IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cde/cdewps/216.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What Do Teachers Do? Teacher Quality Vis-a-vis Teacher Quantity in a Model of Public Education and Growth

Author

Listed:
  • MAUSUMI DAS

    (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India)

  • SUBRATA GUHA

    (Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi 110067)

Abstract

This paper analyses the contribution of teachers in a public education system and its implication for growth. We focus exclusively on two teacher-specific inputs (teacher quality and teacher quantity), and two student-specific inputs (ability and effort). We argue that all these factors enter separately in the education technology and therefore have differential impact of the process of human capital formation. In a public educa- tion system where teachers remunerations are paid by the government and financed by taxation, for any given amount of government revenue, there exists a trade-o¤ between teacher quality and teacher quantity. At the same time, the imposed tax rate has an impact on the export choice of an agent. Thus human capital formation and growth in the model depends on a complex interaction between teacher quality, teacher quantity, student ability and student effort. In this context we discuss the optimal education policy as well the optimal taxation policy of the government.

Suggested Citation

  • Mausumi Das & Subrata Guha, 2012. "What Do Teachers Do? Teacher Quality Vis-a-vis Teacher Quantity in a Model of Public Education and Growth," Working papers 216, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cde:cdewps:216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cdedse.org/pdf/work216.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2007. "The role of education quality for economic growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4122, The World Bank.
    2. Jean‐Marie Viaene & Itzhak Zilcha, 2009. "Human Capital and Inequality Dynamics: The Role of Education Technology," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(304), pages 760-778, October.
    3. Andrew Leigh & Chris Ryan, 2006. "How and Why has Teacher Quality Changed in Australia?," CEPR Discussion Papers 534, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    4. Benabou, Roland, 1996. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure and School Finance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 584-609, June.
    5. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    6. Boldrin, Michele, 2005. "Public education and capital accumulation," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 85-109, June.
    7. Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1, June.
    8. Blankenau, William F. & Simpson, Nicole B., 2004. "Public education expenditures and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 583-605, April.
    9. Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay, and Student Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 175-214.
    10. Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 1992. "Public versus Private Investment in Human Capital Endogenous Growth and Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 818-834, August.
    11. Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2, June.
    12. Robert Tamura, 2001. "Teachers, Growth, and Convergence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 1021-1059, October.
    13. Figlio, David N., 1997. "Teacher salaries and teacher quality," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 267-271, August.
    14. Gerhard Glomm & B. Ravikumar, 2001. "Human capital accumulation and endogenous public expenditures," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(3), pages 807-826, August.
    15. Zhang, Jie, 1996. " Optimal Public Investments in Education and Endogenous Growth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(3), pages 387-404.
    16. Caroline M. Hoxby & Andrew Leigh, 2004. "Pulled Away or Pushed Out? Explaining the Decline of Teacher Aptitude in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 236-240, May.
    17. Gerhard Glomm & B. Ravikumar, 1998. "Flat-Rate Taxes, Government Spending on Education, and Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 1(1), pages 306-325, January.
    18. Andrew Leigh & Chris Ryan, 2008. "How and Why Has Teacher Quality Changed in Australia?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 41(2), pages 141-159, June.
    19. Dale Ballou & Michael Podgursky, 1995. "Recruiting Smarter Teachers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(2), pages 326-338.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Swati Saini & Meeta Keswani Mehra, "undated". "Quality of Schooling: Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff, Technological Progress and Economic Growth," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 18-06, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leigh, Andrew, 2012. "Teacher pay and teacher aptitude," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 41-53.
    2. Hatsor, Limor, 2012. "Occupational choice: Teacher quality versus teacher quantity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 608-623.
    3. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 2012. "Infrastructure, Public Education And Growth With Congestion Costs," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 449-469, October.
    4. Li, Bei & Zhang, Jie, 2015. "Efficient education subsidization and the pay-as-you-use principle," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 41-50.
    5. Nikos Benos, 2005. "Education Systems, Growth and Welfare," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 5-2005, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    6. Grönqvist, Erik & Vlachos, Jonas, 2008. "One size fits all? The effects of teacher cognitive and non-cognitive abilities on student achievement," Working Paper Series 2008:25, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    7. Blankenau, William F. & Simpson, Nicole B., 2004. "Public education expenditures and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 583-605, April.
    8. Adrien Montalbo, 2019. "Education and economic development. The influence of primary schooling on municipalities in nineteenth-century France," Working Papers halshs-02286126, HAL.
    9. Johnston, Andrew C., 2021. "Preferences, Selection, and the Structure of Teacher Pay," IZA Discussion Papers 14831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Grönqvist, Erik & Vlachos, Jonas, 2008. "One Size Fits All? The Effects of Teacher Cognitive and Non-cognitive Abilities on Student," Working Paper Series 779, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. Carmen CAMACHO & I-Ling SHEN, 2010. "Public Education for the Children Left Behind," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2010006, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    12. McDonald, Stuart & Zhang, Jie, 2012. "Income Inequality And Economic Growth With Altruistic Bequests And Human Capital Investment," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(S3), pages 331-354, November.
    13. Churchill, Sefa Awawoyi & Yew, Siew Ling & Ugur, Mehmet, 2015. "Effects of government education and health expenditures on economic growth: a meta-analysis," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 14072, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    14. Lisa Grazzini, 2016. "The Importance of the Quality of Education: Some Determinants and its Effects on Earning Returns and Economic Growth," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 43-82.
    15. Leigh, Andrew, 2010. "Estimating teacher effectiveness from two-year changes in students' test scores," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 480-488, June.
    16. Salwa Trabelsi, 2017. "Mixed, Private And Public Educational Financing Regimes, Economic Growth And Income Inequality," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 62(212), pages 43-62, January -.
    17. Salwa TRABELSI, 2017. "Public education expenditure and economic growth: the educational quality threshold effect," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 45, pages 99-112.
    18. Nikos Benos, 2004. "Education Policies and Economic Growth," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 4-2004, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    19. Sander Gerritsen & Erik Plug & Dinand Webbink, 2014. "Teacher quality and student achievement: Evidence from a Dutch sample of twins," CPB Discussion Paper 294, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Adrien Montalbo, 2019. "Education and economic development. The influence of primary schooling on municipalities in nineteenth-century France," PSE Working Papers halshs-02286126, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Education; Quality of Education; Growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cde:cdewps:216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sanjeev Sharma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cdudein.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.