Many electronic cash systems have been proposed with the proliferation of the Internet and the activation of electronic commerce. E-cash enables the exchange of digital coins with value assured by the bank’s signature and with concealed user identity. In an electronic cash system, a user can withdraw coins from the bank and then spends each coin anonymously and unlinkably. In this paper, we des...

Electronic cash (or e-cash) is an electronic payment solution that is usually viewed as an attempt to emulate electronically the main characteristics of regular cash. In particular, e-cash and other payment solutions should protect the privacy of users during a purchase. The main distinction of e-cash with respect to other electronic payment systems is that electronic coins are stored on a devi...

Conditional cash transfer programs pay recipients in exchange for an action that brings private behavior closer to the social optimum. We analyze one such program in Mexico, Progresa, that pays four million poor mothers to send their children to school and health visits. We show that these programs are effective, but that they can be made more efficient by following simple rules in selecting be...

Many large government programs provide benefits in kind as opposed to in cash. Providing benefits in kind potentially distorts decisions and leads to a deadweight loss if recipients value the benefits less than a cost-equivalent cash transfer. Yet providing benefits in kind may have some offsetting benefits, especially in terms of improving the targeting of benefits to desired beneficiaries. We...

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have been widely used in the developing world as a tool to break the poverty cycle. Short-term studies have found positive impacts of CCTs on education and health outcomes. However, little is known about longer-term outcomes of beneficiaries and any unintended consequences, namely on fertility, that there may be. This paper assesses medium-term (5-6 year...

Background Nigeria accounts for a significant proportion of global maternal mortality figures with little progress made in curbing poor health indices. In a bid to reverse this trend, the Government of Nigeria initiated a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme to encourage pregnant women utilize services at designated health facilities. This study aims to understand experiences of women who ...

Abstract Childbearing is at once deeply personal and shaped by social structure. It also a site of profound inequality in the United States. Income an upstream cause childbearing inequality, yet evidence effect income on reproduction inconclusive. Previously, scholars primarily examined introduction means-tested relief to families with children. This limits analysis poverty provides insight onl...