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Education Vouchers: Means Testing Versus Uniformity

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Author Info
John Creedy
Abstract

This paper compares a uniform education voucher system with means-tested scheme in which the voucher is subject to a taper or withdrawal rate as parental gross income increases. Parents are assumed to maximise a utility function which includes their consumption, leisure and the human capital of children. The human capital production function has inputs consisting of parental human capital and expenditure on education. The government faces a budget constraint such that the voucher and a social dividend are financed from a proportional income tax. Alternative combinations of voucher and tax and transfer schemes are evaluated using a social welfare function defined in terms of the utility of parents. It is found that for all combinations of policy variables, a uniform voucher turns out to be optimal. However, if a binding constraint is placed on the maximum tax rate, means-testing, with a low taper, is found to be optimal.

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Paper provided by The University of Melbourne in its series Department of Economics - Working Papers Series with number 978.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: 2006
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Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:978

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  1. repec:cup:macdyn:v:8:y:2004:i:2:p:226-49 is not listed on IDEAS
  2. Bearse, Peter & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B., 2000. "On the political economy of means-tested education vouchers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 904-915, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. 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 813-34, August.
  4. Cardak, Buly A, 1999. "Heterogeneous Preferences, Education Expenditures and Income Distribution," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 75(228), pages 63-76, March.
  5. Helen F. Ladd, 2002. "School Vouchers: A Critical View," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 3-24, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Caucutt, Elizabeth M., 2004. "Evolution Of The Income Distribution And Education Vouchers," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(02), pages 226-249, April. [Downloadable!]
  7. Buly A. Cardak, 2004. "Education choice, neoclassical growth, and class structure," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 643-666, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. West, Edwin G, 1997. "Education Vouchers in Principle and Practice: A Survey," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 83-103, February. [Downloadable!]
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