School supply constraints and children's educational outcomes in rural Ghana

Studies of school attainment often fail to acknowledge the possibility that prices for all schooling levels affect the decision to attend any one schooling level. In developing countries the assumption that schooling costs are constant throughout the education cycle is manifestly untrue. This paper concentrates on the empirical implications of introducing schooling costs that increase with schooling level. The results suggest that the cost of advanced levels of education influences decisions at the primary-school level. The relative magnitude of the cross-price elasticities suggests that cross-price effects should not be ignored when designing educational user fees.