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American Economic Review Vol. 92 No. 5 2002

Vouchers for Private Schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment

Joshua Angrist1; Eric Bettinger2; Erik Bloom3; Elizabeth M. King4; Michael Kremer5

1 Department of Economics, MIT, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. · 2 Department of Economics, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106. · 3 Asian Development Bank, 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, MM 0401, Philippines. · 4 Development Research Group, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. · 5 Department of Economics, Harvard University, Littauer Center 207, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Abstract

Colombia used lotteries to distribute vouchers which partially covered the cost of private secondary school for students who maintained satisfactory academic progress. Three years after the lotteries, winners were about 10 percentage points more likely to have finished 8th grade, primarily because they were less likely to repeat grades, and scored 0.2 standard deviations higher on achievement tests. There is some evidence that winners worked less than losers and were less likely to marry or cohabit as teenagers. Benefits to participants likely exceeded the $24 per winner additional cost to the government of supplying vouchers instead of public-school places.

DOI
10.1257/000282802762024629
Volume
92
Issue
5
Pages
1535-1558
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib

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