The distribution of educational expenditure in Buenos Aires province, Argentina: Is it equitable?

Abstract

Equity in education is socially desirable because of the relevance of education for the development of people. Therefore, it is interesting to study whether the allocation of spending on education takes into account this aspect. Since the concept of fairness is not univocal, it is necessary to define a position. Here, it is assumed that there is educational equity if equality exists in educational outcomes. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to examine whether the distribution of educational spending among the districts of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is equitable. The hypothesis that it is not, is proposed. The Gini coefficient and an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression are used to verify this hypothesis. It was found that the distribution of funds depends directly on the degree of illiteracy among districts, but also there is evidence that is independent of poverty, dropout rate, percentage of enrollment in the initial levels and the proportion of establishments classified as unfavorable. Then, it is concluded that the educational expenses distribution is not governed, or it is only done very weakly, by the principle of equity in the paper considered. That is, empirical evidence verifies the proposed hypothesis.