# 6.5 Social benefits

The educational impact of improved roads is found to be partially positive in the Bico do Papagaio and Southeast regions. The number of girls attending school in these two regions has increased by 0.03 and 0.59 (average number of kids per household), respectively, based on the simple average DID model and the DID regression model.<sup>20</sup> The number of households with children who cannot attend school due to poor road conditions experienced a statistically significant decline, although the number was very small even before the project’s launch (Table 11).

In contrast, the impacts on school attendance are all negative in Jalapão and the Northeast; some of them are statistically significant. The main reason for this evolution is the substantial increase in the control group’s school attendance, while the treatment group (Figure 7) remained stable for the most part.

The health impacts are inconclusive in all regions. Most of the estimated impacts are not statistically significant. The number of households that have experienced transport-related difficulties in visiting hospitals declined in Bico do Papagaio and the Southeast, but increased in the Northeast and Jalapão. The number of household members who were sick during the two months prior to the survey declined from about 0.3–0.4 to about 0.15–0.2 across the regions. However, the trend was similar among both the treatment and control groups. This prevented the perception of any net impact resulting from the road project.

**Table 11: Estimated impacts on education and health**

||Bico do<br>Southea<br>Simple a|Papagaio &<br>st<br>verage DID|DID regression|Jalapão<br>Northea<br>Simpl|&<br>st<br>e average DID DID re|gression|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Coef.|Std. Err.|Coef.Std. Err.|Coef.S|td. Err.<br>Coef.|Std. Err.|
|HH with children<br>who could not|||||||
|attend school due to|||||||
|road conditions|-0.009|(0.004)<br>**|-0.008 (0.003) **|-0.003|(0.005)<br>-0.001|9 (0.002)|
|Number of children i<br>who attend school:|n HH||||||
|Total|0.28|(0.11) **|0.43 (0.19) **|-0.74|(0.20) ***<br>-0.59|(0.41)|
|Boys|0.03|(0.07)|0.16 (0.18)|-0.24|(0.14) *<br>-0.21|(0.46)|
|Girls|0.03|(0.07) ***|0.59 (0.18) ***|-0.51|(0.10) ***<br>-1.23|(0.43) ***|
|Preschool|<br>0.03|<br>(0.04)|<br>0.15 (0.13)|<br>-0.09|<br> <br>(0.06)<br>-0.51|<br>(0.42)|
|Elementary school|0.15|(0.11)|0.14 (0.17)|-0.42|(0.17) **<br>-0.72|(0.39) *|
|Secondary school|-0.01|(0.04)|0.24 (0.14) *|-0.16|(0.06) ***<br>-0.25|(0.28)|
|<br>University|<br>0.00|<br>(0.01)|<br>0.00 (0.05)|<br>0.04|<br> <br>(0.02) **<br>0.18|<br>(0.11)|
|<br>HH having difficulty<br>reaching hospital|||||<br>||
|due to road<br>conditions|-0.008|(0.007)|-0.005 (0.007)|0.07|(0.02) ***<br>0.04|(0.03)|
|Number of HH|||||<br>||
|members who were|||||||
|sick(last2 months)|-0.05|(0.07)|0.08 (0.18)|-0.17|(0.14)<br>-0.19|(0.56)|

> 20 In fact, the absolute number of girls attending schools has decreased in both the treatment and control groups, but the reduction was smaller in the treatment group than in the control group. This may be related to the fact that the total number of children aged 5 to 9 years has been declining in the State of Tocantins (IBGE 2012).

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