Demographic Structure and the Political Economy of Public Education
39 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 1996 Last revised: 28 Apr 2023
Date Written: July 1996
Abstract
This papers examines the relationship between demographic structure and the level of government spending on K-12 education. Panel data for the U.S. states over the 1960-1990 period suggests that an increase in the fraction of elderly residents in a jurisdiction is associated with a significant reduction in per child educational spending. This reduction is particularly large when the elderly residents and the school-age population are from different racial groups. Variation in the size of the school-age population does not result in proportionate changes in education spending, so students in states with larger school-age populations receive lower per-student spending than those in states with smaller numbers of potential students. These results provide support for models of generational competition in the allocation of public sector resources. They also suggest that the effect of cohort size on government-mediated transfers must be considered in analyzing how cohort size affects economic well-being.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Demographic Characteristics and the Public Bundle
By David M. Cutler, Douglas W. Elmendorf, ...
-
An Empirical Analysis of the Welfare Magnet Debate Using the Nlsy
-
Government Decision-Making and the Incidence of Federal Mandates
-
Education Finance Reform and Investment in Human Capital: Lessons from California
By Raquel Fernández and Richard Rogerson
-
Demographic Change and the Demand for Environmental Regulation
-
Taxation with Representation: Intergovernmental Grants in a Plebiscite Democracy
-
Unmarried Parenthood and Redistributive Politics
By Lena Edlund, Laila Haider, ...