(November 2011 , with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja) Forthcoming, Journal Of Human Resources, Fall 2012
Do Value Added Estimates Add Value? Accounting for Learning Dynamics,
(Joint with J. Das, A. Khwaja, Harvard; and T. Zajonc) American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2011, 3(3): 29–54
The Madrassa Controversy: The Story Does Not Fit The Facts
(June 2011 , with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja) Fothcoming, Shahzad Bashir and Robert Crews, ed. Under the Drones: Modern Lives in Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands, Harvard University Press.
(April 2011 , with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
(December 2010, with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
In Aid We Trust: Hearts and Minds and the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005
(September 2010, with Jishnu Das, The World Bank)
Media Coverage of the Paper
The Dawn, Pakistan, October 31, 2010
The Christian Science Monitor,September 22, 2010
Associated Press/Washington Post, September 7, 2010
The Daily Times, Pakistan , September 7, 2010
Railways and Price Convergence in British India , The Journal of Economic History (2010), 70: 351-377 Cambridge University Press (Joint with M. Kuehlwein, Pomona)
Schooling of Last Resort: Madrassas, Private or Public Schools, March 2010
(Joint with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
Report Cards: the Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets
(Joint with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
A Dime a Day: The Possibilities and Limits of Private Schooling in Pakistan , Comparative Education Review, vol. 52, no. 3, August 2008.
(Joint with Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data Comparative Education Review, Vol, 50, No. 3, August 2006.
(Joint with Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Tristan Zajonc)
Winner of the George Bereday Award for outstanding article published in the CER for the year 2006
News Coverage of the Paper
The Economist, May 19, 2005, (scanned pdf)
Foreign Policy InBox, May /June 2005
Madrassa Metrics: The Statistics and Rhetoric of Religious Enrollment in Pakistan.
(Joint with Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Tristan Zajonc)
Forthcoming in Beyond Crisis: A Critical Second Look at Pakistan, Routledge.
Subcontractors for Tractors: Theory and Evidence on Flexible Specialization, Supplier Selection, and Contracting, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 79, Issue 2, (April 2006).
(Joint with M aitreesh Ghatak and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
Students Today, Teachers Tomorrow? The Rise of Affordable Private Schools
(Joint with Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja)
Reports
April 2008
Test Feasibility Survey
PAKISTAN: Education Sector
(Joint with J. Das, WB and A. Khwaja, Harvard)
This report presents a feasibility study conducted for testing educational achievement of primary school children and is aimed at building the needed knowledge and capacities to conduct more extensive educational testing. We first summarize previous assessments of primary education undertaken in Pakistan over the past two decades and then detail the justification behind conducting the present study. We then provide an overview of the assessment instrument, discussing both the test design and content and also cover the procedural and implementation issues faced during the administration of the test instrument and a diverse range of concerns related the interpretation of the results. Finally, we presents a detailed assessment of the testing instrument using methods derived from Item-Response Theory to examine the validity of each question (henceforth item) as well as the precision of the test taken in it's entirety. We conclude by outlining the kinds of results that can be studied with such a testing exercise. However, we strongly caution against the use of the results presented here for drawing any conclusions about learning outcomes in Pakistani schools given the non-random nature of the sample and the small sample size of 245 test takers. Thus, this report serves as a composite review and test validation base for future assessment work in Pakistan.
The Rise of Private Schooling in Pakistan: Catering to the Urban Elite or Educating the Rural Poor?
(Joint with J. Das, WB and A. Khwaja, Harvard)
Using a new census of private educational institutions in Pakistan together with the population census, we present evidence that private schooling, particularly at the primary level is indeed a large and increasingly important factor in education in Pakistan both in absolute terms and relative to public schooling. While the rural-urban gap still remains, the growth trends showed a marked improvement in rural areas. Contrary to expectations, private schools are not an urban elite phenomenon. Not only are they prevalent in rural areas but also are affordable to middle and even low income groups. Private schools have lower student-teacher ratios than public schools and while teachers were largely untrained and less experienced, their education level matched those in public schools. Fees respond in predictable ways to measured school inputs, suggesting that parents can infer quality variation between schools. Private schools are mainly coeducational, have a high percentage of girls' enrollment and a majority of the teachers are females. Looking at just the rural areas at the patwar circle level, we find that those areas that have a greater supply of educated women are able to respond very effectively to the growing demand for education by formation of schools and by increased enrollment.
Report Cards: How a Developing Country Educational Market Reacts to Exogenous Information
(Joint with A.Khwaja, Harvard, and J.Das, DECRG World Bank)
What Do Educated Mothers Do Differently? Evidence from a Developing Country
(Joint with A.Khwaja, Harvard, and J.Das, DECRG World Bank)
How Effective are Parent-Teacher School Councils? Experimental Evidence from a Developing Country
(Joint with A.Khwaja, Harvard, and J.Das, DECRG World Bank)
Information and Choices: Parental School Choice in Rural Pakistan
(Joint with A.Khwaja, Harvard, J.Das, DECRG World Bank, and J. Montalvo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Does School Type Matter? Learning Differences between Private and Public Schools in Rural Pakistan
(Joint with A.Khwaja, Harvard, and J.Das, DECRG World Bank)