Effect of Public Education Expenditure on Selected Primary Education Outcomes in Sub-Saharan African

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of public education spending on primary education outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We use two primary education outcomes, namely: the net enrolment rate (NER) and persistence to the last grade of primary education (PLG). Employing the random effects estimation method for a panel of 18 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2012, we find that public education expenditure exerts positive significant effects on both the NER and the PLG. The results suggest that schooling for all is attainable if governments in SSA are willing to give public expenditures on primary education a priority