Economic Development

Economic Impacts of Tekopora – Theory

The Tekopora program was launched in 2005 to provide cash payments, as a means of help low income Paraguayans escape poverty. Basic economic analysis suggests the following outcome expectations are reasonable, in the areas of per capita income, consumption, poverty reduction and school attendance. It should be expected that per capita income and consumption would both increase. The reason for this is simple. As a cash transfer, Tekopora is just putting money into the hands of the recipients, which inherently increases their ability to spend. That alone should see an increase in per capita consumption.

Flowing from that, Tekopora should also result in an increase in overall per capita income in the country. However, that effect should be much lower. The reasons is simple — Tekopora is not a big program. The program initially served 4500 households, with payments ranging between $18-36 depending on the number of children in the family. Thus, Tekopora began life as a program around $1.5 million per year. While the program has expanded, this number is nowhere near big enough to significantly impact the per capita income of Paraguay. The GDP in 2005 was $30.9 billion, or $4,900 per capita (Library of Congress, 2005). Adding $1.5 million onto that would add around $5 to the country’s per capita earnings. Thus, the impact is better to the measured on just the people who received payments, to remove the effects of the country’s major trade and industrial drivers. By understanding the impacts on the recipients, it will be easier to understand the multiplier effect that the program has on earnings.

The predicted effect on poverty reduction is that it would have a significant effect. In 2005, the percentage of Paraguayans living below the poverty line was considered to be 38.6% overall, and 44.2% of people in rural areas. At the national level, this equates to roughly 2,432,800 people (IndexMundi, 2014). With an average family size of two children, Tekopora would bring 4500 * 4 = 18,000 Paraguayans out of poverty. The new percentage of Paraguayans living below the poverty line should be 38.3%. This assumes that all Tekopora recipients are lifted above the poverty line. The poverty line is $2 per day in Paraguay, and thus no Tekopora recipients would be lifted out of poverty on the strength of their Tekopora payments alone, which means that less than 100% are going to lifted above the poverty line, unless there are significant and universal multiplier effects.

Lastly, Tekopora had the objective of increasing access to education. Education being more direct and personal, it is only relevant to look at the number of children or percentage of children from recipient families who are able to attend school who were not previously able to attend.

Known Outcomes

In the first few years after the program was initiated, it grew, so that these impacts were likely to be more significant than the initial rough estimates. There were a few studies published that sought to highlight the outcomes of the program. While some were published by Tekopora supporters, they will be taken at face value here.

One of the early studies, based on the first couple of years of the program, found that there was no significant increase in the quality of life, an index that had been used to determine who the beneficiaries of the program should be in the first place. There were positive outcomes, however, at the individual level for many recipients. Per capita income among the targeted groups increased 31% during the Tekopora study period. Per capita consumption also increased, by 9%, during this period (Soares, Ribas & Hirata, 2008).

With respect to poverty reduction, it was found that there was a 17% reduction in poverty, which is perhaps poorer than would have been anticipated (Soares, Ribas & Hirata, 2008). It has been speculated that the program was insufficient to life very many of its recipients out of poverty, because Tekopora was targeted at some of Paraguay’s poorest districts, and families. Thus, the payments were indeed insufficient for these people to escape poverty. Any targeting within these poor districts would only serve to differentiate the extremely poor from the moderately poor (Ribas, Hirata & Soares, 2008).

Finally, there is the question of education. Tekopora was expected to provide a means by which rural families could, among other things, invest in their children’s education. It was found that there was a 5 percentage point increase in school attendance rates. There was also an increase in grade progression of 4%, so the gains in education were relatively modest, despite all of the recipients having children (Soares, Ribas & Hirata, 2008). There is not much evidence to suggest widespread use of Tekopora funds for education. This is possibly because, again, the program only really serves to differentiate the moderately poor from the extremely poor. That implies that perhaps there are other priorities more important than education for the majority of program recipients. Indeed, spending in other areas increased more than spending in education. Beneficiaries were 20% more likely to save money than non-beneficiaries, which in some cases might mean that there was a minimal change in the lifestyle. There were investments in agricultural production, 45% overall and 24% in vegetable production. Thus, food was one of the major areas of investment — and indeed total food expenditures declined among recipients as they clearly invested in order to improve their own food security.

A final note in that even though spending on educational enrollment did not increase much, and there were also few investments in new clothes for children, there was a statistically significant increase in health care spending on the children of recipients (Soares, Ribas & Hirata, 2008). Many recipients reported that their children had gone to the health clinic, something that they had been unable to afford before Tekopora. Thus, the picture painted here is that a family would spend on a health clinic visit, invest some money to expand their agricultural production and would often save much of whatever was left over.

While the program did not have much impact on the overall Paraguayan economy, it was not expected to. The program did have some impact on the recipients, but largely it was determined that the money was spent in slightly different ways than was expected, with an emphasis on health care and agriculture. As well, the funds were not enough to raise the extremely poor families who were recipients out of poverty, even though the funds did increase per capita GDP and there was a slight increase in consumption. The multiplier effects were generally weak, as much of the money went into domestic agriculture (especially acquiring animals) and into savings. There was no evidence of any entrepreneurial investment that would provide a multiplier effect, and even the education spending was weak enough that the long-run multiplier effect is not likely to be all that strong either — the main benefits of the program will, for the most part, be eaten. Only the improved health that comes from dietary improvement and visits to the health clinic will have any long-run positive outcomes.

References

IndexMundi. (2014). Percentage of people below the national poverty line. IndexMundi. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.indexmundi.com/paraguay/percentage-of-population-below-national-poverty-line.html

Library of Congress. (2005). Country profile: Paraguay. Federal Research Division. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Paraguay.pdf

Ribas, R., Hirata, G. & Soares, F. (2008). Debating targeting methods for cash transfers: A multidimensional index vs. An income proxy for Paraguay’s Tekopora programme. International Poverty Centre. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCEvaluationNote2.pdf

Soares, F., Ribas, R. & Hirata, G. (2008). Achievements and shortfalls of conditional cash transfers: Impact evaluation of Paraguay’s Tekopora program. International Initiative for Impact Education Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.3ieimpact.org/evidence/impact-evaluations/details/520/

Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply

Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?

Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.

Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?

• Plagiarism free papers
• Timely delivery
• Any deadline
• Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
• Subject-relevant academic writer
• Adherence to paper instructions
• Ability to tackle bulk assignments
• Reasonable prices
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Get superb grades consistently

Online Academic Help With Different Subjects

Literature

Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.

Finance

Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.

Computer science

Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!

Psychology

While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.

Engineering

Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Nursing

In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.

Sociology

Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.

Business

We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!

Statistics

We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.

Law

Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.

What discipline/subjects do you deal in?

We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.

Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?

Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.

What if I don’t like the paper?

There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.

Reasons being:

• When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
• We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.

In the event that you don’t like your paper:

• The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
• We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
• Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.

Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?

Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.

What if the paper is plagiarized?

We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.

When will I get my paper?

You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.

Will anyone find out that I used your services?

We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.

How our Assignment  Help Service Works

1.      Place an order

You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.

2.      Pay for the order

Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.

3.      Track the progress

You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.

4.      Download the paper

The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!