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The Distributional Impact of Subsidies to Higher Education - Empirical Evidence from Germany

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  • Salvatore Barbaro

Abstract

This paper presents empirical evidence on the distributional effect of public higher education through analysis of a cross-sectional view of West Germany in 1997. In contrast to a widely held hypothesis in economics, our findings do not show evidence for a regressive effect. The use of a net-transfer calculation clearly indicates a progressive distributional effect of the benefits from subsidization at least when viewed in the cross-sectional perspective. The decisive factors are (1) the general social stratification within and among the adjusted income deciles and (2) the incidence of the granted benefits. Complementary to the existing widespread literature in this field, we propose the BCa bootstrap procedure in order to perform statisctical inference.

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  • Salvatore Barbaro, 2002. "The Distributional Impact of Subsidies to Higher Education - Empirical Evidence from Germany," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 59(4), pages 458-478, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(2002/200312)59:4_458:tdiost_2.0.tx_2-l
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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Cigno & Annalisa Luporini, 2009. "Scholarships or Student Loans? Subsidizing Higher Education in the Presence of Moral Hazard," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 11(1), pages 55-87, February.
    2. Salvatore Barbaro, 2002. "The Distributional Impact of Subsidies to Higher Education - Empirical Evidence from Germany," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 59(4), pages 458-478, December.
    3. Corinna Ahlfeld, 2009. "The scapegoat of heterogeneity - How fragmentation influences political decisionmaking," Departmental Discussion Papers 143, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. Silvia Rocha-Akis & Jürgen Bierbaumer-Polly & Martina Einsiedl & Alois Guger & Michael Klien & Thomas Leoni & Hedwig Lutz & Christine Mayrhuber, 2016. "Umverteilung durch den Staat in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58820.
    5. Salvatore Barbaro, 2004. "Tax Distortion, Countervailing Subsidies and Income Redistribution," Departmental Discussion Papers 121, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    6. Sascha Wolff, 2006. "Migration und ihre Determinanten im ost-westdeutschen Kontext nach der Wiedervereinigung: Ein Literaturüberblick," Departmental Discussion Papers 130, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    7. Jens Suedekum, 2006. "Concentration and Specialization Trends in Germany since Re-unification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(8), pages 861-873.
    8. Frank Kupferschmidt & Berthold U. Wigger, 2006. "Öffentliche versus private Finanzierung der Hochschulbildung: Effizienz‐ und Verteilungsaspekte," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7(2), pages 285-307, May.
    9. Thies Büttner & Robert Schwager, 2003. "Regionale Verteilungseffekte der Hochschulfinanzierung und ihre Konsequenzen," Departmental Discussion Papers 119, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    10. Salvatore Barbaro & Jens Südekum, 2004. "Reforming a complicated income tax system: The political economics perspective," Departmental Discussion Papers 120, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    11. Petra Enß & Robert Schwager, 2006. "Kommunaler Finanzausgleich und Gewerbesteuerhebesätze in Niedersachsen," Departmental Discussion Papers 127, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    12. Sascha Becker & Robert Fenge & Sascha O. Becker, 2005. "Gerechtigkeit und Effizienz nachgelagerter Studiengebühren," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 58(02), pages 16-22, January.
    13. Hügle, Dominik, 2020. "Higher education funding in Germany: A distributional lifetime perspective," Discussion Papers 2021/1, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    14. Vincent, VANDENBERGHE & Olivier, DEBANDE, 2004. "Financing Higher Education with Students Loans - The crucial role of income-contingency and risk pooling," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2004036, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    15. Renate Ohr, 2009. "European Monetary Union at Ten: Had the German Maastricht Critics Been Wrong?," Departmental Discussion Papers 141, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    16. Salvatore Barbaro, 2003. "The Combined Effect of Taxation and Subsidization on Human Capital Investment," Departmental Discussion Papers 116, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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