Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Rationalizing School Spending: Efficiency, Externalities, and Equity, and Their Connection to Rising Costs

In: Individual and Social Responsibility: Child Care, Education, Medical Care, and Long-Term Care in America

Contents:

Author Info

  • Eric A. Hanushek

Abstract

The analytical base for much of the current education discussion is built on school attainment simple years of school completed. This choice is convenient for both theoretical and empirical discussions and is undeniably useful in many contexts. Nevertheless, the central focus of current policy deliberation is quality of schooling, not quantity, and the arguments and analysis pertaining to quantity do not readily transfer to quality. The central thesis of this paper is straightforward. Much of the policy discussion about education is built on a poor understanding of the underlying structure of education and schools, but the ambiguities and uncertainties lead to systematic biases toward increased spending on schools. Evidence on high rates of return to investment in quantity of schooling are translated into increased spending aimed at improving quality, yet with little assurance of actual improvement. Similarly, concerns about equity and about externalities from schooling push spending up without satisfying these objectives. A related issue, addressed at the end of the paper, is how citizens view spending in the context of their local districts. Preliminary analysis of voting on school budgets in New York State suggests no systematic relationship between performance of schools (measured in terms of student achievement) and willingness to support proposed budgets.

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c6559.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

as in new window

This chapter was published in:

  • Victor R. Fuchs, 1996. "Individual and Social Responsibility: Child Care, Education, Medical Care, and Long-Term Care in America," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fuch96-1, October.
    This item is provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Chapters with number 6559.

    Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:6559

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
    Phone: 617-868-3900
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.nber.org
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords:

    Other versions of this item:

    References

    No references listed on IDEAS
    You can help add them by filling out this form.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as in new window

    Cited by:
    1. Hanushek, Eric A. & Leung, Charles Ka Yui & Yilmaz, Kuzey, 2003. "Redistribution through education and other transfer mechanisms," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(8), pages 1719-1750, November.
    2. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State Versus Private Ownership," NBER Working Papers 6665, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:6559

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.