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Product Differentiation and Public Education

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  • William H. Hoyt

    (University of Kentucky)

  • Richard A. Jensen

    (University of Kentucky)

Abstract

Beginning with Tiebout (1956), numerous studies have argued that we should expect to see differences in public services among localities as a result of people "voting with their feet". Here, we consider differentiation in public services as a way of reducing competition among localities (cities). If cities finance their public services with a property tax that generates "tax competition", we find that adoption of quality differentiation in the public services will change the amount of services provided. If the cities maximize property values, this means a reduction in the level of public services provided for both the city that provides high quality as well as with low quality. The reduction in public services in both cities means that under certain conditions property values in both cities can increase. Thus in a two-stage game of adoption, we can observe quality differentiation in the services when the property tax is used. This is in sharp contrast to the case with a head tax in which we should never observe this type of differentiation. We believe quality differentiation might be particularly relevant to the provision of primary and secondary education. We argue that the extent of the differentiation in the quality and type of educational services provided among school districts might be in part a response to the detrimental effects of tax competition rather than entirely a "Tiebout- like" response to differences in tastes.

Suggested Citation

  • William H. Hoyt & Richard A. Jensen, 1997. "Product Differentiation and Public Education," Public Economics 9704001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:9704001
    Note: Type of Document - Binary Word for Windows (V.6/7) document; prepared on IBM PC Compat.; to print on HP LaserJet; pages: 29 .
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Abdessalam, A. H., 2014. "Tax competition and the determination of the quality of public goods," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-20.
    2. Alexander Haupt & Tim Krieger & Thomas Lange, 2011. "Competition for the International Pool of Talent: Education Policy and Student Mobility," Working Papers CIE 35, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    3. Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2008. "Public good differentiation and the intensity of tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1105-1121, June.
    4. Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2005. "Relaxing Tax Competition through Public Good Differentation," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 737, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    5. Alexander Haupt & Tim Krieger & Thomas Lange, 2016. "Competition for the international pool of talent," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1113-1154, October.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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