IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v53y2016icp143-158.html

Does Investing in School Capital Infrastructure Improve Student Achievement?

Author

Listed:
  • Hong, Kai
  • Zimmer, Ron

Abstract

Within the research community, there is a vigorous debate over whether additional educational expenditures will lead to improved performance of schools. Some of the debate is an outgrowth of the lack of causal knowledge of the impacts of expenditures on student outcomes. To help fill this void, we examine the causal impact of capital expenditures on school district proficiency rates in Michigan. For the analysis, we employ a regression discontinuity design where we use the outcomes of bond elections as the forcing variable. Our results provide some evidence that capital expenditures can have positive effects on student proficiency levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong, Kai & Zimmer, Ron, 2016. "Does Investing in School Capital Infrastructure Improve Student Achievement?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 143-158.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:143-158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.05.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775716302813
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.05.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Reassessing the view that American schools are broken," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 4(Mar), pages 29-43.
    2. Neilson, Christopher A. & Zimmerman, Seth D., 2014. "The effect of school construction on test scores, school enrollment, and home prices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 18-31.
    3. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    4. Julie Berry Cullen & Brian A Jacob & Steven Levitt, 2006. "The Effect of School Choice on Participants: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1191-1230, September.
    5. Alan Krueger, 1998. "Reassessing the View that American Schools Are Broken," Working Papers 774, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    6. Papke, Leslie E. & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2008. "Panel data methods for fractional response variables with an application to test pass rates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 121-133, July.
    7. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Fernando Ferreira & Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "The Value of School Facility Investments: Evidence from a Dynamic Regression Discontinuity Design," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 215-261.
    8. Jones, John T. & W. Zimmer, Ron, 2001. "Examining the impact of capital on academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 577-588, December.
    9. Papke, Leslie E., 2005. "The effects of spending on test pass rates: evidence from Michigan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 821-839, June.
    10. Ron Zimmer & John T. Jones, 2005. "Unintended Consequence of Centralized Public School Funding in Michigan Education," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 534-544, January.
    11. Leslie E. Papke, 2008. "The Effects of Changes in Michigan's School Finance System," Public Finance Review, , vol. 36(4), pages 456-474, July.
    12. Krueger, Alan B & Whitmore, Diane M, 2001. "The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-Test Taking and Middle School Test Results: Evidence from Project STAR," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(468), pages 1-28, January.
    13. Richard H. Mattoon & William A. Testa, 1995. "Midwest approaches to school reform," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 19(Jan), pages 2-19.
    14. Jonathan Guryan, 2001. "Does Money Matter? Regression-Discontinuity Estimates from Education Finance Reform in Massachusetts," NBER Working Papers 8269, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. repec:fth:prinin:395 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Eric A. Hanushek, 2003. "The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 64-98, February.
    17. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    18. 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 1141-1177, September.
    19. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532.
    20. Hanushek, E.A.omson, W., 1996. "Assessing the Effects of School Resources on Student Performance : An Update," RCER Working Papers 424, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
    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. Paco Martorel & Kevin Stange & Isaac McFarlin Jr., 2016. "Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions, and Student Achievement (Revised and Edited)," Upjohn Working Papers 16-256, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Martorell, Paco & Stange, Kevin & McFarlin, Isaac, 2016. "Investing in schools: capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 13-29.
    3. Youness, LAGDIRI & Naoual, OUAZZANI TOUHAMI, 2026. "Optimal class size and learning outcomes in Morocco: A normative-causal approach using PISA 2022 data," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. C. Kirabo Jackson & Rucker C. Johnson & Claudia Persico, 2016. "The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 157-218.
    5. Lawrence Kessler & Murat Munkin, 2015. "Bayesian estimation of panel data fractional response models with endogeneity: an application to standardized test rates," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 81-114, August.
    6. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "Does School Spending Matter? The New Literature on an Old Question," NBER Working Papers 25368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2015. "Current themes in education policy in the United States," Chapters, in: John Karl Scholz & Hyungypo Moon & Sang-Hyup Lee (ed.), Social Policies in an Age of Austerity, chapter 7, pages 165-180, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Holmlund, Helena & McNally, Sandra & Viarengo, Martina, 2010. "Does money matter for schools?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1154-1164, December.
    9. Nobel Prize Committee, 2021. "Answering causal questions using observational data," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2021-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    10. Stephen Gibbons & Sandra McNally, 2013. "The Effects of Resources Across School Phases: A Summary of Recent Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp1226, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Fernando Ferreira & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "The Value of School Facilities: Evidence from a Dynamic Regression Discontinuity Design," Working Papers 1101, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    12. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 34-63, February.
    13. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 3-33, February.
    14. Mar√≠a Orduz, 2022. "Effect of educational spending on academic performance under different institutional arrangements," Documentos CEDE 20224, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    15. Cohen-Zada, Danny & Gradstein, Mark & Reuven, Ehud, 2013. "Allocation of students in public schools: Theory and new evidence," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 96-106.
    16. Heinesen, Eskil, 2004. "Determinants of local public school expenditure: a dynamic panel data model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 429-453, July.
    17. Enami, Ali & Alm, James & Aranda, Rodrigo, 2021. "Labor versus capital in the provision of public services: Estimating the marginal products of inputs in the production of student outcomes✰," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. repec:pri:cepsud:180rothstein is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Argaw, Bethlehem A. & Puhani, Patrick A., 2018. "Does class size matter for school tracking outcomes after elementary school? Quasi-experimental evidence using administrative panel data from Germany," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 48-57.
    20. Hong Kai, 2017. "School Bond Referendum, Capital Expenditure, and Student Achievement," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-26, October.
    21. Gigliotti, Philip & Sorensen, Lucy C., 2018. "Educational resources and student achievement: Evidence from the Save Harmless provision in New York State," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 167-182.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education

    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:ecoedu:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:143-158. 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/econedurev .

    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.