Free school meals and cognitive ability: Evidence from China's student nutrition improvement plan
Duan X, Liang Y, Peng X · 2024
grade Bnatural-experimentindependentunreplicated
Sample
Rural Chinese compulsory-education students; the programme covers 40.6 million students, 42% of rural compulsory-education enrolment as of 2021
Population
Rural Chinese primary and middle school students. A population with genuine nutritional shortfalls - the programme was created because rural Chinese children were undernourished.
Design
Difference-in-differences exploiting the staggered county-by-county rollout of China's Student Nutrition Improvement Plan (SNIP). Rollout timing is administrative rather than family-chosen. The paper explicitly decomposes mechanisms, which is unusually honest for this literature.
Key findings
SNIP raises math test scores; the effect on verbal achievement is statistically insignificant. Effects are larger for middle-school students and for children from disadvantaged families. The authors attribute the effect to improved health status, INCREASED SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, better study habits, raised educational expectations, and improved peer human capital - i.e. the identified effect runs substantially through non-nutritional channels even in a genuinely undernourished population.
Genetic confound
Low for selection (county rollout is administrative). The mechanism decomposition is the key caveat - this is a program effect, not a nutrient effect.
DOI / URL
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math achievement (domain skills) | test scores | significant positive effect; larger for middle-school and disadvantaged students | standardized | post-rollout | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Verbal achievement (domain skills) | test scores | statistically insignificant | standardized | post-rollout | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Mediating channels | decomposition | health status, school attendance, study habits, educational expectations, peer human capital | mixed | post-rollout | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Breakfast, school meals, and micronutrients — what feeding children actually buysmixedconf: mediumgc: low