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Why did Education Become Publicly Funded? Evidence from the Nineteenth-Century Growth of Public Primary Schooling in the United States

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  • Stoddard, Christiana

Abstract

Why do voters publicly fund education? I examine two explanations: public funds may be a means for decisive voters to transfer wealth to themselves or voters may subsidize the education of others to raise social education levels and realize external benefits. I test these theories in the 1800s, when full tax support of primary schools emerged. States where median and mean wealth was closer together had higher fractions of education revenue from public sources. Attendance rates rose when the public share of education funding rose, especially for poor children. These facts are consistent with a model with external benefits of education.

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  • Stoddard, Christiana, 2009. "Why did Education Become Publicly Funded? Evidence from the Nineteenth-Century Growth of Public Primary Schooling in the United States," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 172-201, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:69:y:2009:i:01:p:172-201_00
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    Cited by:

    1. David Mitch, 2010. "Did high stakes testing policies result in divergence or convergence in educational performance and financing across counties in Victorian England?," Working Papers 10011, Economic History Society.
    2. 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.
    3. Vollrath, Dietrich, 2013. "Inequality and school funding in the rural United States, 1890," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 267-284.
    4. Andersson, Jens & Berger, Thor, 2016. "Elites and the Expansion of Education in 19th-century Sweden," Lund Papers in Economic History 149, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    5. David Mitch, 2012. "Landed society, farm size and support for public schooling in 19th-century England," Working Papers 12014, Economic History Society.

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