details about the dataset in Appendix D). We have access to both the detailed information on the CAS and FPS forms, but also to the overall scores computed using that information. The scores are used to construct eligibility for CS and most targeted social programs.<sup>28</sup> The government has been using the Ficha CAS as a targeting instrument since the 1980s. It consists of a two-pages form that households must fill if they wish to apply for benefits. It contains information on housing conditions (e.g., material used for the construction of the house, access to water, sanitary services); characteristics of household members (occupation, educational level, date of birth, and income); and ownership of assets (housing property, refrigerator). This information is used to construct a score ranging from 380 to 770 points. Households with a CAS score below 500 are considered indigents, and those with a score between 500 and 540 are considered poor. The CAS score is valid for 2 years. Up to 2007, the CAS-score was used to determine eligibility not only for income transfers (pension assistance for old age - PASIS, and family allowance - SUF), for the water subsidy (SAP), access to social housing, and childcare centers (Larra ̃naga, 2005).

In 2007, the Ficha CAS was replaced by a new targeting instrument, the FPS.<sup>29</sup> The information in FPS is administratively updated every month, using cross-checks with other administrative records. We obtained information taken in 3 dates: August 2007, December 2008 and December 2009.

The Chilean national ID allows us to merge the CAS and the FPS to (i) the register of families participating in Chile Solidario since its inception until May 2009 and to (ii) the register of all individuals participating in social promotion and training programs offered by FOSIS<sup>30</sup> between 2004 and 2007.

The final sample we use includes about 4.3 million families whose head is aged 18 to 75 in 2002 and who are observed at least once between 2002 and 2006 (the years of potential entry in CS; some are observed between these years, and also in the FPS 2007-2009). We restrict our sample to families who we observe at least twice (in the year of potential entry, when eligibility is measure, and at least one additional year after that, when outcomes are measured). We are left with 2.7 million families after imposing this constraint. Finally, we restrict our main analysis to those families located at most 20 CAS-points apart of the eligibility thresholds, which implies that our main sample includes nearly 0.5 million families.<sup>31</sup>

> 28The year of 2006 was a transition-year, and starting in 2007 eligibility to CS was based on a national threshold for a new score. Because of this change, in 2006 there were no families newly surveyed for a CAS score and the register contains about half the number families than in previous years.

> 29Given that the introduction of the new targeting mechanism was associated with new eligibility rules to CS in this paper we do not focus on the effects for families that entered in CS in 2007 or after.

> 30FOSIS stands for Fondo de Solidaridad e Inversion Social – Fund for Solidarity and Social Investment, which implements several programs in the areas of entrepreneurship, employment and social empowerment.

> 31Of these families, one third is observed twice, another one third is observed three times, 23% are observed 4 times, and the remaining families are observed 5 or more times between 2002 and 2009. We also present in Appendix estimates for a sample of families which are more than 20 CAS-points apart of the eligibility thresholds.

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