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Outsourcing Education: Experimental Evidence from Liberia

Author

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  • Mauricio Romero
  • Justin Sandefur
  • Wayne Aaron Sandholtz

Abstract

In 2016, the Liberian government delegated management of 93 randomly selected public schools to private providers. Providers received US$50 per pupil, on top of US$50 per pupil annual expenditure in control schools. After one academic year, students in outsourced schools scored 0.18σ higher in English and mathematics. We do not find heterogeneity in learning gains or enrollment by student characteristics, but there is significant heterogeneity across providers. While outsourcing appears to be a cost-effective way to use new resources to improve test scores, some providers engaged in unforeseen and potentially harmful behavior, complicating any assessment of welfare gains.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauricio Romero & Justin Sandefur & Wayne Aaron Sandholtz, 2020. "Outsourcing Education: Experimental Evidence from Liberia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(2), pages 364-400, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:110:y:2020:i:2:p:364-400
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181478
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    Cited by:

    1. Deutschmann, Joshua W. & Gars, Jared & Houde, Jean-François & Lipscomb, Molly & Schechter, Laura, 2023. "Privatization of public goods: Evidence from the sanitation sector in Senegal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    2. Anand, Gautam & Atluri, Aishwarya & Crawfurd, Lee & Pugatch, Todd & Sheth, Ketki, 2023. "Improving school management in low and middle income countries: A systematic review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    3. Di Liberto, Adriana & Giua, Ludovica & Schivardi, Fabiano & Sideri, Marco & Sulis, Giovanni, 2023. "Managerial Practices and Student Performance: Evidence from Changes in School Principals," IZA Discussion Papers 16203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Sofia Amaral & Aixa Garcia-Ramos & Selim Gulesci & Sarita Oré & Alejandra Ramos & Maria Micaela Sviatschi, 2024. "Gender-Based Violence in Schools and Girls' Education: Experimental Evidence from Mozambique," Trinity Economics Papers tep1024, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    5. Joshua B. Gilbert & Zachary Himmelsbach & James Soland & Mridul Joshi & Benjamin W. Domingue, 2024. "Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Item-Level Outcome Data: Insights from Item Response Theory," Papers 2405.00161, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2025.
    6. Aguero, Jorge M. & Favara, Marta & Porter, Catherine & Sanchez, Alan, 2021. "Do More School Resources Increase Learning Outcomes? Evidence from an Extended School-Day Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 14240, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Fazzio, Ila & Eble, Alex & Lumsdaine, Robin L. & Boone, Peter & Bouy, Baboucarr & Hsieh, Pei-Tseng Jenny & Jayanty, Chitra & Johnson, Simon & Silva, Ana Filipa, 2021. "Large learning gains in pockets of extreme poverty: Experimental evidence from Guinea Bissau," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    8. Emerick, Kyle & De Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Dar, Manzoor & Wiseman, Eleanor, 2020. "Private Input Suppliers as Information Agents for Technology Adoption in Agriculture," CEPR Discussion Papers 15584, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Judyta Kabus & Michał Dziadkiewicz & Ireneusz Miciuła & Marcin Mastalerz, 2022. "Using Outsourcing Services in Manufacturing Companies," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    10. Eble, Alex & Frost, Chris & Camara, Alpha & Bouy, Baboucarr & Bah, Momodou & Sivaraman, Maitri & Hsieh, Pei-Tseng Jenny & Jayanty, Chitra & Brady, Tony & Gawron, Piotr & Vansteelandt, Stijn & Boone, P, 2021. "How much can we remedy very low learning levels in rural parts of low-income countries? Impact and generalizability of a multi-pronged para-teacher intervention from a cluster-randomized trial in the ," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Christopher Neilson & Michael Dinerstein & Sebastián Otero, 2020. "The Equilibrium Effects of Public Provision in Education Markets: Evidence from a Public School Expansion Policy," Working Papers 645, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Bennell, Paul, 2024. "An education revolution: The privatisation of schooling in capital city conurbations in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    13. Crawfurd, Lee & Evans, David K. & Hares, Susannah & Sandefur, Justin, 2023. "Live tutoring calls did not improve learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sierra Leone," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    14. Vavilov, Stanislav & Manning, Stephan, 2024. "How entrepreneurial ecosystems support the formation of international base-of-the-pyramid ventures: The case of Boston," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Yuehao Bai & Meng Hsuan Hsieh & Jizhou Liu & Max Tabord‐Meehan, 2024. "Revisiting the analysis of matched‐pair and stratified experiments in the presence of attrition," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 256-268, March.
    16. Sofia Amaral & Aixa Garcia-Ramos & Selim Gulesci & Sarita Oré & Alejandra Ramos & Maria Micaela Sviatschi & Maria Micaela Sviatschi, 2024. "Gender-Based Violence in Schools and Girls’ Education: Experimental Evidence from Mozambique," CESifo Working Paper Series 11506, CESifo.
    17. de Hoyos, Rafael & Djaker, Sharnic & Ganimian, Alejandro J. & Holland, Peter A., 2024. "The impact of combining performance-management tools and training with diagnostic feedback in public schools: Experimental evidence from Argentina," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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