The city government hires you to evaluate the effects of the pilot run of a cash transfer program im- plemented to attenuate the effects of the pandemic on household consumption. Initially, due to budgetary constraints, the program was only implemented in 6,000 households in the city, whereas another 6,000 where considered to be treated if more funds were to become available in the future. Your task is to evaluate if the program was successful in its intent of diminishing the impact of the pandemic on household consumption (i.e. the households that received the transfer reduced their consumption by a smaller amount than those that did not received the transfer).

1. Using the data in the rct.csv file that was proportioned to you by the city government, perform the (i.e. compare the means of the variables describing the control and the treatment group) that would enable you to ascertain that is possible to calculate the causal effect of the program.

2. If the results from the previous step imply that you can do so, evaluate the causal effect of the cash transfer program on household consumption. You would be evaluating if being a recipient of the program led to a smaller fall in household consumption (i.e. the level of household consumption after receiving the transfer is higher for those that received it than for those who did not). Analyze if the effect is significant at the 90%, 95% and 99% confidence level.