Diploma No Problem: Can Private Schools Be of Lower Quality than Public Schools?

34 Pages Posted: 11 Oct 2004

See all articles by Giorgio Brunello

Giorgio Brunello

University of Padua - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Lorenzo Rocco

University of Padua; University of Toulouse I

Date Written: October 2004

Abstract

Motivated by anecdotal as well as econometric evidence from Italy, we ask whether private schools can provide lower quality than public schools. Using a stylized model of the education market with sequential entry of a public and a private school, we show that, depending on the underlying parameters of the model, a market structure with the private school offering at a positive price lower quality than the public school can be an equilibrium. The calibrated parameters for Italy suggest the existence of such an equilibrium in the Italian market for education.

Keywords: education, private schools, Italy

JEL Classification: H52, H73

Suggested Citation

Brunello, Giorgio and Rocco, Lorenzo, Diploma No Problem: Can Private Schools Be of Lower Quality than Public Schools? (October 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=602462 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.602462

Giorgio Brunello (Contact Author)

University of Padua - Department of Economics ( email )

via Del Santo 33
35121 Padova
Italy
+39 049 827 4223 (Phone)
+39 049 827 4221 (Fax)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Lorenzo Rocco

University of Padua ( email )

Via 8 Febbraio, 2
Padova, Vicenza 35122
Italy

University of Toulouse I

Place Anatole France
Toulouse Cedex, F-31042
France

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