Mass Media and Public Services : The Effects of Radio Access on Public Education in Benin

Keefer, Philip ; Khemani, Stuti

关键词: ACCESS TO EDUCATION;    ADULTS;    ADVERTISEMENTS;    ADVERTISING;    BASIC EDUCATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5559
RP-ID  :  WPS5559

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Does radio access improve public serviceprovision? And if so, does it do so by increasing governmentaccountability to citizens, or by persuading households totake advantage of publicly-provided services? Prior researchhas argued that citizens with greater access to mass mediareceive greater benefits from targeted government welfareprograms, but has not addressed these questions for publicservices such as in education and health. Using unique datafrom Benin, this paper finds that literacy rates amongschool children are higher in villages exposed to signalsfrom a larger number of community radio stations. The effectis identified based on a "natural experiment" inthe northern communes of Benin where within-communevariation in village access to radio stations is exogenousto observed and unobserved village characteristics. Incontrast to prior research, the authors find that this mediaeffect does not operate through government accountability:government inputs into village schools and householdknowledge of government education policies are no differentin villages with greater access to community radio. Instead,households with greater access are more likely to makefinancial investments in the education of their children.