IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v36y2008i7p1294-1316.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralization's Effects on Educational Outcomes in Bolivia and Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Faguet, Jean-Paul
  • Sánchez, Fabio

Abstract

Summary The effects of decentralization on public sector outputs are much debated but little agreed upon. This paper compares the remarkable case of Bolivia with the more complex case of Colombia to explore decentralization's effects on public education outcomes. In Colombia, decentralization of education finance improved enrollment rates in public schools. In Bolivia, decentralization made government more responsive by re-directing public investment to areas of greatest need. In both countries, investment shifted from infrastructure to primary social services. In both, it was the behavior of smaller, poorer, more rural municipalities that drove these changes. A key innovation of this paper is a methodology for estimating the effects of decentralization in a data-poor environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Faguet, Jean-Paul & Sánchez, Fabio, 2008. "Decentralization's Effects on Educational Outcomes in Bolivia and Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1294-1316, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:36:y:2008:i:7:p:1294-1316
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(08)00056-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wiggins, Steve & Marfo, Kofi & Anchirinah, Vincent, 2004. "Protecting the Forest or the People? Environmental Policies and Livelihoods in the Forest Margins of Southern Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1939-1955, November.
    2. Anwar Shah & Theresa Thompson & Heng-fu Zou, 2004. "Decentralising the public sector: The Impact of Decentralisation on Service Delivery, Corruption, Fiscal Management and Growth in Developing and Emerging Market Economies: A Synthesis of Empirical Evi," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(01), pages 10-14, October.
    3. Antonio Estache, 1994. "World Development Report: Infrastructure for Development," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/44144, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Nygren, Anja, 2005. "Community-based forest management within the context of institutional decentralization in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 639-655, April.
    5. Antonio Puppim de Oliveira, Jose, 2002. "Implementing Environmental Policies in Developing Countries Through Decentralization: The Case of Protected Areas in Bahia, Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1713-1736, October.
    6. Francis, Paul & James, Robert, 2003. "Balancing Rural Poverty Reduction and Citizen Participation: The Contradictions of Uganda's Decentralization Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 325-337, February.
    7. Sundar, Nandini, 2001. "Is Devolution Democratization?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2007-2023, December.
    8. Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & McNab, Robert M., 2003. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1597-1616, September.
    9. Woodhouse, Philip, 2003. "African Enclosures: A Default Mode of Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1705-1720, October.
    10. Eskeland,Gunnar S. & Filmer,Deon P. & Eskeland, Gunnar S.*Filmer, Deon, 2002. "Autonomy, participation, and learning in Argentine schools - findings and their implications for decentralization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2766, The World Bank.
    11. Alberto Alesina & Alberto Carrasquilla & Juan José Echavarría Soto, 2000. "Decentralization in Colombia," Working Papers Series. Documentos de Trabajo 2254, Fedesarrollo.
    12. Ellis, Frank & Mdoe, Ntengua, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1367-1384, August.
    13. repec:rus:hseeco:126457 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2004. "Does decentralization increase government responsiveness to local needs?: Evidence from Bolivia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 867-893, March.
    15. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2001. "Does decentralization increase responsiveness to local needs? - evidence from Bolivia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2516, The World Bank.
    16. Dilip Mookherjee & Pranab K. Bardhan, 2000. "Capture and Governance at Local and National Levels," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 135-139, May.
    17. Parry, Taryn Rounds, 1997. "Achieving balance in decentralization: A case study of education decentralization in Chile," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 211-225, February.
    18. Harvey S. Rosen, 1988. "Fiscal Federalism: Quantitative Studies," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number rose88-1, July.
    19. Ellis, Frank & Bahiigwa, Godfrey, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 997-1013, June.
    20. Fiszbein, Ariel, 1997. "The Emergence of local capacity: Lessons from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1029-1043, July.
    21. Andres RodrIguez-Pose & Nicholas Gill, 2004. "Reassessing Relations between the Centre and the States: The Challenge for the Brazilian Administration," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(7), pages 833-844.
    22. Anwar Shah & Theresa Thompson & Heng-fu Zou, 2004. "Decentralising the public sector: The Impact of Decentralisation on Service Delivery, Corruption, Fiscal Management and Growth in Developing and Emerging Market Economies: A Synthesis of Empirical Evi," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(1), pages 10-14, October.
    23. de Mello, Luiz Jr, 2000. "Fiscal Decentralization and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 365-380, February.
    24. Porter, Gina, 2002. "Living in a Walking World: Rural Mobility and Social Equity Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 285-300, February.
    25. Andersson, Krister P., 2004. "Who Talks with Whom? The Role of Repeated Interactions in Decentralized Forest Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 233-249, February.
    26. Casson, Anne & Obidzinski, Krystof, 2002. "From New Order to Regional Autonomy: Shifting Dynamics of "Illegal" Logging in Kalimantan, Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2133-2151, December.
    27. Bahiigwa, Godfrey & Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Philip, 2005. "Right Target, Wrong Mechanism? Agricultural Modernization and Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 481-496, March.
    28. Semboja, Joseph & Therkildsen, Ole, 1994. "Decentralization, participation and spatial equity in rural tanzania: A comment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 807-810, May.
    29. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    30. David Slater, 1989. "Territorial Power and the Peripheral State: The Issue of Decentralization," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 501-531, July.
    31. McCarthy, John F., 2004. "Changing to Gray: Decentralization and the Emergence of Volatile Socio-Legal Configurations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1199-1223, July.
    32. Rowland, Allison M., 2001. "Population as a Determinant of Local Outcomes under Decentralization: Illustrations from Small Municipalities in Bolivia and Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1373-1389, August.
    33. Shankar, Raja & Shah, Anwar, 2003. "Bridging the Economic Divide Within Countries: A Scorecard on the Performance of Regional Policies in Reducing Regional Income Disparities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1421-1441, August.
    34. Maro, Paul S., 1990. "The impact of decentralization on spatial equity and rural development in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 673-693, May.
    35. Thun, Eric, 2004. "Keeping Up with the Jones': Decentralization, Policy Imitation, and Industrial Development in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1289-1308, August.
    36. Petro, Nicolai N., 2001. "Creating Social Capital in Russia: The Novgorod Model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 229-244, February.
    37. John Joseph Wallis & Wallace E. Oates, 1988. "Decentralization in the Public Sector: An Empirical Study of State and Local Government," NBER Chapters, in: Fiscal Federalism: Quantitative Studies, pages 5-32, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Larson, Anne M., 2002. "Natural Resources and Decentralization in Nicaragua: Are Local Governments Up to the Job?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 17-31, January.
    39. Blair, Harry, 2000. "Participation and Accountability at the Periphery: Democratic Local Governance in Six Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 21-39, January.
    40. Joel Samoff, 1990. "Decentralization: The Politics of Interventionism," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 513-530, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ali, Zulfiqar, 2009. "Making Reform Work: Institutions, Dispositions, and the Improving Health of Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 208-218, January.
    2. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ali, Zulfiqar, 2007. "A tale of two Upazilas : local governance and social development in Bangladesh," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2396, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Diether Beuermann & Maria Amelina, 2014. "Does Participatory Budgeting Improve Decentralized Public Service Delivery?," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 87095, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Diether W. Beuermann & Maria Amelina, 2018. "Does participatory budgeting improve decentralized public service delivery? Experimental evidence from rural Russia," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 339-379, November.
    5. Khan, Qaiser & Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ambel, Alemayehu, 2017. "Blending Top-Down Federalism with Bottom-Up Engagement to Reduce Inequality in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 326-342.
    6. World Bank, 2011. "Who Governs Rural Russia?," World Bank Publications - Reports 27449, The World Bank Group.
    7. Andersson, Krister P. & Gibson, Clark C. & Lehoucq, Fabrice, 2006. "Municipal politics and forest governance: Comparative analysis of decentralization in Bolivia and Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 576-595, March.
    8. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Agnese Sacchi, 2017. "The Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1095-1129, September.
    9. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2014. "Decentralization and Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 2-13.
    10. Andersson, Krister P., 2004. "Who Talks with Whom? The Role of Repeated Interactions in Decentralized Forest Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 233-249, February.
    11. Krister Andersson & Elinor Ostrom, 2008. "Analyzing decentralized resource regimes from a polycentric perspective," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(1), pages 71-93, March.
    12. Rita Afsar, 2010. "Poverty, Inequality and the Challenges of Pro-Poor Governance in Bangladesh," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 5(2), pages 187-219, October.
    13. Zarychta, Alan, 2020. "Making social services work better for the poor: Evidence from a natural experiment with health sector decentralization in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Grégoire ROTA-GRAZIOSI & Emilie CALDEIRA, 2014. "La décentralisation dans les pays en développement : une revue de la littérature - Decentralization in developing countries: A literature review," Working Papers 201411, CERDI.
    15. Antonio N. Bojanic, 2018. "The Impact of Fiscal Decentralization on Accountability, Economic Freedom, and Political and Civil Liberties in the Americas," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Emilie Caldeira & Grégoire Rota-Graziosi, 2015. "La décentralisation dans les pays en développement : une revue de la littérature - Decentralization in developing countries: A literature review," CERDI Working papers halshs-01005204, HAL.
    17. Benjamin Larin & Bernd Süssmuth, 2014. "Fiscal Autonomy and Fiscal Sustainability: Subnational Taxation and Public Indebtedness in Contemporary Spain," CESifo Working Paper Series 4726, CESifo.
    18. Besfamille, Martin & Lockwood, Ben, 2004. "Are Hard Budget Constraints for Sub-National Governments Always Efficient?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 717, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    19. Hindriks, Jean & Lockwood, Ben, 2009. "Decentralization and electoral accountability: Incentives, separation and voter welfare," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 385-397, September.
    20. Maia Green, 2015. "Making Africa middle class: From poverty reduction to the production of inequality in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 295-309, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H0 - Public Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:36:y:2008:i:7:p:1294-1316. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.