The Political Economy of Educational Policies and Inequality of Opportunity

58 Pages Posted: 15 May 2019

See all articles by Vincenzo Prete

Vincenzo Prete

University of Verona - Department of Economics

Claudio Zoli

University of Verona - Department of Economics

Date Written: May 10, 2019

Abstract

We propose a political economy model to explain cross-country differences observed in educational policies and to show how such heterogeneity is associated with the level of a country’s development and inequality. Parents, heterogeneous in terms of income and their child’s ability, vote over the educational policy, by deciding the allocation of a given public budget between basic and higher education. Parents can invest in supplemental private education to increase the probability of their children of being admitted to higher education. When the level of development is low and inequality between social classes is sufficiently large, there is low exchange social mobility in the access to higher education, and educational policies are characterized by a large relative per-student expenditure in higher education.

Keywords: Education, Voting, Development, Inequality, Mobility

JEL Classification: D31, H52, I24, I25

Suggested Citation

Prete, Vincenzo and Zoli, Claudio, The Political Economy of Educational Policies and Inequality of Opportunity (May 10, 2019). University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dept. of Economics Research Paper Series No. 14/WP/2019 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3388559 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3388559

Vincenzo Prete (Contact Author)

University of Verona - Department of Economics ( email )

Via dell'Artigliere, 8
37129 Verona
Italy

Claudio Zoli

University of Verona - Department of Economics ( email )

Via dell'Artigliere, 8
37129 Verona
Italy
0039-045-8028479 (Phone)

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