Do you know if there is a good cost-effective/cost-benefit analysis for Conditional Cash Transfers? In the one that I have seen, CCTs do poorly. I would like to know why GiveWell is pushing in that direction.
Article from 2013 analysing and comparing Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) and Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCTs) - Pennies From Heaven (http://www.economist.com/news/international/21588385-giving-...). The evidence suggests that they're both pretty effective, and you would choose between the two depending on the initial conditions in the region and budget available.
It's important to note that GiveWell is not necessarily pushing in this direction yet. Instead, they are placing bets that they potentially think could have a huge payoff if done right.
CCTs can be very effective or completely ineffective. This is because the second "C" matters a lot. What the program conditions makes all the difference. If the program is focusing on incentivizing interventions that are not cost-effective, the CCT won't be cost-effective because the underlying focus is too costly. Another aspect is what the long-term effects of the program are when the incentive ends. In our case, we are focusing on HIV transmission from mothers to infants and neonatal death. Our temporary incentives have a long-lasting effect by saving a child from getting HIV or a newborn from dying. However, if you were to have a CCT for something that is not life or death and would be needed throughout one's lifetime, the cost would potentially be too high.
Some of the most successful CCTs are for immunizations. This is because immunizations are a proven cost-effective health intervention in the first place. So adding the small CCT to increase coverage maintains cost-effectiveness while achieving benefits from having a greater percent of the population that is immunized.
There are benefits besides poverty-reduction. For example, this study by the World Bank (http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServ...) concludes that CCTs reduce child labout.