Albert Hirschman's Exit-voice Framework and its Relevance to Problems of Public Education Performance in Latin America

This paper applies Albert Hirschman's exit-voice framework to the problems of education coverage and quality in Latin America. It argues that the combination of low direct taxation and high levels of private primary enrolment provides exit options for the wealthy and reduces their incentive to exercise their “voice”, or protest mechanisms, in the face of poor education performance. It also argues that fragmented and clientelist political party structures limit the provision and monitoring of public education, and also reduce the political capacity of the poor to exercise their voice regarding public education coverage and quality. The main policy implication of the paper is that good governance in education cannot realistically be addressed without analysing how the structure of power and voice, and of conflicts of interest within civil society, affect the actual political pressures that state institutions face.