Arthashastra - Indian Journal of Economics and Research, Vol.10, No.1, Jan-March 2021, pp. 8-26. The Differential Effects of the Determinants of Household Education Expenditure in India: Quantile Regression Estimation T.Lakshmanasamy* Affiliation: * Formerly Professor, Department of Econometrics, University of Madras, Chennai - 600 005, Email: tlsamy@yahoo.co.in, Mobile: 9444461751, OrciD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8401-9600 Abstract: Despite substantial government expenditure on education, scholarships and financial aid to students to provide affordable education, the household education expenditure on children is sizable and vary widely on account of gross differences in the socio-economic, demographic, religious and cultural factors. This paper attempts to identify such determinants and analyse the differential effects of the determinants of household education expenditure on children in India using the 2014 NSSO 71 st round survey data applying the quantile regression method. Unlike the standard regression method, the quantile regression method allows estimation beyond the average effects, at different points of the distribution of household expenditure on education. The quantile regression estimates reveal that low-income households are more sensitive to changes in household income and government programmes than upper-income households. The proportion of household income spent on the education of children increases more in the lower quantiles than in the higher quantiles. Gender bias exists at the lower quantiles and is considerably less at the higher quantiles. The SC/ST households spend less than the non-SC/ST communities at the lower quantiles and the difference gets reduced at higher quantiles. Compared to scholarships, the provision of educational materials has a higher impact on household education expenditure. More children from lower quantiles attend government institutions and a substantial difference exists in household education expenditure between the students attending government and private educational institutions. Despite government policies and programmes for affordable education, the lower-income households still incur a considerable proportion of their income on the education of their children. Keywords: Household education expenditure, socioeconomic determinants, differential effects, gender bias, quantile regression JEL Classification: B23, C21, C31, C61, H52, I22