Public Services and the Poor in Laos

Both cross sectional and panel methods of analysis for Laos confirm that for public education and health services, the poorest quintile groups receive the smallest shares of total provision of these services. Nevertheless, poor groups’ shares of an increase in the level of provision—their marginal shares—are generally higher than these average shares. For primary and lower secondary education and for primary health centers, expanding the overall level of provision delivers a pattern of marginal effects that is significantly more pro-poor than average shares indicate and the degree to which the poor benefit increases with the level of provision.