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Does additional spending help urban schools? An evaluation using boundary discontinuities

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Listed:
  • Gibbons, Stephen
  • McNally, Sandra
  • Viarengo, Martina
Abstract
Improvement of educational attainment in schools in urban, disadvantaged areas is an important priority for policy – particularly in countries like England which have a long tail at the bottom of the educational distribution and where there is much concern about low social mobility. An anomaly in the spatial dimension of school funding policy in England allows us to examine the effect of increasing school expenditure for schools in urban areas. This anomaly arises because an ‘area cost adjustment’ is made in how central government allocates funds to Local Authorities (school districts) whereas, in reality, teachers are drawn from the same labour market and are paid according to national pay scales. This is one of the features that give rise to neighbouring schools on either side of a Local Authority boundary being allocated very different resources, even if they have very similar characteristics. We find that these funding disparities give rise to sizeable differences in pupil attainment in national tests at the end of primary school. This finding lends adds to the evidence that school resources have an important role to play in improving educational attainment and has direct policy implications for the current ‘pupil premium’ policy in England.

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  • Gibbons, Stephen & McNally, Sandra & Viarengo, Martina, 2011. "Does additional spending help urban schools? An evaluation using boundary discontinuities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 44676, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:44676
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    1. Four concerns about schools at the top of the election agenda
      by Sandra McNally, Professor in the School of Economics at University of Surrey in The Conversation on 2015-03-24 11:23:12

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    Cited by:

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    3. Ficus Gyasi & Bedu-Addo, P.K.A. (Ph.D), 2023. "Determinants of Test Anxiety Among Undergraduate Students in Ghana," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(1), pages 1281-1288, January.
    4. Jules Gazeaud & Claire Ricard, 2021. "Conditional cash transfers and the learning crisis: evidence from Tayssir scale-up in Morocco," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2102, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    5. Ruth Lupton & Polina Obolenskaya, 2013. "Labour's Record on Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010," CASE - Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 03, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    6. Gordon L. Clark, 2014. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—Financial Literacy in Context," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(1), pages 1-23, January.
    7. Gibbons, Steve & Overman, Henry G. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2015. "Spatial Methods," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 115-168, Elsevier.
    8. Steve Gibbons & Max Nathan & Henry G. Overman, 2014. "Evaluating Spatial Policies," SERC Policy Papers 012, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Eyles, Andrew & Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra, 2017. "Unexpected school reform: Academisation of primary schools in England," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 108-121.
    10. Monique De Haan, 2017. "The Effect of Additional Funds for Low‐ability Pupils: A Non‐parametric Bounds Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(599), pages 177-198, February.
    11. Andrew Eyles & Stephen Gibbons & Piero Montebruno, 2020. "Covid-19 school shutdowns: what will they do to our children's education?," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-001, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Nicolai T. Borgen & Lars J. Kirkebøen & Andreas Kotsadam & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2022. "Do funds for more teachers improve student outcomes?," Discussion Papers 982, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    13. Rabe, Birgitta & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2012. "The effect of school resources on test scores in England," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-13, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Bassey Okon Ebi & Peter Samuel Ubi, 2017. "Education Expenditure and Access to Education: Case Study of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Declaration in Nigeria," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 290-298.
    15. Lee Elliot Major & Stephen Gibbons & Sandra McNally & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2024. "Schools," CEP Election Analysis Papers 064, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. D’Inverno, Giovanna & Smet, Mike & De Witte, Kristof, 2021. "Impact evaluation in a multi-input multi-output setting: Evidence on the effect of additional resources for schools," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(3), pages 1111-1124.
    17. Greaves, Ellen & Sibieta, Luke, 2019. "Constrained optimisation? Teacher salaries, school resources and student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2012. "The Evaluation of English Education Policies," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 219(1), pages 15-25, January.
    19. Machin, Stephen & Wyness, Gill & McNally, Sandra, 2013. "Education in a devolved Scotland: a quantitative analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57971, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Stephen Gibbons & Sandra McNally, 2013. "The Effects of Resources Across School Phases: A Summary of Recent Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp1226, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    21. repec:cep:spccrr:01 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Lupton, Ruth & Hills, John & Stewart, Kitty & Vizard, Polly, 2013. "Labour’s social policy record: policy, spending and outcomes 1997-2010," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51070, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    23. Silliman, Mikko, 2017. "Targeted Funding, Immigrant Background, and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Helsinki's “Positive Discrimination†Policy," Working Papers 91, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    24. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Nikhil Jha, 2016. "Educational Achievement and the Allocation of School Resources," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 49(3), pages 251-271, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    urban schools; education; resources;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • R0 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General

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