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Education: Optimal choice and efficient policy
Author(s) -
Richter Wolfram F.,
Schneider Kerstin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12518
Subject(s) - subsidy , economics , earnings , equity (law) , wage , microeconomics , function (biology) , public economics , labour economics , finance , market economy , evolutionary biology , political science , law , biology
This paper argues that it suffices to assume distortionary wage taxation to prove the efficiency of effective subsidization of education. The paper does not rely on considerations of equity and market failure to justify subsidies. Instead, the optimal subsidy reduces the social cost of distortive wage taxation. The theoretical approach assumes a Mincer‐type earnings function, analyzes corner solutions of optimal schooling choice and derives the result of efficient subsidization in a Ramsey‐type framework. Second‐best policy is confronted with empirical evidence from OECD countries. The majority of countries are shown to subsidize tertiary education in effective terms.