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If you build it, will they come? School availability and school enrollment in 21 poor countries

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Filmer, Deon

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Abstract

Increasing the supply of schools is commonly advocated as a policy intervention to promote schooling. Analysis of the relationship between the school enrollment of 6 to 14 year olds and the distance to primary and secondary schools in 21 rural areas in low-income countries (including some of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa) reveals that the two are often statistically significantly related. However, the magnitudes of the associations are small. Simulating big reductions in distance yields only small increases in average school participation, and only small reductions in within-country inequality. The data are mostly cross-sectional and therefore it is difficult to assess the degree to which results might be driven by endogenous school placement. Data can be geographically matched over time in three of the study countries and under some assumptions the results from these countries are consistent with no substantial bias in the cross-sectional estimates. Although increasing school availability by decreasing the average distance to schools can be a tool for increasing enrollments, it cannot be expected to have a substantial effect. Other interventions, such as those geared toward increasing the demand for schooling or increasing the quality of schooling should be prioritized.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3340.

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Date of creation: 01 Jun 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3340

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

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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.:
  1. Handa, Sudhanshu, 2002. "Raising primary school enrolment in developing countries: The relative importance of supply and demand," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 103-128, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Christina Paxson & Norbert R. Schady, 2002. "The Allocation and Impact of Social Funds: Spending on School Infrastructure in Peru," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 297-319, August.
  3. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1996. "Technical Change and Human-Capital Returns and Investments: Evidence from the Green Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 931-53, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Pritchett, Lant & Filmer, Deon, 1999. "What education production functions really show: a positive theory of education expenditures," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 223-239, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Filmer, Deon & Pritchett, Lant, 1998. "Estimating wealth effects without expenditure data - or tears : with an application to educational enrollments in states of India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1994, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Lavy, Victor, 1996. "School supply constraints and children's educational outcomes in rural Ghana," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 291-314, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Pitt, Mark M & Rosenzweig, Mark R & Gibbons, Donna M, 1993. "The Determinants and Consequences of the Placement of Government Programs in Indonesia," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 319-48, September.
  8. Kathleen Burke & Kathleen Beegle, 2004. "Why Children Aren't Attending School: The Case of Northwestern Tanzania," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 333-355, June.
  9. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Filmer, Deon, 2000. "The structure of social disparities in education : gender and wealth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2268, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  11. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1999. "Benefit Incidence, Public Spending Reforms, and the Timing of Program Capture," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 257-73, May.
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(explanations, 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.)

  1. Orazem, Peter & King, Elizabeth M, 2007. "Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy," Staff General Research Papers 12838, Iowa State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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