Impact on Marginalised Roma Households

In this paper, we experimentally evaluate the impact on marginalised Roma households of a cash transfer program in 8 EU countries. We use a unique panel of household-level survey data. Our empirical strategy compares Roma households exposed to the program to Roma households drawn from thousands of non-supported Roma households, adjusting for observable differences using a flexible estimator that combines features of matching and regression. We find a significant and positive impact of the unconditional cash transfer program on the marginalised Roma household well being and labour market outcomes. There is no evidence that the labor market gains are driven by improvements in neighborhood environments that promote human capital development.