Heterogeneity in School Value Added and the Private Premium
Tahir Andrabi, Natalie Bau, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja
American Economic Review · 2025 · Volume 115 · Issue 1
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.
Keywords
Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets, Analysis of Education, Returns to Education, Education: Government Policy, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration
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