Working Paper: NBER ID: w20029
Authors: Aldo Musacchio; Andre Martinez; Martina Viarengo
Abstract: We explain how the decentralization of fiscal responsibility among Brazilian states between 1889 and 1930 promoted a unequal expansion in public schooling. We document how the variation in state export tax revenues, product of commodity booms, explains increases in expenditures on education, literacy, and schools per children. Yet we also find that such improvements did not take place in states that either had more slaves before abolition or cultivated cotton during colonial times. Beyond path-dependence, ours story emphasizes the interaction between colonial institutions and subsequent fiscal changes to explain radical changes in the ranking of states which persists until today.
Keywords: Colonial Institutions; Education; Brazil; Fiscal Decentralization; Commodity Booms
JEL Codes: H40; N46
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| colonial institutions (F54) | education expenditures (H52) |
| export tax revenues (H29) | education expenditures (H52) |
| colonial institutions (F54) | educational outcomes (I26) |
| colonial institutions (F54) | literacy rates (I24) |
| export tax revenues (H29) | education expenditures (H52) |
| decentralization of fiscal responsibilities (H77) | education expenditures (H52) |