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Education and social mobility

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  • Helmuth Cremer
  • Philippe Donder
  • Pierre Pestieau

Abstract

This paper shows that the design of education policy involves a potential conflict between welfare and social mobility. We consider a setting in which social mobility is maximized under the least elitist public education system, whereas welfare maximization calls for the most elitist system. We show that when private education is available, the degree of elitism that maximizes social mobility increases, while the welfare-maximizing degree of elitism decreases. The ranking between the welfare- and mobility-maximizing degrees of elitism may even be reversed. Utilitarian welfare is always higher when private supplementary education is available, but social mobility may be reduced.
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Suggested Citation

  • Helmuth Cremer & Philippe Donder & Pierre Pestieau, 2010. "Education and social mobility," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(4), pages 357-377, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:17:y:2010:i:4:p:357-377
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-010-9133-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaokuai Shao, 2021. "Matching under school and home bundling," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 567-611, June.
    2. Yuki Uchida, 2018. "Education, social mobility, and the mismatch of talents," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(3), pages 575-607, May.
    3. Ryota Nakano, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility and Student Loans," ISER Discussion Paper 1248, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    4. Simon Fan & Yu Pang & Pierre Pestieau, 2020. "A model of the optimal allocation of government expenditures," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(4), pages 845-876, August.
    5. Duerrenberger, Nicole & Warning, Susanne, 2018. "Corruption and education in developing countries: The role of public vs. private funding of higher education," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 217-225.
    6. Jennings, Colin, 2015. "Collective choice and individual action: Education policy and social mobility in England," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 288-297.
    7. Yuki Uchida, 2015. "Education, Social Mobility, and Talent Mismatch," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 15-21, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    8. Perelman, Sergio & Pestieau, Pierre & Racionero, Maria, 2023. "Social mobility, education and populism," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2023026, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    9. Arandjelović, Ognjen, 2024. "The Ill-Thought-Through Aim to Eliminate the Education Gap Across the Socio-Economic Spectrum," SocArXiv m9ats, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Elitism; Egalitarianism; Private education; H37;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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