Child welfare programs and child nutrition: Evidence from a mandated school meal program in India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Afridi, Farzana
• 署名单位: Syracuse University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.02.002
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 152-165
• 关键词: School meals; nutrition; Intra-household allocation

摘要

Utilizing the data I collected on a nationally mandated school meal program in India, I examine the extent to which children benefit from the targeted public transfer. Relying upon built-in randomness in whether a child's 24-hour food consumption recall was for a school or non-school day, I find that the daily nutrient intake of program participants increased substantially by 49% to 100% of the transfers. The results are robust to the potential endogeneity of program placement and individual participation. The findings suggest that for as low a cost as 3 cents per child per school day the scheme reduced the daily protein deficiency of a primary school student by 100%. the calorie deficiency by almost 30% and the daily iron deficiency by nearly 10%. At least in the short-run, therefore, the program had a substantial effect on reducing hunger at school and protein-energy malnutrition. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.