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Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?

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Abstract

We compare a uniform voucher regime against the status quo mix of public and private education, focusing on the distribution of welfare gains and losses across house- holds by income. We argue that the topping-up option available under uniform vouchers is not sufficiently valuable for the poorer households, so the voucher regime is defeated at the polls. Our result depends critically on the opting-out feature in the current system.

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  • Peter Bearse & Buly A. Cardak & Gerhard Glomm & B. Ravikumar, 2011. "Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?," Working Papers 2011-032, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2011-032
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Maennig, Wolfgang & Mueller, Steffen Q., 2022. "The generation gap in direct democracy: Age vs. cohort effects," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Buckley, Neil & Cuff, Katherine & Hurley, Jeremiah & Mestelman, Stuart & Thomas, Stephanie & Cameron, David, 2016. "Should I stay or should I go? Exit options within mixed systems of public and private health care finance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 62-77.
    3. Bearse, Peter & Cardak, Buly A. & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B., 2013. "Why do education vouchers fail at the ballot box?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 26-37.
    4. Tanaka, Ryuichi & Farre, Lidia & Ortega, Francesc, 2018. "Immigration, assimilation, and the future of public education," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 141-165.
    5. Cardak, Buly A. & Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B., 2020. "Majority voting in a model of means testing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Neil Buckley & Katherine Cuff & Jeremiah Hurley & Stuart Mestelman & Stephanie Thomas & David Cameron, 2014. "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Public Provision of a Private Good with an Exit Option," Department of Economics Working Papers 2014-01, McMaster University.
    7. Andrew A. Samwick, 2013. "Donating the Voucher: An Alternative Tax Treatment of Private School Enrollment," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 125-160.
    8. Yeşilırmak, Muharrem, 2016. "A quantitative analysis of Turkish Private Education Reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 76-88.
    9. 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.
    10. Buckley, Neil & Cuff, Katherine & Hurley, Jeremiah & Mestelman, Stuart & Thomas, Stephanie & Cameron, David, 2015. "Support for public provision of a private good with top-up and opt-out: A controlled laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 177-196.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Households;

    JEL classification:

    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education

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