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Education, Utilitarianism, and Equality of Opportunity

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  • Calo-Blanco, Aitor
  • Villar, Antonio

Abstract

We analyze in this paper the impact of different policies on the investment of the families in the education of their children. Families make decisions on the level of human capital of their offsprings regarding the future income that this capital entails (under the assumption that higher education levels yield higher expected income). The families' optimal investment in education depends on their preferences (summarized by their time discount and risk aversion parameters) and their circumstances (initial wealth, parents' education, and children' natural abilities). The public authority designs a balanced tax/subsidy scheme in order to maximize aggregate welfare. We compare the case of a purely utilitarian planner with one that cares about the equality of opportunity.

Suggested Citation

  • Calo-Blanco, Aitor & Villar, Antonio, 2009. "Education, Utilitarianism, and Equality of Opportunity," MPRA Paper 18720, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:18720
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Arnaud Lefranc & Nicolas Pistolesi & Alain Trannoy, 2006. "Equality of opportunity: Definitions and testable conditions, with an application to income in France," Working Papers 53, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aitor Calo, 2009. "Equality of opportunity and optimal effort decision under uncertainty," Working Papers. Serie AD 2009-12, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equality of Opportunity; Investment in Education; Policy design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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