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Vouchers, School Choice and the Access to Higher Education

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  • Dante Contreras

Abstract

For over twenty years, a voucher system has been used in Chile to promote competition in the educational system between public and private schools. Attending a private subsidized school is associated with increased standardized test scores, but the apparent impact is relatively small. Controlling for school choice using a supply-side instrument (school availability at community level) implies substantially larger impacts of the voucher system. The effect of parents' education on academic performance is smaller than that implied by simple OLS estimates that do not control for school choice. Finally, the results also show that family school choice is gender biased, females are sent more often to voucher schools while males are sent more often to private (non voucher) schools. In addition, the TSLS estimates show that females gain less than males from going to voucher schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Dante Contreras, 2002. "Vouchers, School Choice and the Access to Higher Education," Working Papers 845, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:845
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    File URL: http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp845.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Calonico & Hugo Ñopo, 2007. "Returns to Private Education in Peru," Research Department Publications 4516, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    2. Orazem, Peter F. & King, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 55, pages 3475-3559, Elsevier.
    3. Eva Crespo-Cebada & Francisco Pedraja-Chaparro & Daniel Santín, 2014. "Does school ownership matter? An unbiased efficiency comparison for regions of Spain," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 153-172, February.
    4. Dante Contreras & Paulina Sepúlveda & Sebastián Bustos, 2010. "When Schools Are the Ones that Choose: The Effects of Screening in Chile," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1349-1368, December.
    5. Dante Contreras & Víctor Macías, 2002. "Desigualdad Educacional en Chile: Geografía y Dependencia," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 39(118), pages 395-421.
    6. Jere R. Behrman & Michela M. Tincani & Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2016. "Teacher Quality in Public and Private Schools under a Voucher System: The Case of Chile," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 319-362.
    7. Allcott, Hunt & Ortega, Daniel E., 2009. "The performance of decentralized school systems : evidence from Fe y Alegría in Venezuela," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4879, The World Bank.
    8. Francisco A. Gallego, 2004. "School Choice, Incentives, and Academic Outcomes: Evidence from Chile," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 39, Econometric Society.
    9. Idrovo Aguirre, Byron, 2007. "¿Son las escuelas particulares subvencionadas mejores que las municipales? Estimación de la ecuación de logro escolar para Chile [Are the subsidized particular schools better than the public school," MPRA Paper 10665, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Paredes, Ricardo D. & Paredes, Valentina, 2009. "Chile: academic performance and educational management under a rigid employment regime," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    11. Sebastian Calonico & Hugo Ñopo, 2007. "Retornos a la Educación Privada en Perú," Research Department Publications 4517, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    12. Müller, Sven, 2009. "A spatial choice model based on random utility," Discussion Papers 2/2009, Technische Universität Dresden, "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Institute of Transport and Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Vouchers; Gender; Chile;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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