Policy Seed Grant | 2004-2005
Vouchers and Private School Entry: Empirical Evidence from Chile: Empirical Evidence from Chile
by Patrick McEwan (Wellesley) and Miguel Urquiola (International and Public Affairs)
Since 1980, Chile has funded public and private schools according to a fixed per-student subsidy (a "voucher"). During the past 20 years, this policy has induced the entry of more than a thousand, often for-profit, private schools. This project will analyze the location choices of private schools, and the ultimate effects that private school entry has upon educational outcomes in local schooling markets. As an empirical strategy (and building on preliminary results), it will identify a discontinuous relationship between the population size of a given local market, and the likelihood that this market experiences private entry. This discrete relationship will facilitate the application of a regression-discontinuity approach common in economics. In order to implement this empirical approach, precise geographical information will be obtained on the location of public and private schools in relationship to population clusters. Pilot collection of such data will take place in a single, predominantly rural region of Chile.
