Abstract

Can cash transfers given to the elderly improve school enrolments in multigenerational households? I answer this question by studying the 1908 Old Age Pension and school enrolments in Irish multigenerational households, using individual-level data from the 1901 and 1911 censuses. My findings show that co-residing with a pensioner increased the likelihood of enrolment, but these effects differed by the gender of the child and pension recipient. Boys benefited most overall. For girls, enrolments rose in the poorest households when the recipient was female but declined in the wealthiest households when the recipient was male. My results are consistent with cash transfers lowering the opportunity costs of schooling, while intra-household bargaining processes favoured boys over girls.