Working papers:
Presented at: Development Microcluster 2023 (Geneva), German Development Economics Conference 2023 (Dresden), BBL 2023, Lisbon Economic and Statistics Conference 2024 (Lisbon), CEPR Policy Forum 2024 (Paris), Applied Economics Conference 2024 (Belgrad), Development Economics Network Switzerland 2024 (Geneva), Innovations for Poverty - Evidence summit 2024 (Accra), IFO Institute (Munich), Max-Planck Society for Collective Goods (Bonn), UC Louvain 2025.
How can low-income countries expand access to secondary education? In 2007, Uganda subsidized tuition fees in public and strategically-located private secondary schools. Using novel administrative and household data, I find that the reduction in schooling fees had minimal effects on educational outcomes in public schools, probably due to limited capacity to accept more students. However, the subsidies significantly improved educational outcomes for female students attending private schools, especially when these schools were within 5 kilometers walking distance. I provide new insights into how a non-targeted fee-reduction policy can produce large, heterogeneous effects, in particular with respect to gender and school location.
"Improving School Leadership in Rwanda" with Lee Crawfurd, Jocelyne Cyiza Kirezi, Aimable Nsabimana, Jef Peeraer, Center For Global Development, Working Paper 691, 2024. (Accepted Journal of Development Economics.)
Presented at: Development Microcluster 2024 (Geneva), BBL 2024, German Development Economics Conference 2024 (Hanover), VVOB 2024 (Kigali), Center for Global Development 2024 (London), CSAE Oxford 2025.
Can effective school leadership enhance high-stakes test scores in low-income countries? To address this question, we examine the short-term impact of a school leadership professional development program implemented across 525 primary schools in the six lowest-performing districts of Rwanda between 2018 and 2019. The program aimed to strengthen the leadership, management, and teacher support skills of school headteachers. Our findings indicate no significant effects on Primary Leaving Examination scores one to two years after the intervention. We suggest that further research should focus on optimizing the design of school leadership professional development programs and exploring the underlying mechanisms necessary to enhance their overall effectiveness.
Selected work in progress: