This paper analyses the impact of a One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program introduced by the Catalan government (Spain) on student achievement. We exploit longitudinal population data for students in secondary education during the period 2009–2016 and adopt matching estimation procedures to evaluate the program, given that participation was not randomly assigned. As the blocking criteria are quite restrictive, we are able to use a considerable number of matches. Additionally, we combine administrative data with information on school time-varying characteristics obtained from our own survey. Results indicate that this OLPC program had a negative impact on students’ competence acquisition in reading (in Catalan, Spanish and English) and in mathematics, their grades falling by 0.20-0.22 standardized units (depending on the subject), which represents 3.8-6.2% of their average grades. This negative effect was stronger among boys than it was among girls (with differences ranging from 10 to 42%).
Càtedra d'Economia Pública Facultat de Ciencies Econòmiques i Socials