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2003 - The Political Economy of School Choice: Linking Theory and Evidence

Attribution: Cohen-Zada, Danny, & Justman, Moshe
Researchers: Danny Cohen-ZadaMoshe Justman
University Affiliation: Ben-Gurion University
Email: justman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
Research Question:
Apply findings to simulate the impact of a hypothetical school voucher on private enrollment, the tax rate, public spending per student, and welfare.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Journal of Urban Economics
Journal Entry: Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 277-308
Year: 2003
Findings:
  • Large African-American minority shares in the schools increases the proportion of whites that choose private schooling.
  • Findings indicate that the marginal household choosing between private and public schooling views a dollar spent on private tuition as between 30% and 34% more effective than a tax dollar spent on public education.
  • A voucher roughly equal to 20% of public spending per student, substantially increases private enrollment, slightly lowers the tax rate, and benefits 90% of households, though it may slightly lower public spending per student.
Keywords: ChoicePrivate SchoolsRacial CompositionVouchersRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Simulations Sampling Frame:US Cities
Sampling Types: NonrandomAnalysis Units: Geographical AreaData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • All 1078 US cities with population over 25,000 in 1990 (Data set A); 23 of these cities that appear in the postal address of a single unified school district (data set B) and 423 school districts (data set C). Data are drawn from the 1994 County and City Data Book on CD-ROM (US Bureau of the Census), National Center for Education Statistics, and others.
  • DV: Household income level, ratio of median-to-mean household income, cost of education quality per household relative to other spending categories, cost factors that differentially affect private education, ethnic and religious composition, percentage of homeowners.
  • IV: Change in private school enrollment
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts
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