Journoz: Updates for Australian Journalists

Could do better?

Despite John Howard's claim that parents are moving to private education in droves because state schools are value-free, economist John Quiggin says the real surprise is that "the increase in attendance at private schools has been so small." As he states, "Thanks to changes in federal government policy, subsidies to private education have been steadily increasing. Meanwhile, the effective subsidy to publicly educated students has remained constant or declined in recent years. Standard economic analysis suggests that when a service is subsidised, its consumption will increase." So if private school enrolments are not increasing dramatically, despite their generous subsidies, Howard is well off the mark. Read Quiggin's piece to understand how and why. It's at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/2004/01/00574.shtml. Posted by belinda at January 30, 2004 03:11 PM

Email this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):