School Infrastructure Spending and Educational Outcomes in Northern Italy
26 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2017
Date Written: October 20, 2017
Abstract
We explore whether investment in public school infrastructure affects students’ achievement. We use data on extra funding to public high schools after the 2012 Northern Italy earthquake and apply a quasi-experimental design and an instrumental variable strategy. We find that spending on school infrastructure increases standardized test scores in mathematics and Italian language, and the effect is stronger for lower-achieving students and in mathematics.These results provide evidence in favor of a positive impact of capital spending in improving the learning environment and performances of high school students.
Keywords: Living standards, Wages, Multipliers; High-technology, Cities, Inequality
JEL Classification: I22, I24, H75
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation