EFFECTS OF FOOD PROGRAMS ON EDUCATION AND CHILD LABOR: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA’S NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT.

Abstract

In 2013, the Indian central government passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) which improved and expanded existing food schemes. Literature on impacts of large-scale food provision on education and child labor has several gaps. I exploit state-level time variation in the NFSA’s implementation to examine the impact of the policy on children’s education and labor outcomes by using a multiple-period difference-in-differences design. My results demonstrate a non-substitutionary relationship between education and labor. The NFSA appears to improve young girls’ performance in exams, but it also increases their non-domestic labor supply. For older children, the NFSA reduces girls’ domestic labor but has strong negative impact on appearance in exams for both boys and girls. These results lend to several policy implications – need for focus on non-binary measures of education, awareness of how food schemes may interact, and initiatives to ensure school attendance alongside food policies increasing children’s returns to labor.