Taxation and Education Investment in the Tertiary Sector

In this paper we briefly report some key data on educational expenditure and output in OECD countries and then turn to the motivations for public education. Public education can be important for equal opportunities and has a number of redistributional aspects within and between generations. We further discuss possible externalities of education, the issue of intersectoral investment neutrality and a fundamental time consistency problem of optimal taxation that may make public expenditure on tertiary education desirable from an efficiency point of view. Further we discuss whether and how globalization changes the picture. Mobility changes the analysis of optimal taxation and may make public expenditure less important. We also emphasize insurance aspects and the role of mobility differences.