TY - JOUR
T1 - Returns to private and public education in Bangladesh and Pakistan
T2 - a comparative analysis
AU - Asadullah, M. Niaz
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the South Asian Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI). I would like to thank Geeta Kingdon, Emanuel Jimenez, Syed Pasha, Michelle Riboud and Francis Teal for their comments and suggestions. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Education Research Initiative workshop organized by SANEI (New Delhi), research seminar at BRAC (Dhaka), Global Conference on Education Research in Developing Countries (Prague) and the UKFIET Conference on Education and Development (Oxford University). The usual disclaimers apply.
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - This paper documents wage differentials between private and public school graduates in Bangladesh and Pakistan. While evidence in support of a wage advantage of private school graduates in Bangladesh is lacking, Pakistani private school graduates are found to earn more than their public school counterparts. This finding has important implications for the current debate over the effectiveness of private schools in South Asia. To the extent the wage premium arises owing to education in private schools, our result suggests relative superiority of private schools in Pakistan and are consistent with extant studies that have assessed private school quality using test scores of students. The difference in the performance of private schools in the two countries, however, remains a puzzle. This difference, we conjecture, may be partly explained by the between-country differences in public policy towards private schools and, therefore, the regulatory regime facing these schools.
AB - This paper documents wage differentials between private and public school graduates in Bangladesh and Pakistan. While evidence in support of a wage advantage of private school graduates in Bangladesh is lacking, Pakistani private school graduates are found to earn more than their public school counterparts. This finding has important implications for the current debate over the effectiveness of private schools in South Asia. To the extent the wage premium arises owing to education in private schools, our result suggests relative superiority of private schools in Pakistan and are consistent with extant studies that have assessed private school quality using test scores of students. The difference in the performance of private schools in the two countries, however, remains a puzzle. This difference, we conjecture, may be partly explained by the between-country differences in public policy towards private schools and, therefore, the regulatory regime facing these schools.
KW - Bangladesh
KW - Pakistan
KW - Private schools
KW - Wage returns to education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=57249105561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.asieco.2008.05.004
DO - 10.1016/j.asieco.2008.05.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:57249105561
SN - 1049-0078
VL - 20
SP - 77
EP - 86
JO - Journal of Asian Economics
JF - Journal of Asian Economics
IS - 1
ER -