effects on infant immunization as well as long-term health care utilization. In addition, intervals between eligible births increase by 15 percent. Our findings suggest that PMMVY is moderately cost-effective, at least regarding immunization, but that it will make only a small contribution to redressing India's dismal child-health record.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper Series ; No. 689

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health and Economic Development ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; Health Behavior ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
• Subject: cash incentives ; demand-side financing ; child health ; maternal health ; India

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): von Haaren, Paula ; Klonner, Stefan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
• (where): Heidelberg
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.11588/heidok.00028856
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/235012
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-288560
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET