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Impact of Voucher Design on Public School Performance: Evidence from Florida and Milwaukee Voucher Programs

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  • Chakrabarti Rajashri

    (Department of Research and Statistics, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10045, USA)

Abstract

This article compares two alternative voucher designs implemented in the U.S. The Milwaukee program was a “voucher shock” program that made low-income students eligible for vouchers. The Florida program was an accountability-tied voucher program that faced failing schools with “threat of vouchers” and stigma. In the context of a formal theoretical model, the study argues that the threatened schools will improve under the Florida-type program and this improvement will exceed that of the corresponding treated schools under the Milwaukee-type program. Using school-level scores from Florida and Wisconsin, and a difference-in-differences estimation strategy in trends, it then finds strong support in favor of these predictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Chakrabarti Rajashri, 2013. "Impact of Voucher Design on Public School Performance: Evidence from Florida and Milwaukee Voucher Programs," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 349-394, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:14:y:2013:i:1:p:349-394:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2012-0037
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    vouchers; incentives; public school performance; mean reversion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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