TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hsieh,Chang-Tai
AU  - Urquiola,Miguel
TI  - When Schools Compete, How Do They Compete? An Assessment of Chile's Nationwide School Voucher Program
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10008
PY  - 2003
Y2  - October 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10008
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10008.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Chang-Tai Hsieh
Booth School of Business
University of Chicago
5807 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/8340590
Fax: 484-589-3583
E-Mail: chsieh@chicagoBooth.edu

Miguel Urquiola
Columbia University
SIPA and Economics Department
1022 IAB, MC 3308
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/854-3769
Fax: 212/854-8059
E-Mail: msu2101@columbia.edu
AB  - In 1981, Chile introduced nationwide school choice by providing vouchers to any student wishing to attend private school. As a result, more than 1,000 private schools entered the market, and the private enrollment rate increased by 20 percentage points, with greater impacts in larger, more urban, and wealthier communities. We use this differential impact to measure the effects of unrestricted choice on educational outcomes. Using panel data for about 150 municipalities, we find no evidence that choice improved average educational outcomes as measured by test scores, repetition rates, and years of schooling. However, we find evidence that the voucher program led to increased sorting, as the  best' public school students left for the private sector.
ER  -