Rajshri Jayaraman|Dora Simroth
The Impact of School Lunches on Primary School Enrollment: Evidence from India's Midday Meal Scheme
European School of Management and Technology|European School of Management and Technology
abstract end 2001 indian supreme court issued directive ordering states institute school lunches known locally midday meals government primary schools paper provide largescale assessment enrollment effects indias midday meal scheme offers warm lunches free cost 120 million primary school children across india largest school feeding program world isolate causal effect policy make use staggered implementation across indian states government private schools using panel dataset 420000 schools observed annually 2002 2004 find midday meals result substantial increases primary school enrollment driven early primary school responses program results robust wide range specification tests