Equity in EducationalExpenditures: Can Government Subsidies Help?

Das, Jishnu

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY;    CROWDING;    CROWDING OUT;    DECENTRALIZATION;    DELIVERY MECHANISMS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3249
RP-ID  :  WPS3249

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

When there are externalities acrosshouseholds, governments can improve economic outcomes byequitably subsidizing education. But this chain of causalityworks only if (1) allocated resources reach the finalrecipients, and (2) equity in public subsidies translatesdirectly into equity in total educational expenditures,including private spending at the household level. Using aunique data set from Zambia, the author shows that whetherthese conditions are met depends on the specific schemesused to allocate resources as well as the exact form of thesubsidies. First, subsidies allocated through clearguidelines and legislated rules reached the finalrecipients, but those allocated at the discretion ofprovince and educational offices did not. Second, even thosecomponents of subsidies that were progressive (in that theshare of total subsidies for the poor was greater than theshare for the non-poor) had no effect on inequality in totaleducational expenditures due to the crowding-out ofhousehold spending.