American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?
American Economic Review
(pp. 1209–1238)
Abstract
Tiebout choice among districts is the most powerful market force in American public education. Naive estimates of its effects are biased by endogenous district formation. I derive instruments from the natural boundaries in a metropolitan area. My results suggest that metropolitan areas with greater Tiebout choice have more productive public schools and less private schooling. Little of the effect of Tiebout choice works through its effect on household sorting. This finding may be explained by another finding: students are equally segregated by school in metropolitan areas with greater and lesser degrees of Tiebout choice among districts.Citation
Hoxby, Caroline, M. 2000. "Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?" American Economic Review 90 (5): 1209–1238. DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.5.1209JEL Classification
- I21 Analysis of Education
- H73 State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations: Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
- L33 Comparison of Public and Private Enterprises; Privatization; Contracting Out