Assessing the impact of school subsidies in Bolivia. A reduced nonparametric approach

This paper, “Evaluating the impact of school subsidies in Bolivia. A reduced non-parametric approach” , evaluates the impact of the Bolivian school subsidy program, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP), on school attendance. The BJP is a relatively small cash transfer (less than $30 per child per year) conditional on being enrolled in a public school and regularly attending classes. Since there are no feasible alternatives to a control group, we use simple behavioral models to understand the school-work decision and derive counterfactuals of interest. The estimation is conducted using two- dimensional kernel regression estimators. The results suggest that the BJP has been successful in increasing school attendance only for younger children – 6 to 8 years of age, and particularly girls. The conclusion is that the BJP has only motivated the enrollment of children at an appropriate age but has not given additional incentives to attend those who have already enrolled at some point.