How Equalizing is Public Spending in Education in Argentina? An Analysis for 2017

Abstract

The aim of this article is to quantify the distributive effect of public spending on education in Argentina, with regard to both the provision of public education and the subsidy for private education.
Using data from the National Ministry of Education and the Permanent Household Survey of 2017, it is analyzed how the distribution of household income is modified by adding the amount corresponding to the public spending on education per student that children and youths who attend public institutions receive in the public sphere, and the amount allocated in subsidies for those who attend subsidized privately run establishments. The application of this expenditure results in a more progressive distribution in the four levels, that is to say, a less unequal distribution than that of incomes without its incorporation. This progressivity is observed when both types of spending are analyzed by educational level –public provision of the service and subsidy to private provision-, both jointly and separately.
In turn, it is observed that the expenditure on the initial, primary and secondary public levels has a progressive and pro-poor effect -that is, the income distribution is more egalitarian than before the provision of these educational levels and, furthermore, this transfer is concentrated among households with lower incomes-, while expenditure on public higher education has a progressive, but not pro-poor, effect.