The Impact of School Meals on School Participation: Evidence from Rural India
利用印度农村学校面板数据，采用双重差分法评估从每月发放免费粮食到每日提供免费熟食的转变对儿童入学率和出勤率的影响，发现该转变显著提高了低年级女生的月平均出勤率。
Abstract This article assesses the effect of transition from monthly distribution of free food grains to the daily provision of free cooked meals to school children on enrolments and attendance in a rural area of India. School panel data allow a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to address possible endogeneity of programme placement. The results suggest that programme transition had a significant impact on improving the daily participation rates of children in lower grades. The average monthly attendance rate of girls in grade one was more than 12 percentage points higher while there was a positive but insignificant effect on grade one boys' attendance rate. The impact on enrolment levels was insignificant.