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Investment in human capital is an important tool for reducing poverty. However, the poor may lack the capacity to aspire, which often results in underinvestment in their children's education. This paper studies the effect of a social program on the educational aspirations poor parents have for their children, and explores the role of exposure to educated professionals as a possible channel for increasing these aspirations. First, using differences-in-differences, we show that the Mexican antipoverty program PROGRESA raises the educational aspirations of beneficiary parents for their children of a third of a school year. Then, exploiting PROGRESA's mandated differential exposure to professionals, using triple differences, we find evidence suggesting that educational aspirations for children from high-exposure households are almost half of a school year higher six months after the start of the program. Finally, we show that there is a positive correlation between parental aspirations and children's educational attainment. (Contains 13 tables.)

This article discusses the potential benefits and challenges that may arise if CCT programmes were to deposit transfers directly into recipients' savings accounts. Over 33 countries around the world use CCT programmes as a strategy to fight poverty. Depositing the transfers into a savings account could give millions of households access to the formal financial system. Using the scarce evidence to date, we highlight opportunities that could help the combination of CCTs and formal savings accounts to bring financial inclusion to their recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the effects of offering access to a savings account to a sample of poor women on the educational attainment of their children and on the educational aspirations and expectations they have for them. Using data from a field experiment in Nepal that randomized access to savings accounts among a largely unbanked population, we provide evidence that financial access increased the schooling level of daughters and the educational aspirations and expectations parents have for them. Wealth and female empowerment do not seem to be behind our findings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]