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Policy for Closing Education Gaps across Gender and Culture: Tuition-Free Education or School Construction?

Author

Listed:
  • Kotaro Fujisaki

    (Department of Economics, University College London, UK and Junior Research Fellow, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, JAPAN)

Abstract

This paper examines which education policies effectively serve underrepresented groups in developing countries by distinguishing between cost/demand-side and supply-side interventions. Using a regression discontinuity design, it shows that Indonesia's Free Primary Education (FPE) program, which abolished primary school tuition fees in 1977–1978, more effectively improved historically low female educational attainment than the concurrent school construction program. These educational gains also reduced child marriage and raised future earnings among women. FPE's impact was larger in areas with greater school supply but remained effective in communi ties lacking bride price practices. Eliminating tuition fees can promote female education even in culturally low-demand settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Kotaro Fujisaki, 2025. "Policy for Closing Education Gaps across Gender and Culture: Tuition-Free Education or School Construction?," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-16, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2025-16
    as

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Free primary education; Indonesia; Gender; Bride price; Culture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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