Publications

Published/Forthcoming articles

Click on paper titles to download final manuscripts and on journal names to download gated journal copies.

Economics journals

The productivity of private and public preschools: Evidence from India (with Petter Berg and Mauricio Romero)

Latest version: June 2025, Conditionally Accepted at Economic Journal

We study the relative productivity of private and public institutions at the preschool and primary school levels using panel data from 215 villages in Tamil Nadu. Private preschools show higher test score value-added in math and language (~0.59-0.74 standard deviations) and outperform government providers in nearly all villages. This productivity difference explains 60% of the socioeconomic test score gap before school entry. These results contrast starkly with primary schooling, where we find no evidence of a private sector premium in math and negative effects in local language. Test score value-added is positively correlated between private and government options in a village, both at the preschool and primary school levels. Quality is also correlated across levels; villages with more productive primary schools also tend to have more productive preschools. Our findings inform debates on achieving universal foundational skills and highlight the need to improve the quality of preschools available to lower-income families.

Myths of Official Measurement: Limits to Test-Based Education Reforms with Weak Governance (with Petter Berg)

Journal of Public Economics, vol 239 (Nov 2024)

Improving administrative data at scale: Experimental evidence on digital testing in Indian schools

Economic Journal , July 2024, vol 134 (661)

COVID-19 Learning loss and recovery: Panel data evidence from India (with Mauricio Romero and Karthik Muralidharan)

Journal of Human Resources, July 2024, vol 59 (4)

Test Scores and Educational Opportunities: Panel Evidence from Five Countries (with Jishnu Das and Andres Yi Chang)

Journal of Public Economics, February 2022, vol 206

Learning More with Every Year: School year productivity and international learning divergence

Journal of the European Economic Association, Aug 2020, vol 18(4), 1770-1813

Discussion: World Bank Development Impact Blog (Non - technical summary), Huffington Post (by Harry Patrinos)

Disrupting Education? Experimental evidence on technology-led education in India (with Karthik Muralidharan and Alejandro Ganimian)