The Long-Term and Intergenerational Effects of a School Construction Program in Indonesia

Maria Rosales-Rueda , Princeton University
Margaret Triyana, University of Chicago
Bhashkar Mazumder, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The impacts of social interventions may persist in the long-term, and this, in turn, may affect the intergenerational transmission of human capital. We analyze the effects of increasing access to education on the long-term health of the ''first generation'' and the intergenerational effects on human capital outcomes of their children in a middle-income country. We exploit the rollout of a large-scale school building project across Indonesian districts between 1974 and 1979 and link the program to longitudinal data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey. We find persistent effects on several dimensions of health about 40 years after the initial program implementation. Also, we find improved health outcomes for the children of the exposed women, but not men. We explore potential mechanisms and selection concerns.

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 Presented in Session 173. Long-Term Effects of Early-Life Circumstances