Mass Media and Public Services: The Effects of Radio Access on Public Education in Benin

51 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Philip Keefer

Philip Keefer

Inter-American Development Bank

Stuti Khemani

World Bank; World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Date Written: February 1, 2011

Abstract

Does radio access improve public service provision? And if so, does it do so by increasing government accountability to citizens, or by persuading households to take advantage of publicly-provided services? Prior research has argued that citizens with greater access to mass media receive greater benefits from targeted government welfare programs, but has not addressed these questions for public services such as in education and health. Using unique data from Benin, this paper finds that literacy rates among school children are higher in villages exposed to signals from a larger number of community radio stations. The effect is identified based on a "natural experiment" in the northern communes of Benin where within-commune variation in village access to radio stations is exogenous to observed and unobserved village characteristics. In contrast to prior research, the authors find that this media effect does not operate through government accountability: government inputs into village schools and household knowledge of government education policies are no different in villages with greater access to community radio. Instead, households with greater access are more likely to make financial investments in the education of their children.

Keywords: Education For All, Population Policies, Social Accountability, E-Business, Disability

Suggested Citation

Keefer, Philip and Khemani, Stuti, Mass Media and Public Services: The Effects of Radio Access on Public Education in Benin (February 1, 2011). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5559, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1759150

Philip Keefer (Contact Author)

Inter-American Development Bank ( email )

1300 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States
202-623-1961 (Phone)

Stuti Khemani

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
United States

HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/skhemani

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
331
Abstract Views
1,604
Rank
166,606
PlumX Metrics