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Who Chooses Which Private Education? Theory and International Evidence

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  • Bertola, Giuseppe

    (EDHEC Business School)

  • Checchi, Daniele

    (University of Milan)

Abstract

Private school students do not always perform better in standardized tests. We suggest that this may be explained by choice of private schooling by less capable students in countries where government schools are better suited to talented students. To assess the empirical relevance of this mechanism, we exploit cross-country variation in the PISA 2009 survey of differences between private and state school regarding organizational features that are differently suitable for students with different learning ability. We seek and find evidence of this mechanism's empirical relevance in controlled regressions that treat within-country variation of PISA scores as an indicator of unobserved ability to learn.

Suggested Citation

  • Bertola, Giuseppe & Checchi, Daniele, 2013. "Who Chooses Which Private Education? Theory and International Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 7444, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7444
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chankseliani, Maia, 2014. "Are we using Friedman's roadmap? A comparative analysis of stimuli of private school enrolments in post-Soviet countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 13-21.
    2. Bottazzi, Laura & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2021. "Stereotypes in financial literacy: Evidence from PISA," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Giuseppe Bertola, 2017. "France's Almost Public Private Schools," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(3), pages 225-244, September.
    4. Torben M. Andersen & Giuseppe Bertola & John Driffill & Harold James & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Branko Uroševic, 2016. "Chapter 3: Tuning Secondary Education," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 70-84, February.
    5. Francesco Andreoli & Giorgia Casalone & Daniela Sonedda, 2018. "Public education provision, private schooling and income redistribution," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(4), pages 553-582, December.
    6. Francesco Andreoli & Giorgia Casalone & Daniela Sonedda, 2015. "An empirical assessment of households sorting into private schooling under public education provision," Working Papers 356, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Bertola, Giuseppe, 2016. "France’s Almost Public Private Schools," CEPR Discussion Papers 11605, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Andrea Bendinelli & Angela Martini, 2018. "Efficacia della scuola paritaria e della scuola statale in Italia: un confronto alla luce dei dati delle prove Invalsi 2016," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 71(281), pages 67-91.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    educational background; PISA survey; private education; talent;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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