The rapid emergence of private schooling in low-income countries raises questions about its consequences for the provision of public education. I use a rich longitudinal dataset of 112 schooling markets in rural Pakistan to provide empirical evidence of both parental and public schools' responses to private school expansion. High-achieving students switch out of the public sector following a private school entry, and sorting mostly occurs among younger cohorts of children. Public school performance remains unaffected, and I find no negative impact of private school expansion on public school students’ schooling outcomes in the long term.
Health misinformation can cause individuals to misjudge risks and lead to dangerous disease outbreaks. Expanding internet access has been shown to increase health knowledge along many dimensions. Yet, we show that in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, access to online information, even restricted to a high-quality source, does not effectively counteract pervasive health misinformation. We study a randomized trial providing Wikipedia access in Malawian secondary schools. Despite intensive use, and nudges to search for correct information, nearly all students retain critical misconceptions related to pregnancy and HIV risk. Misconceptions persist and prevail for years after students gain access to the full internet. We also find limited impacts on long-run sexual behavior and attitudes. High confidence in incorrect beliefs, and distraction by other online content, appear to explain the results. Access to online information does not substitute for effective sex education, and direct information provision is likely necessary.
Despite high returns, enrollment in higher education is low in low-income countries, in part due to poor learning outcomes in secondary school. We study the long-run effects of a randomized low-cost intervention that promotes reading among Malawian students through access to online information (Wikipedia). One year of access raises national exam scores by 0.14 standard deviations and increases the probability of qualifying for university by 7.2 percentage points. The intervention also doubles university enrollment, with effects concentrated among low achievers and girls. Effects persist for early-access cohorts, and findings are consistent with improved English skills as the primary mechanism.
This paper investigates how disparities in private and public education across different levels of schooling contribute to misallocation of talent in education. To understand whether public resources in education alleviate the financial constraints that poor parents may face, I develop an overlapping generation model based on Restuccia and Urrutia (2004) in which heterogeneous parents invest in the education of their children. I calibrate the model to the Brazilian economy and find that equalizing public spending per student across the levels of schooling increases aggregate output, consumption and welfare and generates a better selection of talented students in public universities.