Andrabi Tahir, Bau Natalie, Das Jishnu, Karachiwalla Naureen, Khwaja Asim Ijaz
Pomona College.
UCLA, NBER, and CEPR.
Q J Econ. 2024 Nov;139(4):2525-2577. doi: 10.1093/qje/qjae014. Epub 2024 May 9.
We estimate the equilibrium effects of a public school grant program administered through school councils in Pakistani villages with multiple public and private schools and clearly defined catchment boundaries. The program was randomized at the village-level, allowing us to estimate its causal impact on the market. Four years after the start of the program, test scores were 0.2 sd higher in public schools. We find evidence of an : test scores in private schools were also 0.2 sd higher in treated markets. Consistent with standard models of product differentiation, the education multiplier is greater for those private schools that faced a greater threat to their market power. Accounting for private sector responses increases the program's cost-effectiveness by 85% and affects how a policymaker would target spending. Given that markets with several public and private schools are now pervasive in low- and middle-income countries, prudent policy requires us to account for private sector responses to public policy, both in their design and in their evaluation.
我们评估了一项通过巴基斯坦村庄的学校委员会管理的公立学校资助项目的均衡效应，这些村庄有多所公立和私立学校，且有明确界定的招生范围。该项目在村庄层面进行了随机分配，使我们能够估计其对市场的因果影响。项目启动四年后，公立学校的考试成绩提高了0.2个标准差。我们发现了一个证据：在受影响的市场中，私立学校的考试成绩也提高了0.2个标准差。与产品差异化的标准模型一致，对于那些市场力量面临更大威胁的私立学校，教育乘数更大。考虑到私营部门的反应，该项目的成本效益提高了85%，并影响政策制定者的支出目标方式。鉴于中低收入国家现在普遍存在有几所公立和私立学校的市场，审慎的政策要求我们在公共政策的设计和评估中都要考虑私营部门对公共政策的反应。
