One Laptop per Child at Home: Short-Term Impacts from a Randomized Experiment in Peru

Abstract

This paper presents results from a randomized controlled trial whereby approximately 1,000 OLPC XO laptops were provided for home use to children attending primary schools in Lima, Peru. The intervention increased access and use of home computers, with some substitution away from computer use outside the home. Children randomized to receive laptops scored about 0.8 standard deviations higher in a test of XO proficiency but showed lower academic effort as reported by teachers. There were no impacts on academic achievement or cognitive skills as measured by the Raven's Progressive Matrices test. Finally, there was little evidence for spillovers within schools. (JEL I21, I28, J13, O15)