Augmenting State Capacity for Child Development: Experimental Evidence from India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ganimian, Alejandro J.; Muralidharan, Karthik; Walters, Christopher R.
• 署名单位: New York University; University of California System; University of California San Diego; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/728109
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 1565-1602
• 关键词: DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES; young-children; low-income; class size; outcomes; education; attendance; nutrition; Preschool; parents

摘要

We use a large-scale randomized experiment to study the impact of augmenting staffing in the world's largest public early-childhood program: India's Integrated Child Development Services. Adding a worker doubled net preschool instructional time and led to increases of 0.28 sigma and 0.46 sigma in math and language test scores after 18 months for children who remained enrolled in the program and 0.13 sigma and 0.10 sigma for all children enrolled at baseline. Rates of stunting and severe malnutrition were also lower in the treatment group for children who remained enrolled. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that the benefits of augmenting staffing significantly exceed its costs. These effects are likely to replicate even at larger scales of program implementation.