Covariates of efficiency in education production among developing pacific-basin and Latin American countries

Abstract

The paper investigates why some schools in East Asia and Latin America are more efficient in the use of resources than others. It estimates input and output efficiencies and uses efficiency scores as dependent variables in analysis of variance and regression analyses. Input and output efficiencies are calculated using “hard” inputs such as number and quality of teachers and student socio-economic status, and “soft” inputs such as management; sorting and school autonomy are then used as explanatory variables in the variance and regression analysis. The results indicate that private management and student selection lead to high efficiencies and this result is negative for those who hope for quality public education for all; greater school autonomy leads to higher efficiencies, even for public schools that do not practice selection.