UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series
Preferences for conditioning and being conditioned - experimental & survey evidence from Zambia
Esther Schuering #2011-046While conditionality is a frequently discussed topic among policy-makers
and cooperating partners when it comes to social cash transfers, less
attention has been paid to the views of the general public and
beneficiaries in low-income countries. Using qualitative, survey and
experimental evidence from Zambia, this study contrasts the perceptions
of beneficiaries and the broader public with those of policy-makers and
assesses the factors that influence choices about imposing
conditionality. As long as conditionality is not so rigorously enforced
that it leads to greater tension, conditionality meets the interests of
policy-makers, the general public and beneficiaries alike, exerting the
necessary control for transfer givers and the guidance for transfer
recipients. The experiment, however, also demonstrates that
conditionality preferences are neither homogeneous nor static and are
likely to change with more exposure to social cash transfers and
conditionality.
Key words: conditionality, social cash transfers, political economy,
empowerment
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