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Constitutional Rights and Education: An International Comparative Study

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  • Sebastian Edwards
  • Alvaro Garcia Marin

Abstract

We investigate whether the inclusion of social rights in political constitutions affects social performance. More specifically, we analyze whether including the right to education in the constitution has been related to better "educational outcomes." We rely on data for 61 countries that participated in the 2012 PISA tests. Our results are strong and robust to the estimation technique: we find that there is no evidence that including the right to education in the constitution has been associated with higher test scores. The quality of education depends on socioeconomic, structural, and policy variables, such as expenditure per student, the teacher-pupil ratio, and families' background. When these covariates are excluded, the relation between the strength of constitutional educational rights and the quality of education is negative and statistically significant. These results are important for emerging countries that are discussing the adoption of new constitutions, such as Thailand and Chile.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Edwards & Alvaro Garcia Marin, 2014. "Constitutional Rights and Education: An International Comparative Study," NBER Working Papers 20475, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20475
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    Cited by:

    1. Minkler, Lanse & Prakash, Nishith, 2017. "The role of constitutions on poverty: A cross-national investigation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 563-581.
    2. Joshua C. Gellers & Christopher Jeffords, 2015. "Procedural Environmental Rights and Environmental Justice: Assessing the Impact of Environmental Constitutionalism," Economic Rights Working Papers 25, University of Connecticut, Human Rights Institute.
    3. Scott Dallman & Anusha Nath & Filip Premik, 2021. "The Effect of Constitutional Provisions on Education Policy and Outcomes," Staff Report 623, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    4. Ludger Woessmann, 2016. "The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 3-32, Summer.
    5. Hiroaki Matsuura, 2016. "Constitutional social and environmental human rights and child health outcomes in Latin American countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-168, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Christopher Jeffords, 2015. "A Panel Data Analysis of the Effects of Constitutional Environmental Rights Provisions on Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities and Water Sources," Economic Rights Working Papers 24, University of Connecticut, Human Rights Institute.
    7. Sutoris, Peter, 2018. "Elitism and its challengers: Educational development ideology in postcolonial India through the prism of film, 1950–1970," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-9.
    8. Tommaso Agasisti & María Gil-Izquierdo & Seong Won Han, 2020. "ICT Use at home for school-related tasks: what is the effect on a student’s achievement? Empirical evidence from OECD PISA data," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 601-620, November.
    9. Kodila-Tedika, Oasis & Mulunda Kabange, Martin, 2018. "Constitutional instability and Poverty: Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 84501, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Christian Bjørnskov & Jacob Mchangama, 2019. "Do Social Rights Affect Social Outcomes?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(2), pages 452-466, April.
    11. Hiroaki Matsuura, 2016. "Constitutional social and environmental human rights and child health outcomes in Latin American countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 168, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. José M. Cordero & Víctor Cristóbal & Daniel Santín, 2018. "Causal Inference On Education Policies: A Survey Of Empirical Studies Using Pisa, Timss And Pirls," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 878-915, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior
    • K49 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Other
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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