Policy for Closing Education Gaps across Gender and Culture: Tuition-Free Education or School Construction?

Kotaro Fujisaki
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Kotaro Fujisaki: Department of Economics, University College London, UK and Junior Research Fellow, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, JAPAN

No DP2025-16, Discussion Paper Series from Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University

Abstract: This paper examines what types of education policies can effectively serve underrepresented groups, given local culture in developing countries. Using a regression discontinuity design, it shows that Indonesia's Free Primary Education (FPE) program, which abolished primary school tuition fees in 1977–1978, improved historically low female educational attainment. These educational gains also reduced child marriage and raised future earnings. Unlike the concurrent school construction program, FPE was equally effective in communities without a bride price custom. In culturally low-demand settings, tuition removal can more effectively promote female education than supply-side interventions, helping to close education gaps across gender and culture.

Keywords: Free primary education; Indonesia; Gender; Bride price; Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I25 I28 J16 Z13 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 72 pages
Date: 2025-06, Revised 2025-10
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https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2025-16.pdf Revised version, 2025 (application/pdf)

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