Do Slum Upgrading Programs Impact School Attendance?
Date issued
Oct 2021
Subject
Slum Upgrading;
School Attendance;
Children;
School Absenteeism;
Educational Institution;
Urban Planning;
Impact Evaluation
JEL code
B20 - History of Economic Thought since 1925: General;
C54 - Quantitative Policy Modeling;
D04 - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation;
O18 - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis • Housing • Infrastructure
Country
Uruguay
Category
Working Papers
This paper analyzes how slum upgrading programs impact elementary school childrens attendance in Uruguay. We take advantage of the eligibility rule that deems slums eligible for a SUP program if they have 40 or more dwelling units. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity estimator, we find that students exposed to SUPs are 17 percent less likely to be at the 90th percentile of the yearly count of school absences. That effect appears to be driven by how SUPs impact girls. These interventions have effects that last for more than five years after their implementation. We discuss some critical urban and education policy implications of our findings.
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