Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/86845 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 10-103/3
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
To raise school attendance, many programs in developing countries eliminate orreduce private contributions to education. This paper documents an unintendednegative effect of such programs. Using data from a randomized experiment thatprovides free uniforms to primary school children in Ecuador, we find that the interventionhas a significantly negative impact on attendance. An explanation is thatparents who pay for their children’s uniforms (the control group) feel more committedto the school than parents who got the uniforms for free (the treated) andtherefore encourage their children to attend school. Consistent with this sunk costeffect, we find that the impact is largest shortly after the purchase of the uniform,and during the end-of-year exam period when more is at stake.
Subjects: 
Uniforms
school attendance
sunk-cost effect
Ecuador
JEL: 
I22
I38
O15
H52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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