This study determines welfare and investment effects of social cash transfers (SCTs) in Zambia using efficient propensity score weighting and survey data from three diverse and spatially separated pilot schemes - Chipata (urban), Kalomo (peri-urban to rural), and Kazungula (remote, sparsely populated rural).

In addition to providing rich comparison of SCT impacts under varying programme designs and settings, this study represents the first comprehensive treatment of the impact of SCT programmes in southern Africa outside of South Africa. The results confirm that community-based targeting was largely effective in discriminating against the better off households, though there were instances where beneficiary selection appeared to be influenced by factors other than the specified targeting criteria.

Results also demonstrate unambiguous SCT effects on total consumption expenditure. Investment effects were evident with respect to micro-enterprises and small livestock in urban and rural schemes, respectively. Threshold effects were apparent for some outcome variables, suggesting a possible need for the transfer size to be responsive to initial wealth.