TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Haan, Monique de
AU  - Leuven, Edwin
AU  - Oosterbeek, Hessel
        TI  - Scale Economies Can Offset the Benefits of Competition: Evidence from a School Consolidation Reform in a Universal Voucher System
        PY  - 2011/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 5528
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp5528
        AB  - A large school consolidation reform in the Netherlands changed minimum school size rules underlying public funding. The supply of schools decreased by 15 percent, but this varied considerably across municipalities. We find that reducing the number of schools by 10 percent increases pupils' achievement by 3 percent of a standard deviation. A reduction in the supply of schools implies, for a given number of pupils, an increase in average school size. We present evidence that in our context scale economies dominated the effects of choice and competition. This points to an often ignored trade-off between scale and competition.
        KW  - economies of scale
KW  - achievement
KW  - school consolidation
KW  - competition
KW  - school choice
        ER  -