Anyone with exposure to kids in the USA doesn't need a study to know the validity of Mr. Fisman's concerns. After all, a computer is merely a tool. Giving all the kids a toolkit won't make them all carpenters, and giving them an even more general purpose tool such as a computer will have as many results as there are children. The opportunity cost is the issue here: $200 is quite a bit of money. Would the kids be better off with better teachers, calculators, paper, pencils, vaccines, ... food? It is a very good idea and effort by Mr. Negroponte, but it doesn't seem fully "baked". Maybe dropping money from a plane? A side note is that I know of several people that tried to get one of the under the "buy one, get one" program. OLPC took their money, but no one has received theirs yet after more than 6 months. Enough to make one suspicious.