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Heterogeneity in School Value-Added and the Private Premium
Tahir Andrabi
Natalie Bau
Jishnu Das
Asim I Khwaja
American Economic Review (Forthcoming)
Abstract
We estimate and validate test score-based measures of school quality
(School Value-Added or SVA) in Pakistan. We document substantial
variation in SVA within villages and within the public and private sectors,
leading to a wide range of possible estimates of the private premium.
We also show that parents value SVA. Heterogeneity in parental
demand for quality helps explain both the evolution of the market over
time and cross-market variation in school quality. The supply-side responds
to parental demand for quality in the private sector, but there is
no evidence it does so in the public sector.