Institutional Change and the Expansion of Public Schooling: Evidence from the U.S. Colonization of Puerto Rico, 1898-1920

Gustavo J. Bobonis

Institutional Change and the Expansion of Public Schooling: Evidence from the U.S. Colonization of Puerto Rico, 1898-1920 makes use of Puerto Rico’s colonial experience under the United States during the early 20th century as a case study to investigate the relationship between democratization, governance institutions, and the emergence of public schooling in Latin America and the Caribbean.The experience of municipal governments in Puerto Rico during the early period of U.S. colonial rule (1898-1920) provides a unique set of circumstances to examine these relationships. By the end of the 19th century, municipalities across the Island had substantially diverged in terms of their de facto political and governance institutions, as well as in the degree of development of their public primary schools systems, mimicking the trajectories experienced across regions of the American continent. Following the transfer of colonial power in 1899, U.S. authorities introduced relatively egalitarian political, governance, and educational institutions—de jure American local institutions—across all municipalities in the Island. This project will study the extent to which these institutional changes impinged on jurisdictions which had mimicked the cross-continental experience throughout the 19th century. Using unique data on individual outcomes and municipal governments’ activities, such as the 1910 and 1920 Population Census Public-Use Micro Samples and administrative data on the organization and administration of local governments, I will examine whether these institutional changes helped close existing gaps in public school provision, primary school enrollment, and literacy rates across jurisdictions with varying degrees of political and economic inequality. The study will provide clear evidence regarding the roles played by political and governance institutions in explaining why the development of formal educational systems in Latin America and the Caribbean fell behind during the post-colonial period.

About Gustavo J. Bobonis

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