Educational Production Functions for Rural Pakistan:

A Comparative Institutional Analysis

 

Shahrukh Rafi Khan and David Kiefer

 

forthcoming 2007 Education Economics

 

            This study uses a production function approach to identify the impact of student, parent, teacher, and school policy variables on student performance on comprehension and math tests. Our statistical analysis is conducted in a comparative institutional context that includes government, private, and NGO schools. This study also adds to the literature by accounting for field observations of “school intangibles,” along with more objective indicators of educational inputs. We find that intangibles do contribute to student performance, and that, at least in the Pakistani context, NGO schools are more effective than government schools.