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Economies of scale, school violence and the optimal size of schools

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Author Info
J. S. Ferris
E. G. West

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Abstract

This article argues that policy in relation to education has relied too extensively on the more easily measured costs of production to support a common conclusion of economies of scale in school and/or district size. It argues that there are external costs that increase with size but that can be measured less easily that offset this case. This would imply that the tendency within the education profession to advocate ever-larger school sizes is premature at best. To make the case, it models the choice of school size to emphasize that costs, such as school violence, born by both students and their parents but not (necessarily) by education administrators may result in school sizes that are too big from the perspective of school users. The second and third parts of the article introduces evidence to suggest that school violence is one of these external costs.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): 36 (2004)
Issue (Month): 15 (August)
Pages: 1677-1684
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Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:36:y:2004:i:15:p:1677-1684

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kenny, Lawrence W., 1982. "Economies of scale in schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ambrose Leung & J. Stephen Ferris, 2002. "School Size and Youth Violence," Carleton Economic Papers 02-10, Carleton University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Kelly Bedard & William O. Brown, Jr. & Eric Helland, . "School Size and the Distribution of Test Scores," Claremont Colleges Working Papers 1999-11, Claremont Colleges. [Downloadable!]
  4. J. Stephen Ferris & Edwin G. West, 2000. "Education Vouchers, Dropouts, and the Peer Group Problem 1," Carleton Economic Papers 00-05, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2002.
  5. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2000. "Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1209-1238, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Chakraborty, Kalyan & Biswas, Basudeb & Lewis, W Cris, 2000. "Economies of Scale in Public Education: An Econometric Analysis," Contemporary Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 238-47, April.
  7. Murnane, Richard J & Newstead, Stuart & Olsen, Randall J, 1985. "Comparing Public and Private Schools: The Puzzling Role of Selectivity Bias," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(1), pages 23-35, January.
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  1. Ambrose Leung & J. Stephen Ferris, 2002. "School Size and Youth Violence," Carleton Economic Papers 02-10, Carleton University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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