IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5991.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tuition Fees, as User Prices, and Private Incentives

Author

Listed:
  • George Economides
  • Apostolis Philippopoulos
  • Stelios Sakkas

Abstract

This paper studies the aggregate and distributional implications of introducing tuition fees for public education services into a tax system with income and consumption taxes. The setup is a neoclassical growth model where agents differ in capital holdings. We show that the introduction of tuition fees (a) improves individual incentives to work and/or save and (b) can be both efficient and equitable. The focus is on the role of tuition fees as an extra price and how this affects private incentives.

Suggested Citation

  • George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Stelios Sakkas, 2016. "Tuition Fees, as User Prices, and Private Incentives," CESifo Working Paper Series 5991, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5991
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5991.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Diego Comin & Peter Howitt & Isabel Tecu, 2016. "When Does Domestic Savings Matter for Economic Growth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 381-407, August.
    2. Jonathan Heathcote & Fabrizio Perri & Giovanni L. Violante, 2010. "Unequal We Stand: An Empirical Analysis of Economic Inequality in the United States: 1967-2006," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(1), pages 15-51, January.
    3. Lei Fang & Richard Rogerson, 2011. "Product Market Regulation and Market Work: A Benchmark Analysis," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 163-188, April.
    4. Alesina, Alberto & Wacziarg, Romain, 1999. "Is Europe going too far?," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-42, December.
    5. Haupt, Alexander, 2012. "The evolution of public spending on higher education in a democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 557-573.
    6. Heckman, James J. & Jacobs, Bas, 2009. "Policies to Create and Destroy Human Capital in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 4680, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Ingrid Ott & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2006. "Excludable and Non‐excludable Public Inputs: Consequences for Economic Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(292), pages 725-748, November.
    8. Merzyn, Wolfram & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2005. "Voter support for privatizing education: evidence on self-interest and ideology," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 33-58, March.
    9. Epple, Dennis & Romano, Richard, 2014. "On the political economy of educational vouchers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 62-73.
    10. Bergstrom, Ted & Blomquist, Soren, 1996. "The political economy of subsidized day care," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 443-457, November.
    11. Economides, George & Park, Hyun & Philippopoulos, Apostolis, 2011. "How Should The Government Allocate Its Tax Revenues Between Productivity-Enhancing And Utility-Enhancing Public Goods?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 336-364, June.
    12. repec:ces:ifodic:v:7:y:2009:i:4:p:14567055 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2009. "Human Capital Formation in Childhood and Adolescence," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(4), pages 22-28, 01.
    14. Hillman,Arye L., 2009. "Public Finance and Public Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521494267, April.
    15. Bernd Huber & Marco Runkel, 2009. "Tax competition, excludable public goods, and user charges," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(3), pages 321-336, June.
    16. Ireland, Norman J., 1990. "The mix of social and private provision of goods and services," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 201-219, November.
    17. Kurtis J. Swope & Eckhard Janeba, 2005. "Taxes or Fees? The Political Economy of Providing Excludable Public Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(3), pages 405-426, August.
    18. Fraser, Clive D., 1996. "On the provision of excludable public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 111-130, April.
    19. Jorge Soares, 2006. "A dynamic general equilibrium analysis of the political economy of public education," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 367-389, June.
    20. Hanming Fang & Peter Norman, 2014. "Toward an efficiency rationale for the public provision of private goods," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(2), pages 375-408, June.
    21. Boadway, Robin & Marchand, Maurice, 1995. "The Use of Public Expenditures for Redistributive Purposes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 45-59, January.
    22. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2009. "Human Capital Formation in Childhood and Adolescence," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(04), pages 22-28, January.
    23. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2013. "Government Ideology and Tuition Fee Policy: Evidence from the German States," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(4), pages 628-649, December.
    24. Stokey, Nancy L, 1996. "Free Trade, Factor Returns, and Factor Accumulation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 421-447, December.
    25. Nicolas Barr, 2012. "The 2012 Reforms of Higher Education Finance in England," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 10(02), pages 56-64, August.
    26. Blomquist, Soren & Christiansen, Vidar, 1998. "Topping Up or Opting Out? The Optimal Design of Public Provision Schemes," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(2), pages 399-411, May.
    27. Pirttila, Jukka & Tuomala, Matti, 2002. " Publicly Provided Private Goods and Redistribution: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(1), pages 173-188.
    28. Arcalean, Calin & Schiopu, Ioana, 2010. "Public versus private investment and growth in a hierarchical education system," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 604-622, April.
    29. Fuest, Clemens & Kolmar, Martin, 2007. "A theory of user-fee competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 497-509, April.
    30. Gertler, Paul & Locay, Luis & Sanderson, Warren, 1987. "Are user fees regressive? : The welfare implications of health care financing proposals in Peru," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-2), pages 67-88.
    31. Robin Boadway & Maurice Marchand & Motohiro Sato, 1998. "Subsidies versus Public Provision of Private Goods as Instruments for Redistribution," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 545-564, September.
    32. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2012. "Are User Fees Really Regressive?," CESifo Working Paper Series 3875, CESifo.
    33. repec:ces:ifodic:v:10:y:2012:i:2:p:56-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Jorge Soares, "undated". "The Political Economy of Public Education," Working Papers 106, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    35. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2009. "The Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012634, December.
    36. -, 2009. "Economic growth in the Caribbean," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38668, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    37. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    38. Epple, Dennis & Romano, Richard E, 1996. "Public Provision of Private Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 57-84, February.
    39. Sören Blomquist & Vidar Christiansen & Luca Micheletto, 2010. "Public Provision of Private Goods and Nondistortionary Marginal Tax Rates," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-27, May.
    40. Hillman,Arye L., 2009. "Public Finance and Public Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521738057, April.
    41. Kevin J. Lansing, 2011. "Asset pricing with concentrated ownership of capital," Working Paper 2011/18, Norges Bank.
    42. Boadway, Robin & Marchand, Maurice & Sato, Motohiro, 1998. " Subsidies versus Public Provision of Private Goods as Instruments for Redistribution," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 545-564, September.
    43. Blomquist, Suren & Christiansen, Vidar, 1995. " Public Provision of Private Goods as a Redistributive Device in an Optimum Income Tax Model," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 547-567, December.
    44. Ellingsen, Tore & Paltseva, Elena, 2012. "The private provision of excludable public goods: An inefficiency result," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 658-669.
    45. repec:ces:ifodic:v:10:y:2012:i:2:p:18948152 is not listed on IDEAS
    46. James Heckman & Lance Lockner & Christopher Taber, 1999. "Human capital formation and general equilibrium treatment effects: a study of tax and tuition policy," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 20(1), pages 25-40, March.
    47. Ms. Eva Jenkner & Mr. Arye L. Hillman, 2002. "User Payments for Basic Education in Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2002/182, International Monetary Fund.
    48. Bas Jacobs & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2006. "Guide to reform of higher education: a European perspective [‘The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 21(47), pages 536-592.
    49. Nikolaj Malchow‐Møller & Søren Bo Nielsen & Jan Rose Skaksen, 2011. "Taxes, Tuition Fees, and Education for Pleasure," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 13(2), pages 189-215, April.
    50. Nicolas Barr, 2012. "The 2012 Reforms of Higher Education Finance in England," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 10(2), pages 56-62, 08.
    51. Bergstrom, Ted & Blomquist, Soren, 1996. "The political economy of subsidized day care," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 443-457, November.
    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. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2020. "On the Provision of Excludable Public Goods - General Taxes or User Prices?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8724, CESifo.

    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. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2012. "Are User Fees Really Regressive?," CESifo Working Paper Series 3875, CESifo.
    2. Laura Mayoral & Joan Esteban, 2019. "A politico-economic model of public expenditure and income taxation," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 479-507, November.
    3. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2020. "On the Provision of Excludable Public Goods - General Taxes or User Prices?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8724, CESifo.
    4. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay & Joan Esteban, 2007. "Redistributive Taxation and Public Expenditures," Economics Series Working Papers 366, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. Hanming Fang & Peter Norman, 2014. "Toward an efficiency rationale for the public provision of private goods," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(2), pages 375-408, June.
    6. Zanola, Roberto, 2000. "Public goods versus publicly provided private goods in a two-class economy," POLIS Working Papers 12, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    7. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay & Joan Esteban, 2009. "Redistributive Taxation, PublicExpenditure and the Size of Government," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 095, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    8. Sören Blömquist & Vidar Christiansen, 1998. "Price Subsidies Versus Public Provision," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 283-306, July.
    9. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Stylianos Sakkas, 2021. "Redistributive policies in general equilibrium," JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 2021-08, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Sören Blomquist & Vidar Christiansen, 2003. "Is there a Case for Public Provision of Private Goods if Preferences are Heterogeneous? An Example with Day Care," CESifo Working Paper Series 938, CESifo.
    11. Blomquist, Soren & Christiansen, Vidar, 1999. "The political economy of publicly provided private goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 31-54, July.
    12. Angelopoulos, Angelos & Economides, George & Liontos, George & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Sakkas, Stelios, 2022. "Public redistributive policies in general equilibrium: An application to Greece," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    13. George Economides & Dimitris Papageorgiou & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2020. "Macroeconomic Policy Lessons for Greece from the Debt Crisis," CESifo Working Paper Series 8188, CESifo.
    14. Blomquist, Sören & Christiansen, Vidar, 2004. "Welfare Enhancing Marginal Tax Rates: The Case of Publicly Provided Day Care," Arbetsrapport 2004:6, Institute for Futures Studies.
    15. George Economides & Hyun Park & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Stelios Sakkas, 2015. "On the Composition of Public Spending and Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 5510, CESifo.
    16. Sören Blomquist & Vidar Christiansen & Luca Micheletto, 2016. "Public Provision of Private Goods, Self-Selection, and Income Tax Avoidance," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(4), pages 666-692, October.
    17. Blomquist, Soren & Christiansen, Vidar, 1998. "Topping Up or Opting Out? The Optimal Design of Public Provision Schemes," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(2), pages 399-411, May.
    18. Koliousi, Panagiota & Miaouli, Natasha & Philippopoulos, Apostolis, 2017. "Liberalization of product and labor markets: Efficiency and equity implications," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 92-106.
    19. Robin Boadway, 2011. "Viewpoint: Innovations in the theory and practice of redistribution policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 1138-1183, November.
    20. Janet Currie & Firouz Gahvari, 2008. "Transfers in Cash and In-Kind: Theory Meets the Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 333-383, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    user prices; tax mix; efficiency; equity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General

    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:ces:ceswps:_5991. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.