JUNTOS program and school enrollment in high-poverty Peruvian regions: a propensity score matching analysis

Valdiglesias J.; Florindez A. · European Journal of Government and Economics (2026) · DOI: 10.17979/ejge.2026.15.1.12761

Resumen

This study analyzes the association between participation in the JUNTOS conditional cash transfer program and school enrollment among children and adolescents in poor households in selected high-poverty Peruvian regions: Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Loreto, and Puno. Two samples were constructed from the 2023 National Household Survey (ENAHO) database: the treatment group, composed of beneficiaries of the JUNTOS program, and the control group, constructed using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to select non-beneficiaries with similar characteristics. A Logit model was also estimated as a robustness check. The results indicate a positive association between program participation and school enrollment. These findings suggest that conditional cash transfer programs in Peru may contribute to improving educational access for minors in poverty-stricken regions. © The Author(s) 2026. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos