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Full
Dissertation Abstract
Job Market Paper
“School Competition
and Academic Quality: Evidence from the Milwaukee
Parental Choice Program” (pdf)
Abstract: This is the first study in the school choice literature to test the
effect that competitive pressure has on public school quality using data on
school-level incentives. I draw data from the Milwaukee Parental Choice
Program which, as the longest-running and largest private school voucher
program in the United
States, contains substantial
cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in levels of competition intensity
faced by public schools, measured by the enrollment capacity and proximity of
participating private schools. First, I find that the effect of competition
is positive on average although these benefits are not well distributed with
schools serving the lowest income students receiving the least benefit.
Second, non-linearity in competition effects implies decreasing and nearly
negative returns to scale of competition for lower-income schools. I conclude
that market-based incentives can be beneficial for some schools, but are not
sufficient to generate public school accountability for the lowest-achieving
schools.
Presentations
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