Determinants of public education expenditure: evidence from Indian states

Public education expenditure varies significantly across Indianstates. Using data on 16 Indian states from 2001–2010, the paper tries toidentify the determinants of per capita education expenditure of stategovernments in India. The econometric findings indicate that richer statesspend more on education compared to the poorer states. A lower share of childpopulation (0–14 years) is found to significantly enhance education expenditureat the state level. We do not find any evidence that political factors such aspolitical ideology of the ruling party and level of corruption affect educationexpenditure of state governments.