IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/19493.html

Are education subsides an efficient redistributive device?

Author

Listed:
  • Dur, Robert
  • Teulings, Coen

Abstract

We argue that promoting education may be a means to reduceincome inequality. When workers of different skill levels areimperfect substitutes in production, an increase in the level ofhuman capital in the economy reduces the return to education.Hence, a given compression of after-tax incomes can be achievedat lower marginal tax rates. Optimal redistribution policy faces atrade-off between the distortions of taxes on effort and the distortionsof education subsidies on the investment in human capital.We discuss empirical evidence on three crucial elasticities. Ourargument explains the actual pattern of education subsidies inOECD countries quite well.However, there is an offsetting effect. When education andability are complements, high ability types take up more education.A subsidy to education will then favor these types. Wediscuss the condition for the net effect of education subsidies tobe progressive. The empirical evidence suggest that this conditionis critical for a simple education subsidy. We consider somemore elaborate schemes for education subsidies.This discussion paper has resulted in ch. 4 of 'Labor Market Institutions and Public Regulation' , pp. 123-61, (Jonas Agell, Michael Keen, Alfons Weichenrieder (eds.)), 2004, MIT Press, 228 p.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Dur, Robert & Teulings, Coen, 2003. "Are education subsides an efficient redistributive device?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19493, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:19493
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/19493/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bas Jacobs, 2013. "Optimal redistributive tax and education policies in general equilibrium," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(2), pages 312-337, April.
    2. Salvatore Barbaro, 2004. "Tax Distortion, Countervailing Subsidies and Income Redistribution," Departmental Discussion Papers 121, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    3. Ujjaini Mukhopadhyay, 2021. "Differential Education Subsidy Policy and Wage Inequality Between Skilled, Semi-skilled and Unskilled Labour: A General Equilibrium Approach," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 26(1), pages 40-62, June.
    4. von Greiff, Camilo, 2007. "Enrollment in higher education, ability and growth," Research Papers in Economics 2007:10, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    5. Chaitali Sinha, 2014. "Human Capital and Public Policy," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 3(1), pages 79-125, June.
    6. Dur, Robert & Glazer, Amihai, 2008. "Subsidizing Enjoyable Education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 1023-1039, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    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:ehl:lserod:19493. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.