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Expanding access to secondary education: Evidence from a fee reduction and capacity expansion policy in kenya

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  • Brudevold-Newman, Andrew

Abstract

I investigate the Kenyan government’s 2008 public secondary school expansion policy which lowered school fees and increased capacity. This policy rapidly increased the proportion of students continuing from primary to secondary school, particularly from areas with low initial primary to secondary transition rates. Using this regional variation in exposure to the program together with birth-cohort variation, I show that the program increased female educational achievement, delayed childbirth and related demographic behaviors, and shifted employment away from agriculture towards skilled work.

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  • Brudevold-Newman, Andrew, 2021. "Expanding access to secondary education: Evidence from a fee reduction and capacity expansion policy in kenya," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:83:y:2021:i:c:s0272775721000467
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102127
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    Cited by:

    1. Gruijters, Rob J. & Abango, Mohammed A & Casely-Hayford, Leslie, 2023. "Secondary School Fee Abolition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Taking Stock of the Evidence," SocArXiv 8fa2c, Center for Open Science.
    2. Mumuni Abdul Wahid, 2024. "Influence of Social Policy Intervention; An Analysis of Free Senior High School Policy in Ghana as a Tool to Improve Lives or a Tool to Gain Votes in Elections," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(4), pages 906-916, April.
    3. João R. Ferreira & Wayne Aaron Sandholtz & Wayne Sandholtz, 2024. "Sibling Spillovers and Free Schooling," CESifo Working Paper Series 11436, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education reform; School fee reduction; Secondary school; Fertility timing; Teenage childbearing; Occupational choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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