Over the past two decades, state and federal education policies have tried to hold schools more accountable for educating students by tying rewards and sanctions to test scores and other measurable outcomes. A common criticism of these policies is that they may induce schools to “game the...

This paper examines the impact of vouchers in general and voucher design in particular on public school performance. It argues that all voucher programs are not created equal. There are often fundamental differences in voucher designs that affect public school incentives differently and induce...

This paper analyzes the effect of school vouchers on student sorting — defined as a flight to private schools by high-income and committed public-school students — and whether vouchers can be designed to reduce or eliminate it. Much of the existing literature investigates sorting in cases...