Upping the Ante: The Equilibrium Effects of Unconditional Grants to Private Schools

Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja, Selcuk Ozyurt and Niharika Singh

American Economic Review, 2020, vol. 110, issue 10, 3315-49

Abstract: We assess whether financing can help private schools, which now account for one-third of primary school enrollment in low- and middle-income countries. Our experiment allocated unconditional cash grants to either one (L) or all (H) private schools in a village. In both arms, enrollment and revenues increased, leading to above- market returns. However, test scores increased only in H schools, accompanied by higher fees, and a greater focus on teachers. We provide a model demonstrating that market forces can provide endogenous incentives to increase quality and increased financial saturation can be used to leverage competition, generating socially desirable outcomes.

JEL-codes: I21 I22 I25 I28 L22 L26 N75 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Upping the Ante: The Equilibrium Effects of Unconditional Grants to Private Schools (2018)
Working Paper: Upping the ante: the equilibrium effects of unconditional grants to private schools (2018)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180924

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