The Long-Run Impact of Cash Transfers to Poor Families

We estimate the long-run impact - of cash transfers to poor families on children's longevity, educational attainment, nutritional slams, and income in adulthood. To do so, we collected individual-level administrative records of applicants to the Mothers' Pension program the first government-sponsored welfare program in the United States (1911-1935) and matched them to census, WWII, and death records. Male children of accepted applicants lived one year longer than those of rejected mothers. They also obtained onethird more years of schooling, were less likely to he underweight, and had higher income in adulthood than children of rejected mothers.