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Identifying class size effects in developing countries : evidence from rural schools in Bolivia

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Author Info

  • Urquiola, Miguel

Abstract

Although class size has attracted great interest as a policy instrument, inferences on its effects are controversial. Recent work highlights a particular way to consider the endogeneity issues that affect this variable: class size is often correlated with enrollment, which may in turn be related to socioeconomic status. In Bolivia, the author shows, these correlations are significant. Building from institutional arrangements that determine pupil-teacher ratios in rural areas, the author implements two research designs to deal with this issue. The first uses a teacher allocation pattern as an instrumental variable; the second relies on variation from remote schools with a single class per grade. Both suggest that class size has a negative effect on test scores.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 2711.

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Date of creation: 30 Nov 2001
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2711

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Related research

Keywords: Teaching and Learning; Education Reform and Management; Primary Education; Public Health Promotion; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Teaching and Learning; Education Reform and Management; Primary Education; Gender and Education; Health Monitoring&Evaluation;

References

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  1. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera & Teresa Reinaga, 1999. "Factores que inciden en el rendimiento escolar en Bolivia," Documentos de Trabajo 61, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
  2. Caroline Minter Hoxby, 1994. "Does Competition Among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?," NBER Working Papers 4979, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Alan Krueger, 1997. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," Working Papers 758, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  4. Michael Boozer & Cecilia Rouse, 1995. "Intraschool Variation in Class Size: Patterns and Implications," NBER Working Papers 5144, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Deaton, A. & Case, A., 1998. "School Quality and Educational Outcomes in South Africa," Papers 184, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Development Studies.
  6. David Card & Alan Krueger, 1990. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Working Papers 645, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  7. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1999. "Using Maimonides' Rule To Estimate The Effect Of Class Size On Scholastic Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 533-575, May.
  8. Michael Boozer & Cecilia Rouse, 1995. "Intraschool Variation in Class Size: Patterns and Implications," Working Papers 723, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  9. repec:fth:prinin:344 is not listed on IDEAS
  10. Boozer, M. & Rouse, C., 1995. "Intraschool Variation in Class Size: Patterns and Implications," Papers 728, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
  11. Akerhielm, Karen, 1995. "Does class size matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 229-241, September.
  12. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-77, September.
  13. Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy, 1983. "The Quality of Schooling: Quantity Alone is Misleading," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 928-46, December.
  14. Kremer, Michael R, 1995. "Research on Schooling: What We Know and What We Don't: A Comment," World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 10(2), pages 247-54, August.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Woessmann, Ludger & Fuchs, Thomas, 2005. "Families, schools, and primary-school learning : evidence for Argentina and Colombia in an international perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3537, The World Bank.
  2. Woessmann, Ludger & West, Martin R., 2002. "Class-Size Effects in School Systems Around the World: Evidence from Between-Grade Variation in TIMSS," IZA Discussion Papers 485, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Cohen-Zada, Danny & Gradstein, Mark & Reuven, Ehud, 2009. "Class Size and the Regression Discontinuity Design: The Case of Public Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 4679, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Martin R. West & Ludger Woessmann, 2003. "Which School Systems Sort Weaker Students into Smaller Classes? International Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 1054, CESifo Group Munich.
  5. Jishnu Das & Stefan Dercon & James Habyarimana & Pramila Krishnan, 2004. "When Can School Inputs Improve Test Scores?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-25, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  6. Jakubowski, Maciej & Sakowski, Pawel, 2006. "Quasi-Experimental Estimates of Class Size Effect in Primary Schools in Poland," MPRA Paper 4958, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  7. Eskeland, Gunnar S. & Filmer, Deon, 2002. "Autonomy, participation, and learning in Argentine schools - findings andtheir implications for decentralization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2766, The World Bank.
  8. Kenneth Chay & Patrick J. McEwan & Miguel Urquiola, 2003. "The Central Role of Noise in Evaluating Interventions that Use Test Scores to Rank Schools," Discussion Papers 0304-10, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
  9. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera, 2002. "Equity and Educational Performance," Journal of LACEA Economia, LACEA - LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION.
  10. Patrick J. McEwan, 2011. "Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Education and Health Interventions in Developing Countries," SPD Working Papers 1102, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness (SPD).
  11. M. Niaz Asadullah, 2005. "The effect of class size on student achievement: evidence from Bangladesh," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 217-221.
  12. Mark Hoekstra, 2010. "Are School Counselors a Cost-Effective Education Input?," Working Papers 396, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2011.

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