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Market and public provision in the presence of human capital externalities

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  • De Fraja, Gianni

Abstract

For many goods and services, such as health, education, legal services, police protection, the cost incurred by an individual supplier for providing quality is affected by the human capital of her colleagues. The paper shows that this human capital externality is crucial to determine whether such goods and services should be privately or publicly provided. Public and private provisions give individuals different incentives to acquire human capital, and the paper shows that either may be socially preferable, depending on the nature of the human capital externality: private provision of the final goods and services gives stronger incentives to human capital acquisition (and may therefore be socially preferable) if own human capital and one's colleagues' human capital are substitutes, and if suppliers with high human capital benefit more than suppliers with low human capital from their colleagues' human capital, but not excessively so.

Suggested Citation

  • De Fraja, Gianni, 2008. "Market and public provision in the presence of human capital externalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 962-985, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:92:y:2008:i:5-6:p:962-985
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    Cited by:

    1. Blomquist Glenn C. & Troske Kenneth R. & Coomes Paul A. & Jepsen Christopher & Koford Brandon C., 2014. "Estimating the social value of higher education: willingness to pay for community and technical colleges," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-39, January.
    2. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Kumar Dwibedi, Jayanta & Biswas, Anindya, 2017. "Subsidizing healthcare in the presence of market distortions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 539-552.
    3. Gianni De Fraja & Paola Valbonesi, 2009. "Mixed Oligopoly: Old and New," Discussion Papers in Economics 09/20, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    4. Arup Bose & Debashis Pal & David E. M. Sappington, 2014. "The impact of public ownership in the lending sector," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 1282-1311, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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