DIAL

Educational Choices and Schooling Quality in Developing Countries

Marine De Talancé

Décembre 2017

Université Paris-Dauphine

Sous la direction de Philippe DE VREYER et Najat EL-MEKKAOUI

This thesis aims at better understanding the multiple aspects of education in developing countries with a focus on Indonesia and Pakistan. First, we show that compulsory education could positively impact educational attainment and change fertility behaviours, even though these effects can be heterogeneous. Then, we consider the multifaceted notion of quality of education. If we consider that the quality of education encompasses only learning outcomes, teachers play a central role in knowledge acquisition. However, this measure is unsatisfactory when trying to understand schooling behaviours. Indeed, student achievement only partly explains parents’ opinions. Parents also tend to be subject to an ex-post rationalization bias and to value private schools more. The subjective dimension of the quality of education helps to understand school choice. Parents’ dissatisfaction with public schools partly explains why they send their children to private establishments. Nevertheless, the expansion of the private education sector could increase gender and socio-economic inequalities.

 

Keywords : Demand for education, Education, Enrolment, Inequalities, Quality of education, Learning outcomes, Private schools