Nutrition and Cognitive Achievement: An Evaluation of the School Breakfast Program.
This paper investigates the impact of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) on cognitive achievement. The SBP is a federal entitlement program that offers breakfast to any student, including free breakfast for any low-income student, who attends a school that participates in the program. To increase the availability of the SBP, many states mandate that schools participate in the program if the percent of free or reduced-price eligible students in a school exceeds a specific threshold. Using the details of these mandates as a source of identifying variation, I find that the availability of the program increases student achievement.
University of Iowa, Tippie College of Business, Department of Economics, 21 E. Market St., Iowa City, IA 52242; ; ; david-frisvold@uiowa.edu.
David E
DE
Frisvold
School Breakfast Program; achievement; education; nutrition