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Taxation and educational development: Evidence from British India

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  • Chaudhary, Latika

Abstract

This paper measures the effects of public expenditures on literacy in early 20th century British India. Using a new dataset and an instrumental variables strategy, I find that public investments in primary education had positive and statistically significant effects on literacy. A 10 percent increase in 1911 per-capita spending or 44 additional primary schools would have translated into a 2.6Â percentage point increase in 1921 literacy in the population aged 15-20. The findings, however, differ by gender: the IV estimates on spending are statistically significant only for male literacy. India's historical experience thus suggests that building more schools would not have solved the problem of female illiteracy that continues to persist even today.

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  • Chaudhary, Latika, 2010. "Taxation and educational development: Evidence from British India," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 279-293, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:47:y:2010:i:3:p:279-293
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    Cited by:

    1. Oliver Vanden Eynde, 2016. "Military Service and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 10031035-10.
    2. Nandwani, Bharti & Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2023. "British Colonialism and Women Empowerment in India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1275, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Latika Chaudhary & Manuj Garg, 2015. "Does history matter? Colonial education investments in India," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 937-961, August.

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