Targeting High School Scholarships to the Poor: The Impact of a Program in Mexico

Rafael De Hoyos, Orazio Attanasio and Costas Meghir

No 26023, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Based on an RCT, we evaluate a scholarship program in Mexico (PROBEMS) aimed at improving graduation rates and test scores among upper secondary school students from poor backgrounds. We find that, on average, the program has no impact either on graduation rates or on Math and Spanish test scores. We point to two possible reasons for this failure: a. the program was badly targeted, with many of the recipients being from less disadvantaged families than intended; b) the prior academic achievement of those eligible was often insufficient for completing successfully the academic requirements of upper secondary school. This points to accumulated achievement deficits that could be addressed by interventions targeting learning at an earlier stage.

JEL-codes: I24 I25 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Published as Rafael de Hoyos & Orazio Attanasio & Costas Meghir, 2024. "Targeting High School Scholarships to the Poor: The Impact of a Program in Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol 72(4), pages 1747-1768.

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