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Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?

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  • Bearse, Peter
  • Cardak, Buly/A
  • Glomm, Gerhard
  • Ravikumar, B

Abstract

We compare a uniform voucher regime against the status quo mix of public and private education, focusing on the distribtuion of welfare gains and losses across households by income. We argue that the topping-up option available under uniform vouchers is not su¢ ciently valuable for the poorer households, so the voucher regime is defeated at the polls. Our result depends critically on the opting-out feature in the current system.

Suggested Citation

  • Bearse, Peter & Cardak, Buly/A & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 2009. "Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?," MPRA Paper 34131, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:34131
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tanaka, Ryuichi & Farre, Lidia & Ortega, Francesc, 2018. "Immigration, assimilation, and the future of public education," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 141-165.
    3. Bearse, Peter & Cardak, Buly A. & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B., 2013. "Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 26-37.
    4. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Maennig, Wolfgang & Mueller, Steffen Q., 2022. "The generation gap in direct democracy: Age vs. cohort effects," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Xiaoxiao Li & Wen Mao & Peter A. Zaleski & Catherine Kenny, 2023. "The Ends Against the Middle: The Case of Municipal Golf," Public Finance Review, , vol. 51(3), pages 339-367, May.
    6. Cardak, Buly A. & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B., 2020. "Majority voting in a model of means testing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. Neil Buckley & Katherine Cuff & Jeremiah Hurley & Stuart Mestelman & Stephanie Thomas & David Cameron, 2014. "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Public Provision of a Private Good with an Exit Option," Department of Economics Working Papers 2014-01, McMaster University.
    8. Andrew A. Samwick, 2013. "Donating the Voucher: An Alternative Tax Treatment of Private School Enrollment," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 125-160.
    9. Yeşilırmak, Muharrem, 2016. "A quantitative analysis of Turkish Private Education Reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 76-88.
    10. Buckley, Neil & Cuff, Katherine & Hurley, Jeremiah & Mestelman, Stuart & Thomas, Stephanie & Cameron, David, 2015. "Support for public provision of a private good with top-up and opt-out: A controlled laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 177-196.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    vouchers; political economy; opting out; education finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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