Ulric B. and Evelyn L. Bray Social Sciences Seminar
Baxter B125
Information and the Politics of School Quality: Evidence from a Nationwide Reform in Brazil
Claudio Ferraz,
Professor of Economics,
University of British Columbia,
Abstract: We use the introduction of a school-level accountability system in Brazil to estimate the effects of public information about school quality on electoral outcomes. Reports revealing that schools are high in the test score distribution increase the incumbent mayor's vote share. The revelation of low scores reduces the incumbent mayor's vote share by roughly the same margin, but also leads to efforts to improve school quality through decreases in class sizes and increases in the share of qualified teachers in subsequent years. We find the effects to be larger in places with more educated voters.
Joint with Marina Dias, Daniel Duque, and Wayne A. Sandholtz
For more information, please contact Diana Bohler by phone at 626-395-4220 or by email at [email protected].