Participatory Accountability and Collective Action : Evidence from Field Experiments in Albanian Schools

There is general agreement that the existence of participatory institutions is a necessary condition for accountability, especially where top-down institutions are malfunctioning or missing. In education, the evidence on the effectiveness of participatory accountability is mixed. This paper argues that participation is a social dilemma and therefore depends, at least partly, on individuals' propensity to cooperate with others for the common good. This being the case, the mixed evidence could be owing to society-level heterogeneities in individuals' willingness and ability to overcome collective action problems. The authors investigate whether individuals' propensity to cooperate plays a role in parents' decisions to participate in both a school accountability system -- a "short route" to accountability -- and parliamentary elections -- a "long route" to accountability -- by combining survey data on 1,800 individuals' participation decisions with measures of their willingness to contribute to a public good in the context of a very simple, clearly defined laboratory experiment. They conduct a study in a new democracy, Albania, involving parents of children enrolled in primary schools. The findings confirm that, both across individuals within communities and across communities, the decision to hold teachers and school directors accountable directly through participation at the school level, and indirectly through political participation correlates with cooperativeness in a simple public goods game.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Barr, Abigail, Packard, Truman, Serra, Danila
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012-04
Subjects:	ACADEMIC YEAR, ACCOUNTABILITY, ATTENDANCE RECORDS, AVERAGE INCOME, AVERAGE NUMBER OF PUPILS, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CANDIDATES, CHURCHES, CITIZENS, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, CIVIL SOCIETY, CLASSROOM, COLLECTIVE ACTION, COMMUNITY MEMBERS, COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, CORRUPTION, CURRICULA, CURRICULUM, DATA COLLECTION, DEGREES, DEMOCRACIES, DEMOCRACY, DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, DEMOCRATIZATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, EDUCATION ECONOMICS, EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, EDUCATION OUTCOMES, EDUCATION POLICIES, EDUCATION SECTOR, EDUCATION SYSTEM, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, EDUCATIONAL QUALITY, ELECTION, ELECTORAL SYSTEMS, ENROLLMENT RATES, ETHNIC DIVERSITY, GOVERNANCE PROGRAM, HEAD TEACHER, HEADMASTERS, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, INCOME, INFORMED SOCIETY, INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS, INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK, INTELLECTUALS, INTERVENTIONS, INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION, LABOR MARKETS, LEARNING, LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES, LITERATURE, LIVING STANDARDS, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, NUMBER OF PUPILS, NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, OPEN ACCESS, PAPERS, PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT, PARENTAL PARTICIPATION, PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY, PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION, PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOLS, PERSONALITY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, POOR PEOPLE, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS, PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PUBLIC GOOD, PUBLIC OFFICIALS, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PUBLIC SERVICE, PUBLIC SERVICE PROVISION, PUBLIC SERVICES, QUALITY OF EDUCATION, QUALITY SCHOOLS, REPRESENTATIVES, RESEARCHERS, SCHOOL ACTIVITIES, SCHOOL AUTONOMY, SCHOOL BOARDS, SCHOOL CONTROL, SCHOOL DIRECTORS, SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, SCHOOL GOVERNANCE, SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT, SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN, SCHOOL LEVEL, SCHOOL SURVEY, SCHOOL YEAR, SCHOOLING, SCHOOLS, SECONDARY EDUCATION, SELECTION OF TEXTBOOKS, SMALLER NUMBER, SOCIAL SERVICES, STUDENT ASSESSMENT, STUDENT OUTCOMES, TEACHER TRAINING, TEACHERS, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TELEVISION, TEXTBOOKS, TRANSFER OF TEACHERS, TRANSITION ECONOMIES, URBAN SCHOOLS, VOTER PARTICIPATION, VOTER TURNOUT,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/04/16205503/participatory-accountability-collective-action-evidence-field-experiments-albanian-schools https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6029
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