Compulsory education laws or incentives from conditional cash transfer programs? Explaining the rise in secondary school attendance rate in Argentina - read online free

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

Argentina has traditionally outperformed many Latin American countries in education outcomes, yet older adolescents still face attendance gaps, especially among vulnerable groups. Recent years show a sizable improvement in attendance for ages 15 to 17, coinciding with the 2006 National Education Law making upper-secondary education compulsory. This paper argues that the Asignación Universal por Hijo (AUH), a conditional cash transfer program implemented in 2009, is largely responsible.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time1 h 13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Context of compulsory education and attendance

Conditional cash transfer mechanism (AUH)

Difference-in-differences estimation results

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 25 Number 76 July 17, 2017 ISSN 1068-2341 | | Compulsory Education Laws or Incentives from Conditional Cash Transfer Programs? Explaining the Rise in Secondary School Attendance Rate in Argentina María Edo Universidad de San Andrés and CONICET Mariana Marchionni & Santiago Garganta CEDLAS-Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET Argentina Citation: Edo, M., Marchionni, M., & Garganta, S. (2017) . Compulsory education laws or incentives from conditional cash transfer programs? Explaining the rise in secondary school attendance rate in Argentina. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 25(76). [http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2596](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2596) [Abstract:](Abstract: Argentina has traditionally stood out in terms of educational outcomes among its)[ Argentina has traditionally stood out in terms of educational outcomes among its](Abstract: Argentina has traditionally stood out in terms of educational outcomes among its)[ ](Abstract: Argentina has traditionally stood out in terms of educational outcomes among its)[Latin American counterparts. Schooling of older children](Latin American counterparts. Schooling of older children), however, still shows room for improvement especially among the more vulnerable. Fortunately, during the last years a sizeable improvement in attendance rates for children aged 15 through 17 took place. This could be related to the 2006 National Education Law that made upper-secondary education compulsory. In this paper, instead, we claim that the Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Child Allowance, AUH)—a massive conditional cash transfer program implemented in 2009 in Argentina—maybe mostly responsible for this improvement. Using a difference-in-difference strategy we estimate that the program accounts for a 3.9 percentage point increase in the probability of attending secondary school among eligible children aged 15 through 17. The impact seems to be led by boys and is more relevant for children living in larger families where the head of household has a lower educational level. Keywords: conditional cash transfers; education; attendance; Argentina ¿Leyes de educación obligatoria o incentivos de programas de transferencias condicionadas? Explicando el aumento de la tasa de asistencia al secundario en Argentina Resumen: Argentina tradicionalmente se ha destacado en términos de resultados educativos entre sus pares latinoamericanos. La escolarización de los adolescentes, sin embargo, todavíadebe mejorarse, especialmente entre los más vulnerables. Afortunadamente, durante los últimosaños se produjo un considerable aumento en las tasas de asistencia escolar al secundario entre los jóvenes de 15 a 17 años. Esto podría estar relacionado con la Ley Nacional de Educación de 2006 que transformó la enseñanza secundaria en obligatoria. En este artículo, en cambio, sostenemos que la Asignación Universal por Hijo (AUH), un programa masivo de transferencias monetarias condicionales implementado en 2009 en Argentina, puede ser el principal responsable de esta mejora. Utilizando una estrategia de diferencias en diferencias, estimamosque el programa representa un aumento de 3,9 puntos porcentuales en la probabilidad de asistira la escuela secundaria entre los jóvenes elegibles de 15 a 17 años. El impacto parece estar liderado por los varones y es más relevante para los jóvenes que viven en familias más grandes donde el jefe del hogar tiene niveles educativos más bajos. Palabras-clave: programas de transferencias condicionadas; educación; asistencia; Argentina ¿Leis de educação obrigatória ou incentivos de programas de transferências condicionadas? Explicando o aumento na taxa de frequência escolar no ensino secundário na Argentina Resumo: A Argentina tradicionalmente se destacou em termos de r

FAQs

What improvement in school attendance does the paper focus on?

It examines the rise in secondary school attendance rates for children aged 15 to 17 in Argentina.

Which policy does the paper claim is mostly responsible for the attendance increase?

The paper argues that the Asignación Universal por Hijo (AUH), a conditional cash transfer program implemented in 2009, is largely responsible.

How is the AUH impact estimated?

It uses a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate the program’s effect on the probability of attending secondary school.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag