Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

I estimate the effect of private schooling on Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores of 62 countries across the globe from 2000 to 2012. I employ year and country-fixed effects regression models and also use the short-run demand for schooling within a country and year as a new instrument for private share of schooling enrollment. I find evidence to suggest that increased private schooling leads to improved PISA scores around the world. Specifically, the preferred model finds that a ten percentage point increase in the private share of schooling enrollment is associated with a 28% of a standard deviation increase in math, a 24% of a standard deviation increase in reading, and an 18% of a standard deviation increase in science.