Effectiveness of Private and Public High Schools: Evidence from Finland
Kortelainen, Mika; Manninen, Kalle (2018-05-16)
Kortelainen, Mika
Manninen, Kalle
Valtion taloudellinen tutkimuskeskus
16.05.2018
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-274-221-6
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-274-221-6
Tiivistelmä
A number of papers have compared the effectiveness of private and public schools in different institutional settings. However, most of these studies are observational and do not utilize experimental or quasi-experimental design to evaluate the value-added or the effectiveness of private schools in comparison to public schools. This study focuses on private and public high schools in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. We use two different methods to compare private and public schools, value-added estimation and regression discontinuity design (RDD). Although based on somewhat different assumptions, both methods allow us to evaluate the causal effect of private schools on the exit exam results in high school. We find that private schools perform marginally better than public schools, but the difference in performance is small and statistically insignificant according to both methods. Various robustness and validity checks strengthen our RDD results and the validity of the discontinuity design.
Tutkimusteema
Local public finance and provision of public services
JEL
H44, I21, I26, J24
Avainsanat
education, public sector outsourcing, regression discontinuity, school choice, value-added
Kokoelmat
- VATT Working Papers [163]