Can provision of free school uniforms harm attendance? Evidence from Ecuador

Diana Hidalgo, Mercedes Onofa, Hessel Oosterbeek and Juan Ponce

Journal of Development Economics, 2013, vol. 103, issue C, 43-51

Abstract: To raise school participation, many programs in developing countries eliminate or reduce private contributions to education. Using data from a randomized experiment in Ecuador, we ironically find that announcing a free school uniform program had a negative impact on attendance. The school uniforms were distributed in only 63% of the schools that were told that they would get them, thus this negative impact could have been generated by creating false expectations of free distribution, or also by a sunk cost effect on those who did actually receive the uniforms.

Keywords: School uniforms; School attendance; Ecuador (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I22 I38 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: Can Provision of Free School Uniforms harm Attendance? Evidence from Ecuador (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:103:y:2013:i:c:p:43-51

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.12.006

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