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The Effect of Early Interventions in Health and Nutrition on On-Time School Enrollment: Evidence from the Oportunidades Program in Rural Mexico

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  • Jessica E. Todd
  • Paul Winters

Abstract

This article assesses whether early intervention to improve children's health and nutrition increases the probability of enrolling in primary school on time. Using experimental data from the Mexican conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, Oportunidades, a cross-sectional double-difference estimator on observations from two age cohorts of children is used to identify the impact of early intervention. The results indicate that early health and nutrition interventions can have a positive impact on the timing of enrollment and that caregiver characteristics affect the magnitude of the impact. Early intervention also appears to decrease days of school missed. Overall the results indicate that the full impact of CCT programs on education cannot be measured in the short run as benefits of early health and nutrition interventions may be also felt in the distant future.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica E. Todd & Paul Winters, 2011. "The Effect of Early Interventions in Health and Nutrition on On-Time School Enrollment: Evidence from the Oportunidades Program in Rural Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 549-581.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/658347
    DOI: 10.1086/658347
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    1. John A. Maluccio & John Hoddinott & Jere R. Behrman & Reynaldo Martorell & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Aryeh D. Stein, 2009. "The Impact of Improving Nutrition During Early Childhood on Education among Guatemalan Adults," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 734-763, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alcaraz Carlo & Chiquiar Daniel & Orraca María José & Salcedo Alejandrina, 2012. "The Effect of Publicly Provided Health Insurance on Academic Performance in Mexico," Working Papers 2012-10, Banco de México.
    2. Habibov, Nazim, 2012. "Early childhood care and education attendance in Central Asia," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-806.
    3. Stephen Smith, 2018. "Development Economics Meets the Challenges of Lagging U.S. Areas: Applications to Education, Health and Nutrition, Behavior, and Infrastructure," Working Papers 2018-7, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    4. Figueroa, José Luis, 2014. "Distributional effects of Oportunidades on early child development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 42-49.
    5. Yörük, Erdem & Öker, İbrahim & Şarlak, Lara, 2019. "Indigenous unrest and the contentious politics of social assistance in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Venkataramani, Atheendar S., 2012. "Early life exposure to malaria and cognition in adulthood: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 767-780.
    7. Christopher Strader & Joanna Ashby & Dominique Vervoort & Aref Ebrahimi & Shoghi Agbortoko & Melissa Lee & Naomi Reiner & Molly Zeme & Mark G Shrime, 2020. "How much is enough? Exploring the dose-response relationship between cash transfers and surgical utilization in a resource-poor setting," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, May.

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