Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania*

Resource type
Journal Article
Authors/contributors
Title
Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania*
Abstract
We present results from a large-scale randomized experiment across 350 schools in Tanzania that studied the impact of providing schools with (i) unconditional grants, (ii) teacher incentives based on student performance, and (iii) both of the above. After two years, we find (i) no impact on student test scores from providing school grants, (ii) some evidence of positive effects from teacher incentives, and (iii) significant positive effects from providing both programs. Most important, we find strong evidence of complementarities between the programs, with the effect of joint provision being significantly greater than the sum of the individual effects. Our results suggest that combining spending on school inputs (the default policy) with improved teacher incentives could substantially increase the cost-effectiveness of public spending on education.
Publication
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Volume
134
Issue
3
Pages
1627-1673
Date
2019-08-01
Journal Abbr
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
ISSN
0033-5533
Short Title
Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education
Accessed
26/10/2023, 14:21
Library Catalogue
Silverchair
Citation
Mbiti, I., Muralidharan, K., Romero, M., Schipper, Y., Manda, C., & Rajani, R. (2019). Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania*. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(3), 1627–1673. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjz010