How Can Progressive Vouchers Help the Poor Benefit from School Choice? Evidence from the Chilean Voucher System

This quasi-experimental study by Josefa Aguirre examines the effect of school vouchers on school selection and math and language test scores. The author analyzes whether a Chilean policy in 2008 that increased school vouchers offered to students in the lowest 40% of the income distribution by 50% affected student outcomes using a regression discontinuity approach. Focusing on students who entered Chile's education system in 2012, with the supplemental study of other years, Aguirre finds that reception of a voucher did not significantly increase the quality of schools students entered or students' test scores. 05/2022