This paper evaluates the impact of multi-purpose cash assistance on Syrian refugee children living
in Lebanon. Using a sharp multidimensional regression discontinuity design, we estimate the
program impact of varying cash assistance durations measured over two waves of household
survey data collected in 2019. The novel research design enables us to make pairwise comparisons
between children from discontinued recipient households (received cash for 12 months then got
discontinued in the next cash cycle), short-run cash recipient households (up to 10 months), longterm recipient households (between 16 and 22 months) and non-beneficiary eligible households.
Results show that children of any MPC recipient group are transitioning from non-formal to formal
schooling while also shifting away from child labor. Cash transfers improve health outcomes for
pre-primary and school-aged children and reduce the likelihood of early marriage for girls aged
15-19 years.