Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP8272
Authors: Monique de Haan; Edwin Leuven; Hessel Oosterbeek
Abstract: A large school consolidation reform in the Netherlands changed minimum school size rules underlying public funding. The supply of schools decreased by 15 percent, but this varied considerably across municipalities. We find that reducing the number of schools by 10 percent increases pupils' achievement by 3 percent of a standard deviation. A reduction in the supply of schools implies, for a given number of pupils, an increase in average school size. We present evidence that in our context scale economies dominated the effects of choice and competition. This points to an often ignored trade-off between scale and competition.
Keywords: scale economies; school choice; school consolidation; student achievement
JEL Codes: D40; H75; I21; I22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| reducing the number of schools (I21) | increase in pupils' achievement (I24) |
| change in minimum school size (I21) | change in the number of schools (I21) |
| change in the number of schools (I21) | increase in pupils' achievement (I24) |
| reducing the number of schools (I21) | larger average school sizes (I23) |
| larger average school sizes (I23) | increase in pupils' achievement (I24) |