The collateral effects of private school expansion in a deregulated market: Peru, 1996–2019

Abstract

This paper explores the mid-term effects of the de facto privatization that has taken place in the Peruvian educational system. It takes advantage of changes in educational market policies as well as two sources of variation, namely the geographical location of the new private schools and the year of birth of individuals. Both variables determine the degree of exposure to the private school expansion process. The results suggest that this phenomenon has contributed neither to increasing access to formal education nor to improving wages in the labor market. This evidence raises concerns about the impact of privatization on the quality of the education system as a whole, as well as the regulatory role of the State.