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Educational Quality along Multiple Dimensions: A Cross-Country Analysis

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  • Stephen Yeaple

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • Chong Xiang

    (Purdue University)

Abstract

The quality of a country's educational infrastructure is a crucial determinant of economic well-being. Historically, measurement of educational quality relied on crude output measures, such as average years of schooling. More recently, researchers have tried to measure the comparative quality of educational systems directly by comparing test scores on international tests. Aspects of educational quality that are ill-measured by exams, however, are neglected in such analyses. In this paper, we develop a general equilibrium framework that allow educational outcomes to vary in the extent to which they are readily quantified on exams. Our framework allows inference along multiple dimensions of educational quality and provides a method for aggregating over these dimensions to construct a single measure of institutional quality. Many countries that score well on international exams fair poorly according to our measure, and our comparative static results suggest important tradeoffs across eductional dimensions.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Yeaple & Chong Xiang, 2017. "Educational Quality along Multiple Dimensions: A Cross-Country Analysis," 2017 Meeting Papers 510, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed017:510
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    References listed on IDEAS

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