Does the provision of universal free school meals improve school attendance?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does the provision of universal free school meals improve school attendance?

AU - Borbely, Daniel

AU - Gehrsitz, Markus

AU - McIntyre, Stuart G.

AU - Rossi, Gennaro

N1 - © 2024 The Author(s)

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - We examine the effects of universal free school meal (UFSM) policies on school attendance and health-related absences. We leverage UFSM implementation in Scotland where all pupils in the first three grades of primary schools became automatically entitled to claim free meals, regardless of their households’ financial circumstances. We estimate a difference-in-differences model with variation in school-level exposure to the policy and find that, in spite of a large increase in take-up rates, attendance did not improve. Using an alternative exposure measure that includes those pupils switching from paid to free school meals, we find small positive and negative effects on attendance and health-related absences respectively. These findings would suggest the presence of a channel whereby financial savings by families encourage attendance, but these effects are too small to be considered economically meaningful.

AB - We examine the effects of universal free school meal (UFSM) policies on school attendance and health-related absences. We leverage UFSM implementation in Scotland where all pupils in the first three grades of primary schools became automatically entitled to claim free meals, regardless of their households’ financial circumstances. We estimate a difference-in-differences model with variation in school-level exposure to the policy and find that, in spite of a large increase in take-up rates, attendance did not improve. Using an alternative exposure measure that includes those pupils switching from paid to free school meals, we find small positive and negative effects on attendance and health-related absences respectively. These findings would suggest the presence of a channel whereby financial savings by families encourage attendance, but these effects are too small to be considered economically meaningful.

KW - Attendance

KW - Behaviour

KW - School meals

KW - Welfare

U2 - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102597

DO - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102597

M3 - Article

SN - 0272-7757

VL - 103

JO - Economics of Education Review

JF - Economics of Education Review

M1 - 102597

ER -