From the article:
What caught the attention of Michele Belot and Jonathan James, though, was the way Oliver?s project had been implemented. Belot and James ? economists at Nuffield College, Oxford, and at the University of Essex respectively ? noted that the campaign had created a near-perfect experiment. The chef had convinced Greenwich?s council and schools to change menus to fit his scheme; he mobilised resources, provided equipment and trained dinner ladies. Other London boroughs with similar demographics received none of these advantages ? and indeed, because the programme wasn?t broadcast until after the project was well under way, probably knew little about it. The result was a credible pilot project. It wasn?t quite up to the gold standard of a randomised trial, but it wasn?t far off.
Interesting article. Attendance and scores in that borough improved. So, it turns out that the answer is probably yes.
