Essays in education, gender, and political economy
Valenzuela Ramirez, Irina
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122146
Description
Title
Essays in education, gender, and political economy
Author(s)
Valenzuela Ramirez, Irina
Issue Date
2023-11-29
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Powers, Elizabeth
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Powers, Elizabeth
Committee Member(s)
Thornton, Rebecca
Borgschulte, Mark
Garin, Andrew
Department of Study
Economics
Discipline
Economics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Monitoring
Teachers
Peru
Early Childhood
Gender Gap
Africa
Corruption
Trust
Abstract
This dissertation contains three chapters that study topics on education, gender, and political economy. The first chapter studies the impact on student achievement of a nationwide monitoring program implemented in Peruvian public schools in 2015. Using standardized test scores in reading and math from 2010 to 2015, I perform a difference-in-difference analysis to show that, after the first year of the program, reading and math z-scores and the proportion of students at satisfactory levels exhibit an increase. This improvement in learning outcomes is primarily attributed to the schools that underwent high-intensity monitoring, involving two or more visits. The second chapter documents gender disparities favoring girls over boys at early ages. We use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys across 25 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2011 to 2019 and compare mothers’ reports of preschool readiness skills of boys and girls ages 3–4. We find that girls are 2 percentage points more likely to both identify ten letters of the alphabet and identify the first ten numbers, while we find no difference in reading four words. We also find that girls are more likely to attend early childhood education programs and be engaged in parent-child interactions at home. Both early childhood education and home stimulation activities are positively related to early literacy and numeracy skills with early childhood education having a stronger effect for girls compared to boys. Mother's literacy has a positive effect on their children's outcomes, with a greater magnitude for girls than boys. The third chapter investigates the impact of political corruption on individuals’ attitudes toward political institutions and democracy. I address this question within the Peruvian context by leveraging the corruption shock triggered by the Odebrecht case, which exposed the involvement of high-ranking politicians in corrupt practices during the tendering process for major infrastructure projects. Utilizing household survey data collected during the unexpected Odebrecht scandal, I follow a quasi-experimental approach. The results indicate a significant decline in people's confidence in various political institutions and the democratic system after the revelation of government officials' corruption. These findings align with the prevailing perception of an increase in corruption following the scandal.
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