Typhoon Aid and Development: The Effects of Typhoon-Resistant Schools and Instructional Resources on Educational Attainment in the Philippines

Abstract

This paper examines the effects on educational attainment of assistance programs that provided typhoon-resistant secondary schools and instructional resources in the Philippines. Using the variation in the availability of assistance programs and differences in exposure across age cohorts induced by the timing of the allocation of program packages, I find positive and statistically significant impacts on education outcomes for both boys and girls. For boys, the presence of typhoon-resistant schools equipped with instructional resources led to an average increase of 0.26–0.31 years of education, while the presence of instructional resources alone led to an average increase of 0.23–0.26 years of education. For girls, the availability of both components led to an average increase of 0.23–0.32 years of education, while the availability of either component alone did not seem to have an effect.