The effect of children's health in entry to school

Abstract

Using data from the PPV/IBGE 1996/1997 survey (Brazil’s LSMS), we analyze the relationship between health (measured by the standardized relationship between height and age) and the late entry in school for children aged between 7 and 14 years old in the Northeast and Southeast regions. Using a probit model, we estimate the effect of children’s health on the probability of a late entry in school. We take into account several aspects that affect this relation, such as the local educational supply (time from home to school and school resources quality) as well as, life and family conditions (household income, parents’ education and family composition). We show that poor conditions of health decrease the probability of entering school at the right age, particularly for poor children and those that live far from schools. Finally, we use a probit model with instrumental variables (height of parents), to test the robustness of results allowing health to be endogenous.