Improving Child Health and Cognition: Evidence from a School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India

Marion Krämer (), Santosh Kumar () and Sebastian Vollmer
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Marion Krämer: Department of Economics, University of Goettingen, Germany
Santosh Kumar: Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Santosh Kumar Gautam

No 1803, Working Papers from Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business

Abstract: We present experimental evidence on the impact of delivering double-fortified salt (DFS), salt fortified with iron and iodine, through the Indian school-feeding program called “mid-day meal” on anemia, cognition, and math and reading outcomes of primary school children. We conducted a field experiment that randomly provided a one-year supply of DFS at a subsidized price to public primary schools in one of the poorest regions of India. The DFS treatment had significantly positive impacts on hemoglobin levels and reduced the prevalence of any form of anemia by 20 percent but these health gains did not translate into statistically significant impacts on cognition and test scores. While exploring the heterogeneity in effects, we find that treatment had statistically significant gains in anemia and test scores among children with higher treatment compliance. We further estimate that the intervention was very cost effective and can potentially be scaled up rather easily.

Keywords: Double-fortified salt; education; anemia; school feeding; India; and randomized controlled trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I15 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2018-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-exp and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Improving Child Health and Cognition: Evidence from a School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:shs:wpaper:1803

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