Women as Catalysts for Human Development: Evidence from Pakistan

This dissertation’s essays provide evidence on the impact of different interventions related to girls’ schooling and health care provision in Pakistan on women’s completed years of schooling, fertility, maternal health, and health and well being of their children. Chapter 1 estimates the causal effect of a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program for girls attending secondary schools in Punjab, Pakistan. We use three rounds of a cross sectional household survey to estimate the impact of exposure to the program on women’s schooling, age at marriage and first birth and maternal health care. Importantly, we also analyze inter-generational effects on health and well being of children. We find that exposure to the CCT program leads to higher years of completed education, reduces likelihood of marriage and childbirth in teenage and increases utilization of maternal health care. Further, there are beneficial inter-generational effects; mother’s exposure to the program leads to better health of children (in terms of weight and height), reduces incidence of disease and increases probability of being registered at birth. Chapter 2 examines the impact of a primary school construction program in Pakistan. I use two rounds of a cross sectional household survey and implement a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the causal effect of school construction in district of residence on long run outcomes such as years of education and fertility. I also estimate marriage market effects and impact on incidence of domestic violence. I find that women who in their childhood resided in districts with more schools constructed per capita, under the reform, complete more years of schooling and reduce overall fertility in the long run. I find, however, little evidence of marriage market effects or of impacts on incidence of domestic violence. Chapter 3 evaluates the impact of deploying Community Midwives (CMWs) in Pakistan. Using the timing of the program, I use a “dosage”- of-treatment approach to estimate the impact of CMWs per capita across more than 90 districts of Pakistan. I find that women residing in districts with higher CMWs per capita are more likely to give birth in the presence of a skilled birth attendant. They are also more likely to birth at a medical facility as opposed to giving birth at home. I however find no statistical impact on pre- and post-natal check ups

The Effect of Free School Meals on BMI and Student Attendance

We estimate the effect of new access to universal free school meals resulting from the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on child BMI and attendance. Under the CEP, schools with 40 percent or more of students who qualify for free school meals can offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. With administrative data from a large school district, we use student-level BMI measures from the FitnessGramÓ to compare within student outcomes before and after the implementation of the CEP across CEP-eligible and non-eligible schools. We find that exposure to the CEP increased BMI by about 0.07 standard deviations, equal to a 2-percentage point increase in the reference distribution or nearly 3 pounds. Effects were driven by students previously eligible for free lunches, suggesting a potential “stigma” reducing effect or increased program awareness may have a role. We also find that the program led to an increase in the share of “overweight” students but not in obesity. In addition to the CEP’s effects on student weight outcomes, we also estimate the program’s effect on absences but do not find that the CEP led to a statistically significant change in number of days absent from school

School Messaging Platforms and Student Attendance

School attendance is strongly associated with academic performance and achievement and is one of the strongest predictors of dropping out of high school (e.g., Allensworth and Easton, 2007; Balfanz and Byrnes, 2012). For example, estimated graduation rates for students missing fewer than 10 days in middle school is 70-79 percent, compared to 51-52 percent for students missing 11-20 days (Barge, 2011). Each year in the United States an estimated 5-7.5 million students miss nearly a month of school; that is one in every seven students (Balfanz and Byrnes, 2012; Ginsburg et al., 2014). In Georgia, around 11 percent of students miss more than 15 days of school each year, which, according to the federal definition, categorizes them as chronically absent The Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education (MAPLE) partnered with four metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia school districts to conduct an experiment to improve attendance by informing parents about their child’s attendance.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_reports/1024/thumbnail.jp

School Messaging Platforms and Student Attendance

School attendance is strongly associated with academic performance and achievement and is one of the strongest predictors of dropping out of high school (e.g., Allensworth and Easton, 2007; Balfanz and Byrnes, 2012). For example, estimated graduation rates for students missing fewer than 10 days in middle school is 70-79 percent, compared to 51-52 percent for students missing 11-20 days (Barge, 2011). Each year in the United States an estimated 5-7.5 million students miss nearly a month of school; that is one in every seven students (Balfanz and Byrnes, 2012; Ginsburg et al., 2014). In Georgia, around 11 percent of students miss more than 15 days of school each year, which, according to the federal definition, categorizes them as chronically absent The Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education (MAPLE) partnered with four metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia school districts to conduct an experiment to improve attendance by informing parents about their child’s attendance

Internal Migration Patterns in Pakistan— The Case for Fiscal Decentralisation

The cornerstone of fiscal federalism is to empower provinces through fiscal decentralisation, thereby reducing the friction between them. This is achieved if the distribution of resources between provinces is judicial and equitable, reducing the biases and divides amongst the provinces and leading to a stronger federation. In Pakistan, the National Finance Commission (NFC) awards are constituted to decide the share of the provinces in the federal revenues and to redistribute this share to the provinces. Over the years, there has been a gradual increase in federal shares. The federal government has also stretched itself into several matters that fall under the provincial purview (for instance roads, irrigation, culture and tourism and rural development) [Shah (1997)]. With the aimed devolution of power from the centre to the local government, it is imperative that these provincial governments have adequate finances to effectively carry out the subjects that fall under their domain. Moreover, there has been no serious shift in resource distribution amongst the provinces themselves, in spite of the disparities in economic and social development as well as varying political and security situations. This has, in turn, contributed in aggravating the differences between provinces over time, bringing into question the success of the NFC awards in fostering integration

Testing the Effects of Adaptive Learning Courseware on Student Performance: An Experimental Approach

An increasing number of college and university courses are being offered in an online format. Even for courses offered face-to-face, instructors are increasingly turning toward use of online platforms to help with student learning, especially for courses with high enrollment. This study tests the efficacy of adaptive learning platforms in a sample of undergraduate students in a large urban university, using an experimental design that compares the learning outcomes of students in classrooms that used an adaptive learning tool to those who did not. The results indicate that better performing students, particularly female students, benefit the most from using adaptive learning tools

The pandemic's effect on demand for public schools, homeschooling, and private schools

The Covid-19 pandemic drastically disrupted the functioning of U.S. public schools, potentially changing the relative appeal of alternatives such as homeschooling and private schools. Using longitudinal student-level administrative data from Michigan and nationally representative data from the Census Household Pulse Survey, we show how the pandemic affected families’ choices of school sector. We document four central facts. First, public school enrollment declined noticeably in fall 2020, with about 3 percent of Michigan students and 10 percent of kindergartners using other options. Second, most of this was driven by homeschooling rates jumping substantially, driven largely by families with children in elementary school. Third, homeschooling increased more where schools provided in-person instruction while private schooling increased more where instruction was remote, suggesting heterogeneity in parental concerns about children’s physical health and instructional quality. Fourth, kindergarten declines were highest among low income and Black families while declines in other grades were highest among higher income and White families, highlighting important heterogeneity by students’ existing attachment to public schools. Our results shed light on how families make schooling decisions and imply potential longer-run disruptions to public schools in the form of decreased enrollment and funding, changed composition of the student body, and increased size of the next kindergarten cohort.First author draf

Effect of Free School Meals on BMI and Student Attendance

We estimate the effect of new access to universal free school meals resulting from the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on child BMI and attendance. Under the CEP, schools with 40 percent or more of students who qualify for free school meals can offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. With administrative data from a large school district, we use student-level BMI measures from the FitnessGram to compare within student outcomes before and after the implementation of the CEP across CEP-eligible and non-eligible schools. We find that exposure to the CEP increased BMI by about 0.07 standard deviations, equal to a 2-percentage point increase in the reference distribution or nearly 3 pounds. Effects were driven by students previously eligible for free lunches, suggesting a potential “stigma” reducing effect or increased program awareness may have a role. We also find that the program led to an increase in the share of “overweight” students but not in obesity. In addition to the CEP’s effects on student weight outcomes, we also estimate the program’s effect on absences but do not find that the CEP led to a statistically significant change in number of days absent from school.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_reports/1054/thumbnail.jp

Testing the effects of adaptive learning courseware on student performance: An experimental approach

An increasing number of college and university courses are being offered in an online format. Even for courses offered face‐to‐face, instructors are increasingly turning towards the use of online platforms to help with student learning, especially for courses with high enrollment. This study tests the efficacy of adaptive learning platforms in a sample of undergraduate students at a large urban university, using an experimental design that compares the learning outcomes of students in classrooms that used an adaptive learning tool to those that did not. The results indicate that better performing students, particularly female students, benefit the most from using adaptive learning tools.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171168/1/soej12547_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171168/2/soej12547.pd