Determinants of the distribution of students between public and private sectors: A macroeconomic analysis on a sample of middle-income countries

Abstract

The proportion of students enrolled in private schools varies from one country to another and within the same country from one territorial community to another. This study aims to investigate the factors that may explain these differences. In the first part, the article focuses on a sample of 30 middle-income countries observed over the period 1999-2016. The article specifically examines the impact of economic and educational variables on the distribution of students between private and public schools.

The results of the fixed-effects model developed in the first part indicate that private school enrollments are favored by increases in income, economic inequality, urbanization, youth unemployment, wage employment, and school enrollment; they are discouraged by public education expenditures. The cross-sectional regression analysis on regional data in Morocco confirms this trend.

Keywords: private school, public school, panel data

JEL Classification: I21, I22, C23

Paper Type: Empirical Research