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Independent Schools and Long‐run Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Sweden's Large‐scale Voucher Reform
Author(s) -
Böhlmark Anders,
Lindahl Mikael
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/ecca.12130
Subject(s) - voucher , competition (biology) , scale (ratio) , demographic economics , economics , school choice , difference in differences , student achievement , econometrics , academic achievement , psychology , mathematics education , geography , accounting , ecology , cartography , biology , market economy
We estimate effects on educational outcomes from the expansion of the independent school sector in Sweden, which followed as a consequence of the radical 1992 voucher reform. Using variation in this expansion across municipalities, we find that an increase in the share of independent school students improves average short‐ and long‐run outcomes, explained primarily by external effects (e.g. school competition). For most outcomes, we observe significant effects first a decade after the reform. By using regional level TIMSS data, we can reconcile our results with the negative national trend for Swedish students in international achievement tests.