Can Unconditional Teacher Salary Increases Improve Education Quality? Evidence from the Dominican Republic

Within low-and-middle-income countries, there is a large and growing body of literature that shows that teacher performance pay is effective at improving student outcomes; however, evidence on the effects of unconditional teacher pay raises is scarce and mixed. Using a recent increase in the salaries of teachers in the Dominican Republic, I study whether unconditional pay raises can change 1) the composition of individuals in the teaching profession, and 2) the quality of education in a country.