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Free-School-Lunch Policies: Impact Evaluation on Student BMI and Mental Health

Author

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  • Dirk Bethmann

    (Korea University; Department of Economics; Anam-dong, Sungbuk-gu; Seoul 02841)

  • Jae Il Cho

    (Vanderbilt University; Department of Economics; 010-back Calhoun Hall, Nashville, TN, 37240, United States)

Abstract

In spring 2015, the South Korean province of South Gyeongsang stopped providing free school lunches to primary and secondary school students while large portions of schools in other provinces continued to provide free lunches at school. After the provincial governmentfaced strong opposition, South Gyeongsang reintroduced the free school lunch program the very next year. Using a difference-in-differences design, we use these policy changes to evaluate their impact on students’ body mass index (BMI) and mental health status. Our results show that abolishing the free-lunch policy had negative effects on students’ BMI as well as mental health status; furthermore the effects reversed once the policy was reintroduced. The results have strong policy implications: introducing free school lunches increases both the physical and mental health of students and as a result, student welfare. Free-lunch policies, therefore, provide simple and inexpensive instruments to improve learning environments

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk Bethmann & Jae Il Cho, 2021. "Free-School-Lunch Policies: Impact Evaluation on Student BMI and Mental Health," Discussion Paper Series 2107, Institute of Economic Research, Korea University.
    • Handle: RePEc:iek:wpaper:2107
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    File URL: http://econ.korea.ac.kr/~ri/WorkingPapers/w2107.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    free lunch policies; difference in differences design; student health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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