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Private School Quality in Italy

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  • Bertola, Giuseppe
  • Checchi, Daniele
  • Oppedisano, Veruska

Abstract

We discuss how a schooling system?s structure may imply that private school enrolment leads to worse subsequent performance in further education or in the labour market, and we seek evidence of such phenomena in Italian data. If students differ not only in terms of their families? ability to pay but also in terms of their own ability to take advantage of educational opportunities (?talent? for short), theory predicts that private schools attract a worse pool of students when publicly funded schools are better suited to foster progress by more talented students. We analyze empirically three surveys of Italian secondary school graduates, interviewed 3 year after graduation. In these data, the impact of observable talent proxies on educational and labour market outcomes is indeed more positive for students who (endogenously) choose to attend public schools than for those who choose to pay for private education.

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  • Bertola, Giuseppe & Checchi, Daniele & Oppedisano, Veruska, 2007. "Private School Quality in Italy," CEPR Discussion Papers 6602, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6602
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    Cited by:

    1. Agar Brugiavini & Carlo Carraro & Matija Kovacic, 2014. "Academic Achievements: Grades versus Duration," Working Papers 2014:13, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    2. repec:bdi:workqs:qse_6 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Gilberto Turati & Daniel Montolio & Massimiliano Piacenza, 2011. "Fiscal decentralisation, private school funding, and students’ achievements. A tale from two roman catholic countries," Working Papers 2011/44, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    4. Giuseppe Bertola, 2017. "France's Almost Public Private Schools," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(3), pages 225-244, September.
    5. Contini Dalit & Scagni Andrea, 2012. "Social-Origin Inequalities in Educational Careers in Italy. Performance or Decision Effects?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201214, University of Turin.
    6. Francesco Andreoli & Giorgia Casalone & Daniela Sonedda, 2015. "An empirical assessment of households sorting into private schooling under public education provision," Working Papers 356, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Giuseppe Bertola & Daniele Checchi, 2013. "Who Chooses Which Private Education? Theory and International Evidence," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(3), pages 249-271, September.
    8. Davide Azzolini & Philipp Schnell & John R. B. Palmer, 2012. "Educational Achievement Gaps between Immigrant and Native Students in Two “New†Immigration Countries," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 643(1), pages 46-77, September.
    9. Bertola, Giuseppe, 2016. "France’s Almost Public Private Schools," CEPR Discussion Papers 11605, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Giuseppe Bertola & Paolo Sestito, 2011. "A Comparative Perspective on Italy’s Human Capital Accumulation," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 06, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    11. Gilberto Turati & Daniel Montolio & Massimiliano Piacenza, 2011. "Fiscal decentralisation, private school funding, and students’ achievements. A tale from two roman catholic countries," Working Papers 2011/44, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    12. Francesco Andreoli & Giorgia Casalone & Daniela Sonedda, 2018. "Public education provision, private schooling and income redistribution," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(4), pages 553-582, December.
    13. Filer, Randall K. & Münich, Daniel, 2013. "Responses of private and public schools to voucher funding," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 269-285.
    14. IOAKIMIDIS Marilou & CHOUSTOULAKIS Emmanouil & PAPAKONSTANTINOU George, 2020. "Does Private High School Attendance Affect Preferred University Track Choice? A Research Perspective," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 15(3), pages 36-44, December.
    15. Andrea Bendinelli & Angela Martini, 2018. "Efficacia della scuola paritaria e della scuola statale in Italia: un confronto alla luce dei dati delle prove Invalsi 2016," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 71(281), pages 67-91.
    16. Tommaso Agasisti, 2013. "Competition Among Italian Junior-Secondary Schools: A Variance-Decomposition Empirical Analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(1), pages 17-42, March.
    17. Carmen Aina & Massimiliano Bratti & Enrico Lippo, 2021. "Ranking high schools using university student performance in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 293-321, April.
    18. Angela Dills & Sean Mulholland, 2010. "A comparative look at private and public schools' class size determinants," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 435-454.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ability; Education; Vouchers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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