School Inputs, Household Substitution, and Test Scores

Empirical studies of the relationship between school inputs and test scores typically do not account for the fact that households will respond to changes in school inputs. This paper presents a dynamic household optimization model relating test scores to school and household inputs, and tests its predictions in two very different low-income country settings -- Zambia and India. The authors measure household spending changes and student test score gains in response to unanticipated as well as anticipated changes in school funding. Consistent with the optimization model, they find in both settings that households offset anticipated grants more than unanticipated grants. They also find that unanticipated school grants lead to significant improvements in student test scores but anticipated grants have no impact on test scores. The results suggest that naïve estimates of public education spending on learning outcomes that do not account for optimal household responses are likely to be considerably biased if used to estimate parameters of an education production function.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Dercon, Stefan, Das, Jishnu, Habyarimana, James, Krishnan, Pramila, Muralidharan, Karthik, Sundararaman, Venkatesh
Language:	English
Published:	2011-04-01
Subjects:	AID, BASIC EDUCATION, BLOCK GRANT, BLOCK GRANTS, CASH PAYMENTS, CHILDREN WITH ACCESS, CLASS SIZE, CLASS-SIZE, CLASSROOM, CLASSROOM MATERIALS, COMMUNITIES, CORRUPTION, CREDIT MARKETS, DEGREES, DEMAND FOR EDUCATION, DISABILITY, DISABILITY INSURANCE, DISCRETIONARY FUNDING, ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, EDUCATED PARENTS, EDUCATION DATA, EDUCATION EXPENDITURES, EDUCATION OUTCOMES, EDUCATION POLICIES, EDUCATION POLICY, EDUCATION SECTOR, EDUCATION SPENDING, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS, EDUCATIONAL INPUTS, EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS, EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, EDUCATIONAL POLICY, EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, ENDOWMENTS, ENROLLMENT RATES, EQUALITY, EXPENDITURES, FINANCES, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FINANCIAL SUPPORT, FIRST GRADE, FREE EDUCATION, FUNDS FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE, GENDER, GOVERNMENT EDUCATION EXPENDITURE, GOVERNMENT FUNDING, GOVERNMENT-RUN SCHOOLS, GRANT PROGRAMS, GROSS ENROLLMENT, HEAD TEACHER, HOUSEHOLDS, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES, INCLUSION, INCOME TAX, INCOME TAX CREDIT, INDEPENDENT LEARNING, INTEREST RATE, INTERNATIONAL BANK, INTERVENTIONS, INVESTMENT DECISIONS, LABOR MARKET, LEARNING, LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, LEARNING ASSESSMENTS, LEARNING MATERIALS, LEARNING OUTCOMES, LET, LEVELS OF EDUCATION, LITERACY, LITERATURE, MATH TEXTBOOKS, MICROFINANCE, NATIONAL ASSESSMENT, NUMBER OF STUDENTS, NUMBER OF TEACHERS, NUTRITION, NUTRITIONAL STATUS, OPEN ACCESS, PAPERS, PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRIMARY ENROLLMENT, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PRIVATE FUNDING, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, PROPERTY TAX, PROVISION OF EDUCATION, PUBLIC EDUCATION, PUBLIC FINANCE, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO, RECEIPT, RECEIPTS, REGULAR TEACHERS, REMOTE SCHOOLS, RESOURCE CENTER, RURAL SCHOOLS, SAVINGS, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, SCHOOL DISTRIBUTION, SCHOOL EDUCATION, SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, SCHOOL EXPENDITURE, SCHOOL FINANCES, SCHOOL FUNDING, SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT, SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE, SCHOOL LEVEL, SCHOOL MATERIALS, SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, SCHOOL SIZE, SCHOOL STUDENTS, SCHOOL SUPPLIES, SCHOOL SURVEYS, SCHOOL YEAR, SCHOOLING, SCHOOLS, SHOW HOW, SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS, SOURCE OF FUNDS, SOURCES OF FUNDS, SPORTS, STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, STUDENT BODY, STUDENT LEARNING, STUDENT PARTICIPATION, TEACHER, TEACHER PERFORMANCE, TEACHER SALARIES, TEACHERS, TEACHING, TEST SCORES, TEXT BOOKS, TEXTBOOK, TEXTBOOKS, TUITION, TYPES OF EDUCATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, URBAN AREAS, URBAN SCHOOLS, VILLAGE, VILLAGE FUND, VILLAGES, WORKBOOKS, WRITING MATERIALS,
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110408112536 https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3395
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