Long-Term Effects of an Education Stipend Program on Domestic Violence: Evidence from Bangladesh.

This article examines the long-term impact of the Female Secondary School Stipend Program (FSSSP), a conditional cash transfer (CCT) initiated in 1994 in Bangladesh to support rural girls' secondary education, on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using variation in program exposure duration and geographic eligibility, the study finds that rural women eligible for the full five years of stipends experienced a significant reduction in IPV, linked primarily to delayed marriage and improved partner quality, including higher education and formal employment. The program increased girls' educational attainment by 1.5 years on average but did not significantly affect women's labor market participation, household decision-making autonomy, or attitudes toward domestic violence. These findings suggest that education-driven improvements in marital matching, rather than changes in empowerment or attitudes, are key mechanisms through which the program reduced IPV risk, highlighting the potential of adolescent-targeted education incentives to generate sustained social benefits in contexts with prevalent early marriage and low female education.