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Does Raising the Principal's Wage Improve the School's Outcomes? Quasi‐experimental Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment in Israel
Author(s) -
Lavy Victor
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9442.2008.00555.x
Subject(s) - matriculation , salary , raising (metalworking) , wage , economics , principal (computer security) , demographic economics , labour economics , psychology , mathematics education , mathematics , computer science , operating system , geometry , market economy
This paper reports estimates of the causal effects of a 50 percent increase in the salary of headmasters of high schools in Israel. The results suggest that the program led to significant improvements in twelfth‐grade students' academic achievements. However, the effect was relatively modest, comprising increases of about 5–10 percent in the school mean matriculation rate, average score and number of subjects and credit units taken in matriculation programs. Based on these results and the lack of evidence regarding the effect of increasing teachers' salary, it seems that priority should be given to paying higher wages to school principals.