Alleviating time poverty among the working poor [Registered Report Stage 1 - Protocol]

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we will conduct a longitudinal field experiment in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of working mothers, a population who is especially likely to experience severe time poverty. Participants will receive vouchers for services designed to reduce their burden of unpaid labor. The effect of these vouchers will be compared against equivalently valued unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) and a neutral control condition. Using a pre-post design, we will measure whether time-saving vouchers increase subjective well-being, lower perceived stress, and reduce relationship conflict as compared to UCTs and a control condition. In doing so, this research will test a model of economic aid that recognizes both financial and temporal constraints.