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Teacher Turnover and Financial Incentives in Underprivileged Schools: Evidence from a Compensation Policy in a Developing Country

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  • Camelo, Rafael
  • Ponczek, Vladimir

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impacts of a policy that introduced a sizeable wage premium (24% to 36%) to teachers at disadvantaged schools on teacher turnover in the public school system in São Paulo, Brazil. We explore a discontinuity at the eligibility rule to identify the policy effect. We find that the wage compensation reduced turnover by 5 p.p. (10.4% over the pre-treatment average). We also show that this policy positively impacted the achievement of low-performing students, but had no effects on average test scores. We rule out alternative explanations, such as reallocation of teachers or direct effects of the wage increase. These results suggest a disruptive effect of teacher turnover on learning, especially on students at the bottom of the test score distribution.

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  • Camelo, Rafael & Ponczek, Vladimir, 2021. "Teacher Turnover and Financial Incentives in Underprivileged Schools: Evidence from a Compensation Policy in a Developing Country," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:80:y:2021:i:c:s0272775720305537
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102067
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    teacher labor markets; teacher turnover;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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