How Much Are We Willing To Pay to Send Poor Adolescents to School? Simulating Changes to Mexico`s Oportunidades in Urban Areas

Viviane Azevedo, Cesar Patricio Bouillon () and Patricia Yanez-Pagans

No 4631, Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department

Abstract: Although Mexico’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program Oportunidades has increased overall school enrollment, many adolescents do not attend school, especially in urban areas. This paper simulates the effects of changes in program design using a simple parametric method based on a simultaneous probability model of school attendance and child labor. The paper also provides alternative non parametric simulation results by extending Todd and Wolpin’s (2006) method to incorporate changes in working hours when attending school. The results indicate that eliminating or reducing school subsidies for primary education and increasing transfer for older students is a cost-effective way to raise overall school enrollment in urban areas. Increasing school attendance of 16-year-olds to 80 percent or more, however, would require a quadrupling of scholarships. This suggests that complementary interventions are needed.

Keywords: School attendance and work; Conditional cash transfers; Simulation; Oportunidades (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ure
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Working Paper: How Much Are We Willing To Pay to Send Poor Adolescents to School?: Simulating Changes to Mexico`s Oportunidades in Urban Areas (2009)
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