IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/98865.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child development and obesity prevention: evidence from the Chilean School Meals Program

Author

Listed:
  • Caro, Juan Carlos

Abstract

Childhood obesity is one of the major public health challenges of the 21stcentury.Evidence suggests that timely nutrition and stimulation interventions can prevent excessive weight gain, however little is known about the effects of scaled-up programs. I use a national administrative dataset to explore the short- and long-run exposure effects to the Chilean School Meal Program (SMP) on the nutritional status of children attending public and subsidized schools. I estimate the effects on the standarized body mass index (BMI) using a Regression Discontinuity design based on the SMP eligibility cutoffs over a household vulnerability score. Participation in 1stgrade reduces average BMI of girls but not boys in the same year. Effects are concentrated among overweight or obese children. Effects are driven by improvements in nutritional quality of meals.Non-sedentary students, children with higher socioemotional skills, and those receiving mental health services reap larger benefits from the SMP. Continued participation from1stgrade reduces boys’ average BMI at 5thgrade, relative to never participants.

Suggested Citation

  • Caro, Juan Carlos, 2020. "Child development and obesity prevention: evidence from the Chilean School Meals Program," MPRA Paper 98865, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:98865
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/98865/1/MPRA_paper_98865.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/99065/1/MPRA_paper_99065.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frandsen, Brigham R. & Frölich, Markus & Melly, Blaise, 2012. "Quantile treatment effects in the regression discontinuity design," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(2), pages 382-395.
    2. Gabriella Conti & James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto, 2016. "The Effects of Two Influential Early Childhood Interventions on Health and Healthy Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 28-65, October.
    3. Daniel L. Millimet & Rusty Tchernis, 2013. "Estimation Of Treatment Effects Without An Exclusion Restriction: With An Application To The Analysis Of The School Breakfast Program," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 982-1017, September.
    4. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust data-driven inference in the regression-discontinuity design," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 14(4), pages 909-946, December.
    5. David M. Cutler & Edward Glaeser, 2005. "What Explains Differences in Smoking, Drinking, and Other Health-Related Behaviors?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 238-242, May.
    6. Kühnle, Daniel & Oberfichtner, Michael, 2017. "Does Early Child Care Attendance Influence Children's Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skill Development?," IZA Discussion Papers 10661, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Doyle, Orla & Harmon, Colm P. & Heckman, James J. & Tremblay, Richard E., 2009. "Investing in early human development: Timing and economic efficiency," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, March.
    8. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    9. Orazio P. Attanasio & Vincenzo Di Maro & Marcos Vera‐Hernández, 2013. "Community Nurseries and the Nutritional Status of Poor Children. Evidence from Colombia," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123, pages 1025-1058, September.
    10. Fletcher, Jason M. & Wolfe, Barbara, 2016. "The importance of family income in the formation and evolution of non-cognitive skills in childhood," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 143-154.
    11. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    12. James Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev, 2013. "Understanding the Mechanisms through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2052-2086, October.
    13. Palermo, Tia M. & Dowd, Jennifer B., 2012. "Childhood obesity and human capital accumulation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 1989-1998.
    14. Orazio P. Attanasio, 2015. "The Determinants Of Human Capital Formation During The Early Years Of Life: Theory, Measurement, And Policies," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(6), pages 949-997, December.
    15. Frölich, Markus & Melly, Blaise, 2010. "Quantile Treatment Effects in the Regression Discontinuity Design: Process Results and Gini Coefficient," IZA Discussion Papers 4993, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto, 2015. "Econometric Mediation Analyses: Identifying the Sources of Treatment Effects from Experimentally Estimated Production Technologies with Unmeasured and Mismeasured Inputs," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 6-31, February.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6i8t2rdgh48uqbb5j9hvntn6l2 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2018. "Manipulation testing based on density discontinuity," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 18(1), pages 234-261, March.
    19. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Rocío Titiunik, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 442-451, July.
    20. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    21. Jayanta Bhattacharya & Janet Currie & Steven J. Haider, 2006. "Breakfast of Champions?: The School Breakfast Program and the Nutrition of Children and Families," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(3).
    22. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John, 2012. "The impact of the National School Lunch Program on child health: A nonparametric bounds analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 79-91.
    23. Jonathan Guryan & Erik Hurst & Melissa Kearney, 2008. "Parental Education and Parental Time with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 23-46, Summer.
    24. Jere R. Behrman & Yingmei Cheng & Petra E. Todd, 2004. "Evaluating Preschool Programs When Length of Exposure to the Program Varies: A Nonparametric Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 108-132, February.
    25. Anderson, Patricia M., 2012. "Parental employment, family routines and childhood obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 340-351.
    26. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    27. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6s39gt704s95upu27ma7s3p6q8 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Carneiro, Pedro & Galasso, Emanuela & Lopez Garcia, Italo & Bedregal, Paula & Cordero, Miguel, 2019. "Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 12506, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    29. Behrman, Jere R, 1996. "The Impact of Health and Nutrition on Education," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 23-37, February.
    30. Kautz, Tim & Heckman, James J. & Diris, Ron & ter Weel, Bas & Borghans, Lex, 2014. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success," IZA Discussion Papers 8696, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Cawley, John & Liu, Feng, 2012. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for mechanisms in time use data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 352-364.
    32. Sean Sylvia & Nele Warrinnier & Renfu Luo & Ai Yue & Orazio Attanasio & Alexis Medina & Scott Rozelle, 2021. "From Quantity to Quality: Delivering a Home-Based Parenting Intervention Through China’s Family Planning Cadres," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(635), pages 1365-1400.
    33. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    34. Lisa Benson & Manouchehr Mokhtari, 2011. "Parental Employment, Shared Parent–Child Activities and Childhood Obesity," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 233-244, June.
    35. Shu Shen & Xiaohan Zhang, 2016. "Distributional Tests for Regression Discontinuity: Theory and Empirical Examples," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 685-700, October.
    36. Jones, D.E. & Greenberg, M. & Crowley, M., 2015. "Early social-emotional functioning and public health: The relationship between kindergarten social competence and future wellness," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(11), pages 2283-2290.
    37. Juan Carlos Campaña & J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Alberto Molina, 2017. "Increasing the Human Capital of Children in Latin American Countries: The Role of Parents’ Time in Childcare," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(6), pages 805-825, June.
    38. Jishnu Das & Stefan Dercon & James Habyarimana & Pramila Krishnan & Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "School Inputs, Household Substitution, and Test Scores," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 29-57, April.
    39. Thérèse McDonnell, 2016. "Non-Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: The Influence of Maternal Employment and the Mediating Role of Childcare," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 47(4), pages 499-541.
    40. Thérèse McDonnell, 2016. "Non-cognitive development in infancy: the influence of maternal employment and the mediating role of childcare," Working Papers 201606, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    41. Brown, Judith E. & Broom, Dorothy H. & Nicholson, Jan M. & Bittman, Michael, 2010. "Do working mothers raise couch potato kids? Maternal employment and children's lifestyle behaviours and weight in early childhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1816-1824, June.
    42. Anderson, Patricia M. & Butcher, Kristin F. & Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, 2019. "Understanding recent trends in childhood obesity in the United States," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 16-25.
    43. Pedro Carneiro & Claire Crawford & Alissa Goodman, 2007. "The Impact of Early Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills on Later Outcomes," CEE Discussion Papers 0092, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    44. James J. Heckman, 2007. "The Economics, Technology and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation," NBER Working Papers 13195, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    45. Kobayashi, Masako & Kobayashi, Maiko, 2006. "The relationship between obesity and seasonal variation in body weight among elementary school children in Tokyo," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 253-261, June.
    46. Glaeser, Edward & Cutler, David, 2005. "What Explains Differences in Smoking, Drinking, and Other Health Related Behaviors," Scholarly Articles 2664274, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    47. Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2009. "Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    48. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 3-33, February.
    49. Alvaro Carril & Andre Cazor & Maria Paula Gerardino & Stephan Litschig & Dina Pomeranz, 2017. "RDDSGA: Stata module to conduct subgroup analysis for regression discontinuity designs," Statistical Software Components S458429, Boston College Department of Economics.
    50. Gabriella Conti & James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto, 2016. "The Effects of Two Influential Early Childhood Interventions on Health and Healthy Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 28-65, October.
    51. Rasheda Khanam & Son Nghiem, 2016. "Family Income and Child Cognitive and Noncognitive Development in Australia: Does Money Matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 597-621, June.
    52. Helmers, Christian & Patnam, Manasa, 2011. "The formation and evolution of childhood skill acquisition: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 252-266, July.
    53. Jule Specht & Boris Egloff & Stefan C. Schmukle, 2011. "Stability and Change of Personality across the Life Course: The Impact of Age and Major Life Events on Mean-Level and Rank-Order Stability of the Big Five," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 377, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    54. Woodward-Lopez, G. & Gosliner, W. & Samuels, S.E. & Craypo, L. & Kao, J. & Crawford, P.B., 2010. "Lessons learned from Evaluations of California's statewide school nutrition standards," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(11), pages 2137-2145.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caro, Juan Carlos, 2020. "Parental investments, socioemotional development and nutritional health in Chile," MPRA Paper 98867, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Blaise Melly & Rafael Lalive, 2020. "Estimation, Inference, and Interpretation in the Regression Discontinuity Design," Diskussionsschriften dp2016, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    3. Lindsey Macmillan & Emma Tominey, 2023. "Parental inputs and socio-economic gaps in early child development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1513-1543, July.
    4. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Mani, Subha & Sharma, Smriti & Singhal, Saurabh, 2017. "Cognitive, Socioemotional and Behavioral Returns to College Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 10701, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    6. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Mani, Subha & Sharma, Smriti & Singhal, Saurabh, 2017. "Cognitive, Socioemotional and Behavioral Returns to College Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 10701, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Titus J. Galama & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Hans van Kippersluis, 2018. "The Effect of Education on Health and Mortality: A Review of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence," NBER Working Papers 24225, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
    9. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Teresa Molina & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 1-22.
    10. Burgherr, David, 2022. "Behavioral Responses to a Pension Savings Mandate : Quasi-experimental Evidence from Swiss Tax Data," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 645, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Mellace, Giovanni & Ventura, Marco, 2019. "Intended and unintended effects of public incentives for innovation. Quasi-experimental evidence from Italy," Discussion Papers on Economics 9/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    12. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    13. Sarrias, Mauricio & Blanco, Alejandra, 2022. "Bodyweight and human capital development: Assessing the impact of obesity on socioemotional skills during childhood in Chile," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    14. Doyle, Orla & Harmon, Colm & Heckman, James J. & Logue, Caitriona & Moon, Seong Hyeok, 2017. "Early skill formation and the efficiency of parental investment: A randomized controlled trial of home visiting," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 40-58.
    15. Mellace, Giovanni & Ventura, Marco, 2023. "The short-run effects of public incentives for innovation in Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Ivan A Canay & Vishal Kamat, 2018. "Approximate Permutation Tests and Induced Order Statistics in the Regression Discontinuity Design," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1577-1608.
    17. Pastore, Chiara & Jones, Andrew M., 2023. "Human capital consequences of missing out on a grammar school education," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    18. Hille, Adrian & Schupp, Jürgen, 2015. "How Learning a Musical Instrument Affects the Development of Skills," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 44, pages 56-82.
    19. Hsu, Yu-Chin & Shen, Shu, 2019. "Testing treatment effect heterogeneity in regression discontinuity designs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 208(2), pages 468-486.
    20. Chad D. Meyerhoefer & Muzhe Yang, 2011. "The Relationship between Food Assistance and Health: A Review of the Literature and Empirical Strategies for Identifying Program Effects," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 304-344.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nutritional Status; socioemotional development; Human capital; School meal program; Health; Child development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:98865. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.