Examining pro-equity redesigns of educational quasi-markets: a mechanism-based approach to their effects

The redesign of educational quasi-market instruments has been gaining traction in response to the negative equity impacts of these policies, with various educational systems introducing adjustments in the design of school-choice schemes and subsidies for private schools. However, the capacity of such policy calibrations to address inequalities remains open to question. This paper develops an analytical framework to understand the effects of redesign initiatives and inform policy action. Drawing on a mechanism-based approach to policy design, we propose and apply a theoretically-driven framework situating the causality between policy problems, instrument design and outcomes at the centre of the analysis. Examining the recent wave of redesign reforms, the paper demonstrates that the equity-enhancing potential of calibrations can be assessed based on their capacity to disrupt the mechanisms connecting quasi-market instruments with educational inequalities. It also finds that some mechanisms prove particularly challenging to affect, inviting reflection on the limits of redesign.