Description:
Despite the popularity and widespread
implementation of school feeding programs, evidence on the
impact of school feeding on school participation and
nutritional status is mixed. This study evaluates school
feeding programs in three northern districts of the Lao
People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Feeding
modalities included on-site feeding, take-home rations, and
a combination. District-level implementation of the
intervention sites and selective take-up present
considerable evaluation challenges. To address these
limitations, the authors use difference-in-difference
estimators with propensity-score weighting to construct two
plausible counterfactuals. They find minimal evidence that
the school feeding schemes increased enrollment or improved
children s nutritional status. Several robustness checks and
possible explanations for 0 findings are presented.