Universal Welfare May Be Costly: Evidence from School Meal Programs and Student Fitness in South Korea

Deokrye Baek, Yongjun Choi and Hong Lee
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Deokrye Baek: Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA
Yongjun Choi: College of Business Administration, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Korea
Hong Lee: Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: The Free School Meal Program (FSMP) initiated in 2011 in South Korea allows participating schools to provide free lunches to all students regardless of their household income. This paper examines how universal free school meal programs are associated with student health outcomes. We empirically show that FSMP reduces the share of students with high fitness grades by up to 1.5% of the student population. We also find that expenses for physical education decrease in schools that adopt FSMP. These results suggest that FSMP could crowd out investments in student physical activities, and student fitness could be negatively impacted. The paper sheds light on the importance of budgetary balance between universal welfare programs and other educational programs.

Keywords: school meal program; physical fitness; universal welfare; educational funds; school budget (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:5:p:1290-:d:210061

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