Is Results-Based Aid More Effective Than Input-Based Aid? Evidence from the Health Sector in El Salvador

Featuring

Sebastian Martinez
Inter-American Development Bank

Host

Sebastian Bauhoff
Center for Global Development

As part of its national health reforms, El Salvador assigned community health teams to 98 of its poorest municipalities. While some municipalities received traditional (input-based) aid to support the program and others received national funding, some municipalities received funding through the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative (SMI), a results-based aid (RBA) program focused on maternal and child health targets.

In this seminar, Sebastian Martinez will present on his new research with Pedro Bernal and Pablo Celhay, which uses a difference-in-difference design to assess whether municipalities that received RBA funding were more effective at delivering health services. Martinez will also discuss the program's spillover effects on men and the elderly, as well as its implications for population health.