Arbeitspapier

Improving Children Health and Cognition: Evidence from School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India

We present experimental evidence on the impact of delivering double-fortified salt (DFS), salt fortified with iron and iodine, through the Indian school-feeding program called “mid-day meal” on anemia, cognition, and math and reading outcomes of primary school children. We conducted a field experiment that randomly provided a one-year supply of DFS at a subsidized price to public primary schools in one of the poorest regions of India. The DFS treatment had significantly positive impacts on hemoglobin levels and reduced the prevalence of any form of anemia by 20 percent but these health gains did not translate into statistically significant impacts on cognition and test scores. While exploring the heterogeneity in effects, we find that treatment had statistically significant gains in anemia and test scores among children with higher treatment compliance. We further estimate that the intervention was very cost effective and can potentially be scaled up rather easily.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Discussion Papers ; No. 247

Classification
Wirtschaft
Field Experiments
Health and Economic Development
Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
Subject
double-fortified salt
education
anemia
cognition
school-children
mid-day meal
India
and randomized controlled trial

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Krämer, Marion
Kumar, Santosh
Vollmer, Sebastian
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre - Poverty, Equity and Growth (CRC-PEG)
(where)
Göttingen
(when)
2018

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Krämer, Marion
  • Kumar, Santosh
  • Vollmer, Sebastian
  • Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre - Poverty, Equity and Growth (CRC-PEG)

Time of origin

  • 2018

Other Objects (12)