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JEL Classification System

D19,J1, J19,, I1, I10

Abstract

The literature on conditional cash transfers focuses on the impact of such on health and education outcomes. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in the Philippines provides a cash grant conditional on requirements related to health and education. We investigated the impact of the program on adolescent pregnancy through its link to education. The program, which is designed to increase teen education, may lead to decreased adolescent pregnancy because it adds to the opportunity cost of getting pregnant. Though the incidence of pregnancy among adolescent women rates in the Philippines have declined over the past thirty years, a considerable number of young women still experience their first birth between 15 and 19. The 2017 National Demographic Health Survey in the Philippines revealed that almost 10% of women aged 15-19 had begun childbearing, the highest rate in Southeast Asia. We used using the National Demographic Health Survey for 2013 and 2017

to explore the impact of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program on adolescent pregnancy Results from the difference-in- difference method and coarsened exact matching revealed that, although rates of adolescent pregnancy declined from 2013 to 2017, and health-related factors such as infant birth weight, infant survival rate, and maternal health improved, these outcomes were not directly attributable to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. We explore possible policy recommendations related to adolescent pregnancy and poverty programs.

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