Keefer, PhilipKhemani, Stuti2012-03-192012-03-192011-02-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3697Does radio access improve public service provision? And if so, does it do so by increasing government accountability to citizens, or by persuading households to take advantage of publicly-provided services? Prior research has argued that citizens with greater access to mass media receive greater benefits from targeted government welfare programs, but has not addressed these questions for public services such as in education and health. Using unique data from Benin, this paper finds that literacy rates among school children are higher in villages exposed to signals from a larger number of community radio stations. The effect is identified based on a "natural experiment" in the northern communes of Benin where within-commune variation in village access to radio stations is exogenous to observed and unobserved village characteristics. In contrast to prior research, the authors find that this media effect does not operate through government accountability: government inputs into village schools and household knowledge of government education policies are no different in villages with greater access to community radio. Instead, households with greater access are more likely to make financial investments in the education of their children.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO EDUCATIONADULTSADVERTISEMENTSADVERTISINGBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC EDUCATION SERVICESBASIC SERVICESBOOK PURCHASEBROADCASTBROADCASTERSCITIZENCITIZENSCIVIC SOCIETYCLASSROOMCLASSROOM TEACHINGCLASSROOMSCOMMUNITIESCOMMUNITY ACTIONCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONCOMMUNITY RADIOCOMMUNITY RADIO BROADCASTERSCOMMUNITY RADIO PROGRAMMINGCOMMUNITY RADIO STATIONSCORRUPTIONCREDIBILITYCULTURAL PRACTICESDATA COLLECTIONDATA LIMITATIONSDEMAND FOR EDUCATIONDEMOCRACYDEPRESSIONDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISASTERSDIVORCEE-MAILECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC POLICYEDUCATION DECISIONSEDUCATION INVESTMENTSEDUCATION OUTCOMESEDUCATION POLICIESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMINGELEMENTARY EDUCATIONETHNIC GROUPSEXCLUSIONEXPOSURE TO INFORMATIONFAMILY PLANNINGFERTILITYFINANCIAL INVESTMENTSFINANCIAL SUPPORTFUNCTIONAL LITERACYGENDERGENERAL POPULATIONSGENERAL PUBLICGENOCIDEGOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITYGOVERNMENT POLICIESGOVERNMENT PROGRAMSGOVERNMENT SERVICESGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSGPSHEALTH CENTERSHEALTH EDUCATIONHIGHER EDUCATIONHIGHER LITERACYHIGHER LITERACY RATESHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN DEVELOPMENTIMPORTANT POLICYINCLUSIONINFORMATION CAMPAIGNSINNOVATIONINTERVIEWSINVESTMENT IN CHILDRENINVESTMENTS IN EDUCATIONLABOR MARKETLEARNINGLEARNING OUTCOMESLEGISLATORSLINGUISTIC DIVERSITYLISTENINGLITERACYLITERACY RATESLITERACY TESTLOCAL COMMUNITYLOCAL DEVELOPMENTLOCAL RADIOLOCAL RADIO STATIONSLOCAL SCHOOLSMAJORITY OF CHILDRENMALARIAMARITAL STATUSMASS MEDIAMOBILE PHONEMOBILE PHONESMOBILIZATIONNATIONAL GOVERNMENTNATIONAL POLICYNATIONAL RADIONATURAL DISASTERNETWORKSNUMBER OF ADULTSNUMBER OF CHILDRENNUMBER OF TEXTBOOKSOPEN ACCESSPARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATIONSPARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATIONPARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIESPARTICIPATION IN SCHOOLSPDFPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITYPOLITICAL ACTIONPOLITICAL PARTIESPOLITICAL POWERPOLITICAL SYSTEMSPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATIONPRIMARY SCHOOLINGPRIVATE EDUCATIONPRIVATE INVESTMENTPRIVATE INVESTMENTSPRIVATE SCHOOLPRIVATE SCHOOLSPROGRESSPROVISION OF EDUCATIONPROVISION OF INFORMATIONPUBLIC EDUCATIONPUBLIC HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTH SERVICESPUBLIC POLICIESPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SCHOOLPUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEMPUBLIC SCHOOLSPUBLIC SERVICEPUBLIC SERVICESPUPIL-TEACHER RATIOQUALITY EDUCATIONQUALITY OF EDUCATIONRADIORADIO BROADCASTSRADIO SIGNALSRADIO STATIONRADIOSREADERSREADINGRECONSTRUCTIONREMOTE VILLAGESREPORT CARDSRESPECTRESULTRESULTSRURAL AREASSCHOOL BUILDINGSSCHOOL CHILDRENSCHOOL EDUCATIONSCHOOL FEESCHOOL FEESSCHOOL PERFORMANCESCHOOL QUALITYSCHOOL SUPERVISIONSCHOOL-AGESCHOOL-AGE CHILDRENSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY SCHOOLSERVICE DELIVERYSERVICE PROVISIONSMALL COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONSSOCIAL SERVICESOCIAL SERVICESSOCIETIESSTUDENT LEARNINGSTUDENT PERFORMANCETEACHERTEACHER ABSENTEEISMTEACHER PERFORMANCETEACHER RATIOSTEACHERSTELEVISIONTELEVISION BROADCASTSTELEVISIONSTEXTBOOKTEXTBOOKSTRANSISTORSTRANSMISSIONTVURBAN CENTERURBAN CENTERSVILLAGEVILLAGE LEVELVILLAGE RADIOVILLAGE SCHOOLWEBWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5559