IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v102y1994i3p566-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Finance of Private Goods: The Case of College Education

Author

Listed:
  • Garratt, Rod
  • Marshall, John M

Abstract

This paper describes a contract theory of public finance of college education that explains why everyone pays for the college education of a lucky minority. The contract provides gambles that families desire. Optimizing the contract determines the taxes paid by all members of society, fees paid by those whose children go to college, the fraction of children who are admitted to college, and the quality of college education. Changes in wealth lead to changes in taxes and admissions but fees and quality are invariant. Using a cutoff level of precollege achievement to determine admission to college is justified by the theory. Copyright 1994 by University of Chicago Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Garratt, Rod & Marshall, John M, 1994. "Public Finance of Private Goods: The Case of College Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(3), pages 566-582, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:102:y:1994:i:3:p:566-82
    DOI: 10.1086/261946
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/261946
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. See http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE for details.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/261946?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Utilitarianism and horizontal equity : The case for random taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-33, June.
    2. Marshall, John M, 1984. "Gambles and the Shadow Price of Death," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(1), pages 73-86, March.
    3. Ng Yew Kwang, 1965. "Why do People Buy Lottery Tickets? Choices Involving Risk and the Indivisibility of Expenditure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73, pages 530-530.
    4. Milton Friedman & L. J. Savage, 1948. "The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56, pages 279-279.
    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. Eric A. Hanushek & Charles Ka Yui Leung & Kuzey Yilmaz, 2014. "Borrowing Constraints, College Aid, and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41.
    2. 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.
    3. Rod Garratt, 2005. "A tale of two cities and a Giffen good," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 49-56, February.
    4. Thomas Gall, 2008. "Lotteries, inequality, and market imperfection: Galor and Zeira go gambling," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 34(2), pages 359-382, February.
    5. Kuzey Yilmaz, 2014. "On the Importance of Fertility Behavior in School Finance Policy Design," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1403, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    6. Hanushek, Eric A. & Leung, Charles Ka Yui & Yilmaz, Kuzey, 2003. "Redistribution through education and other transfer mechanisms," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(8), pages 1719-1750, November.
    7. Yilmaz, Kuzey, 2018. "Quantity–quality trade-off of children and school finance," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 188-203.
    8. Dan Usher, 2002. "Public Provision of Indivisible Private Goods in Short Supply," Public Finance Review, , vol. 30(5), pages 385-415, September.
    9. Carmen Bevia & Inigo Iturbe–Ormaetxe, 2002. "Redistribution and Subsidies for Higher Education," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(2), pages 321-340, June.
    10. Limor Hatsor & Itzhak Zilcha, 2021. "Subsidizing heterogeneous higher education systems," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(2), pages 318-344, April.
    11. Jonathan Pincus, 2000. "Do We Know Federal Treasury Overspends on Undergraduates?," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 277-288.
    12. David Neumark & Harry Holzer, 2000. "Assessing Affirmative Action," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 483-568, September.
    13. Ho, Lok Sang, 1997. "Institutional foundations for a just society," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 627-643.
    14. Viaene, Jean-Marie & Zilcha, Itzhak, 2013. "Public funding of higher education," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 78-89.
    15. Andrade, Eduardo C., 2004. "Quotas in Brazilian Public Universities: Good or Bad Idea?," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 58(4), October.
    16. Yeşilırmak, Muharrem, 2019. "Bonus pay for teachers, spatial sorting, and student achievement," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 129-158.
    17. Michael A. Sadler, 2000. "Escaping Poverty: Risk-Taking and Endogenous Inequality in a Model of Equilibrium Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 704-725, October.
    18. Freeman, Scott, 1996. "Equilibrium Income Inequality among Identical Agents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1047-1064, October.

    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. Michael A. Sadler, 2000. "Escaping Poverty: Risk-Taking and Endogenous Inequality in a Model of Equilibrium Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 704-725, October.
    2. Freeman, Scott, 1996. "Equilibrium Income Inequality among Identical Agents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1047-1064, October.
    3. Brad Taylor, 2013. "Analytic radicalism," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 166-172, June.
    4. Luke Lunhua Mao & James J Zhang & Daniel P Connaughton, 2015. "Determinants of Demand for Sports Lottery: Insights from a Multilevel Model," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(8), pages 973-987, August.
    5. Roger Hartley & Lisa Farrell, 2002. "Can Expected Utility Theory Explain Gambling?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 613-624, June.
    6. Fels, Markus, 2019. "Risk attitudes with state-dependent indivisibilities in consumption," Ruhr Economic Papers 805, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Machina, Mark J, 1982. ""Expected Utility" Analysis without the Independence Axiom," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 277-323, March.
    8. Gong, Xiaodong & Zhu, Rong, 2019. "Cognitive abilities, non-cognitive skills, and gambling behaviors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 51-69.
    9. Cora Barnhart & Gerald P. Dwyer, 2002. "Are stocks in new industries like lottery tickets?," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2002-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    10. Coelho, Philip R. P. & McClure, James E., 1998. "Social context and the utility of wealth: Addressing the Markowitz challenge," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 305-314, November.
    11. Nyman, John A. & Welte, John W. & Dowd, Bryan E., 2008. "Something for nothing: A model of gambling behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2492-2504, December.
    12. Woo-Jin Jung & Seungjun Yang & Hee-Woong Kim, 2020. "Design of sweepstakes-based social media marketing for online customer engagement," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 119-146, March.
    13. Rod Garratt, 2005. "A tale of two cities and a Giffen good," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 49-56, February.
    14. Fels, Markus, 2021. "Why Do People Buy Insurance? A Modern Answer to an Old Question," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242418, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Per Binde, 2005. "Gambling Across Cultures: Mapping Worldwide Occurrence and Learning from Ethnographic Comparison," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1-27, June.
    16. Douglas W. Blackburn & William N. Goetzmann & Andrey D. Ukhov, 2009. "Risk Aversion and Clientele Effects," NBER Working Papers 15333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Rosen, Sherwin, 1997. "Manufactured Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 189-196, April.
    18. Thomas Gall, 2008. "Lotteries, inequality, and market imperfection: Galor and Zeira go gambling," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 34(2), pages 359-382, February.
    19. Gregory G. Brunk, 1981. "A Test of the Friedman-Savage Gambling Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(2), pages 341-348.
    20. W. Wong & R. Chan, 2008. "Prospect and Markowitz stochastic dominance," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 105-129, January.

    More about this item

    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:ucp:jpolec:v:102:y:1994:i:3:p:566-82. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    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.