This paper initially defines poverty and introduces Mexico’s model Conditional Cash Transfer Program, Oportunidades. The program has offered assistance to millions of families since 1997. It has been critically analyzed to find its overall effectiveness in alleviating extreme poverty. I will look at what has been studied - the outcomes Oportunidades has had on school attendance and performance, changes in labor and intergenerational earnings, and health and nutrition impacts. The second half of this paper will focus on the first generation of 10-15 year old children that benefitted from Oportunidades. Using data from 2002, I will attempt to analyze the impact the Oportunidades grant had on the number of months spent in school a year and the probability of working in the labor force. This age group was between the ages of 15-20 in 2002 and will enable us to see if Oportunidades incentivizes children to pursue secondary and tertiary education as opposed to entering the work force. Ideally, this study will serve as an indicator of effectiveness Oportunidades had on the first subset of participants.
