Colombia The PACES voucher program was established by the Colombian government in late 1991. It aimed to assist low-income households by distributing school vouchers to students living in neighborhoods situated in the two lowest socioeconomic strata. Between 1991 and 1997, the PACES program awarded 125,000 vouchers to lower-income secondary school students. Those vouchers were worth about US$190 in 1998, and data shows that matriculation fees and other monthly expenses incurred by voucher students attending private schools averaged about US$340 in 1998, so a majority of voucher recipients supplemented the voucher with personal funds. thumb|Basic School Voucher Utility Maximization Picture The students selected to be in the program were selected by lottery. The vouchers were able to be renewed annually, conditional on students achieving satisfactory academic success as indicated by scheduled grade promotion. The program also included incentives to study harder as well as widening schooling options. Empirical evidence showed that the program had some success. Joshua Angrist shows that after three years into the program, lottery winners were 15 percentage points more likely to attend private school and complete 0.1 more years of schooling, and were about 10 percentage points more likely to have finished the 8th grade. The study also reported that there were larger voucher effects for boys than for girls, especially in mathematics performance. The program did not have a significant impact on dropout rates. Angrist reports that lottery winners scored 0.2 standard deviations higher on standardized tests. The voucher program also reported some social effects. Lottery winners worked less on average than non-lottery winners. Angrist reports that this was correlated with a decreased likelihood to marry or cohabit as teenagers.
colombia the paces voucher program was established by the colombian government in late 1991 it aimed to assist low-income households by distributing school vouchers to students living in neighborhoods situated in the two lowest socioeconomic strata between 1991 and 1997 the paces program awarded 125000 vouchers to lower-income secondary school students those vouchers were worth about us$190 in 1998 and data shows that matriculation fees and other monthly expenses incurred by voucher students attending private schools averaged about us$340 in 1998 so a majority of voucher recipients supplemented the voucher with personal funds thumb|basic school voucher utility maximization picture the students selected to be in the program were selected by lottery the vouchers were able to be renewed annually conditional on students achieving satisfactory academic success as indicated by scheduled grade promotion the program also included incentives to study harder as well as widening schooling options empirical evidence showed that the program had some success joshua angrist shows that after three years into the program lottery winners were 15 percentage points more likely to attend private school and complete 01 more years of schooling and were about 10 percentage points more likely to have finished the 8th grade the study also reported that there were larger voucher effects for boys than for girls especially in mathematics performance the program did not have a significant impact on dropout rates angrist reports that lottery winners scored 02 standard deviations higher on standardized tests the voucher program also reported some social effects lottery winners worked less on average than non-lottery winners angrist reports that this was correlated with a decreased likelihood to marry or cohabit as teenagers