The impact of a national early childhood development program on future schooling attainment: Evidence from integrated child development services in India

Evidence on the long-term benefits of early-life interventions remains inadequate in developing countries. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a national program of supplemental nutrition and health services, on schooling. Using national survey data and employing age-state and village or city ward fixed effects regression, we find that nonmigrant 15–54-year-old men and 15–49-year-old women who were exposed to an ICDS center during the first 3 years of life completed 0.1–0.3 more grades of schooling than those who were not exposed. The effect is stronger among women than among men.