Kamu Eğitim Yatırımı, Ekonomik Büyüme ve Refah: Tercih Heterojenliği Altında Ekonomi-Politik Bir Analiz

Year 2024, , 887 - 908, 24.05.2024

Nusret Doru

https://doi.org/10.25295/fsecon.1415936

Abstract

Bu çalışma, kamu eğitim politikasının siyasi yönünü ve bunun ekonomik büyüme ve refah üzerindeki etkisini nesiller arası fedakarlık çerçevesinde incelemektedir. Çalışma, altruistik örtüşen nesillere sahip içsel bir büyüme modelini göz önünde bulunduruyor. Uzun vadeli ekonomik genişlemeyi teşvik etmedeki önemli rolü nedeniyle, kamu eğitimine yapılan yatırımları verimli hükümet müdahalesinin etkili bir aracı olarak değerlendiriyoruz. Bununla birlikte, kamu eğitim yatırımları, nesiller arası yeniden dağıtımına ilişkin etkilerinden dolayı siyasi tartışmaların konusu olmuştur. Demokratik olarak seçilmiş hükümetlerin siyasi güçlerini koruma eğilimlerinin de desteğiyle, belirli bireylerin veya birey gruplarının tercihleri, eğitime yapılan kamu yatırımı düzeyinin belirlenmesine ilişkin siyasi süreçte daha baskın hale gelmektedir. Özellikle hükümetler ortalama seçmenin veya genel olarak mevcut neslin tercihleriyle daha fazla ilgilenirler, çünkü bu bireyler seçmen olarak bir sonraki hükümeti belirleme yeteneğine sahipler. Bu gerçek, hükümetlerin bu insanların arzuları karşısında taraflı davranmalarına yol açmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, bu tür politik düşünceler ekonomiyi optimal ekonomik büyüme yolundan saptırmakta ve gelecek nesillerin refahını azaltmaktadır. Bu etki, çocuklarına karşı daha düşük seviyede özgecilik sergileyen bireylerin, eğitim için kamu fonlarının tahsisi konusunda siyasi karar alma sürecinde daha etkili bir pozisyona sahip olmaları durumunda daha da belirgin hale gelmektedir. Teorik analizlerimiz, tarafsız bir sosyal planlamacı tarafından alınan kararlara kıyasla, doğası gereği taraflı olan ve demokratik olarak seçilmiş hükümetler tarafından alınan politika kararlarının ekonomik büyüme ve refah üzerindeki etkilerini göstermektedir.

Keywords

İçsel Büyüme, Refah, Yeniden Dağıtma, Kamu Politikası, Eğitim, Beşeri Sermaye, Ortalama Seçmen

Public Education Investment, Economic Growth and Welfare: A Political Economy Analysis with Preference Heterogeneity

Abstract

This study examines the politics of public education policy and its impact on economic growth and welfare under intergenerational altruism. The study considers an endogenous growth model with altruistic overlapping generations. Due to its significant role in promoting long-term economic expansion, we consider investment in public education to be an effective tool of productive government intervention. Nonetheless, public educational investment has been the subject of political disputes owing to its inherent intergenerational redistributive implications. Backed by the tendency of democratically elected governments to maintain their political power, the preferences of some particular individuals or group of individuals become more dominant in the political process of determining the level of public investment in education. In particular, governments are more concerned with the preferences of the median voter, or the current generation at large, because they, as electors, have the ability to determine the next government. This reality leads governments to exhibit a bias toward the desires of these people. As a result, such political considerations divert the economy from its optimal path of economic growth and reduce the welfare of future generations. This effect becomes more pronounced when individuals with lower levels of altruism toward their offspring assume a more influential position in the political decision-making process over the allocation of public funds for education. Our theoretical analyses demonstrate the implications for economic growth and welfare resulting from policy decisions made by democratically elected governments with inherent biases, as opposed to decisions made by an unbiased social planner.

Keywords

Endogenous Growth, Welfare, Redistribution, Public Policy, Education, Human Capital, Median Voter

Ethical Statement

Bu çalışmanın tüm hazırlanma süreçlerinde etik kurallara uyulduğunu yazarlar beyan eder. Aksi bir durumun tespiti halinde Fiscaoeconomia Dergisinin hiçbir sorumluluğu olmayıp, tüm sorumluluk çalışmanın yazarlarına aittir.

References

• Alesina, A., Baqir, R. & Easterly, W. (1999). Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(4), 1243-1284.
• Artige, L. & Cavenaile, L. (2023). Public Education Expenditures, Growth and Income Inequality. Journal of Economic Theory, 209, 105622.
• Azariadis, C. & Drazen, A. (1990). Threshold Externalities in Economic Development. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 105(2), 501-526.
• Barro, R. J. (1974). Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?. Journal of Political Economy, 82(6), 1095-1117.
• Barro, R. J. & Becker, G. S. (1989). Fertility Choice in a Model of Economic Growth. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 481-501.
• Becker, G. S. & Barro, R. J. (1988). A Reformulation of the Economic Theory of Fertility. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 103(1), 1-25.
• Becker, G. S. & Lewis, H. G. (1973). On the Interaction Between the Quantity and Quality of Children. Journal of Political Economy, 81(2, Part 2), S279-S288.
• Becker, G. S., Murphy, K. M. & Tamura, R. (1990). Human Capital, Fertility, and Economic Growth. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5, Part 2), S12-S37.
• Benabou, R. (2000). Unequal Societies: Income Distribution and the Social Contract. American Economic Review, 91(1), 96-129.
• Benhabib, J. & Przeworski, A. (2006). The Political Economy of Redistribution Under Democracy. Economic Theory, 29, 271-290.
• Black, D. (1948). On the Rationale of Group Decision-Making. Journal of Political Economy, 56(1), 23-34.
• Blankenau, W., Cassou, S. P. & Ingram, B. (2007). Allocating Government Education Expenditures Across K-12 and College Education. Economic Theory, 31, 85-112.
• Bueno de Mesquita, B., Morrow, J. D., Siverson, R. & Smith, A. (2001). Political Competition and Economic Growth. Journal of Democracy, 12(1), 58-72.
• Busemeyer, M. R. (2012). Inequality and the Political Economy of Education: An Analysis of Individual Preferences in OECD Countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 22(3), 219-240.
• Cardak, B. A., Glomm, G. & Ravikumar, B. (2020). Majority Voting in a Model of Means Testing. European Economic Review, 122, 103351.
• Corcoran, S. & Evans, W. N. (2010). Income Inequality, the Median Voter, and the Support for Public Education (No. w16097). National Bureau of Economic Research.
• De la Croix, D. & Doepke, M. (2004). Public Versus Private Education When Differential Fertility Matters. Journal of Development Economics, 73(2), 607-629.
• Diamond, P. A. (1965). National Debt in a Neoclassical Growth Model. The American Economic Review, 55(5), 1126-1150.
• Di Gioacchino, D., Sabani, L. & Tedeschi, S. (2019). Individual Preferences for Public Education Spending: Does Personal Income Matter?. Economic Modelling, 82, 211-228.
• Eckstein, Z. & Zilcha, I. (1994). The Effects of Compulsory Schooling on Growth, Income Distribution and Welfare. Journal of Public Economics, 54(3), 339-359.
• Epple, D. & Romano, R. (2008). Educational Vouchers and Cream Skimming. International Economic Review, 49(4), 1395-1435.
• Evans, P. & Karras, G. (1994). Are Government Activities Productive? Evidence from a Panel of US States. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-11.
• Galor, O. & Zeira, J. (1993). Income Distribution and Macroeconomics. The Review of Economic Studies, 60(1), 35-52.
• Glomm, G. & Ravikumar, B. (1996). Endogenous Public Policy and Multiple Equilibria. European Journal of Political Economy, 11(4), 653-66.
• Glomm, G. & Ravikumar, B. (1998). Opting Out of Publicly Provided Services: A Majority Voting Result. Social Choice and Welfare, 15, 187-199.
• Glomm, G. & Ravikumar, B. (2003). Public Education and Income Inequality. European Journal of Political Economy, 19(2), 289-300.
• Glomm, G., Ravikumar, B. & Schiopu, I. C. (2011). The Political Economy of Education Funding. Handbook of the Economics of Education, 4, 615-680. Elsevier.
• Gradstein, M. & Kaganovich, M. (2004). Aging Population and Education Finance. Journal of Public Economics, 88(12), 2469-2485.
• Gupta, S., Liu, E. X. & Mulas-Granados, C. (2016). Now or Later? The Political Economy of Public Investment in Democracies. European Journal of Political Economy, 45, 101-114.
• Indicators, O. E. C. D. (2022). Education at a Glance 2022. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2022_3197152b-en (November, 2023)
• Indicators, O. E. C. D. (2023). Education at a Glance 2023. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance\_19991487 (November, 2023.)
• Jacobs, A. M. (2016). Policy Making for the Long Term in Advanced Democracies. Annual Review of Political Science, 19, 433-454.
• Krueger, A. B. & Lindahl, M. (2001). Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?. Journal of Economic Literature, 39(4), 1101-1136.
• Krusell, P., Kuruşçu, B. & Smith Jr, A. A. (2002). Equilibrium Welfare and Government Policy with Quasi-Geometric Discounting. Journal of Economic Theory, 105(1), 42-72.
• Levy, G. (2005). The Politics of Public Provision of Education. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120(4), 1507-1534.
• Lucas Jr, R. E. (1988). On the Mechanics of Economic Development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1), 3-42.
• Meltzer, A. H. & Richard, S. F. (1981). A Rational Theory of the Size of Government. Journal of Political Economy, 89(5), 914-927.
• Mo, P. H. (2007). Government Expenditures and Economic Growth: The Supply and Demand Sides. Fiscal Studies, 28(4), 497-522.
• Ono, T. & Uchida, Y. (2016). Pensions, Education, and Growth: A Positive Analysis. Journal of Macroeconomics, 48, 127-143.
• Ono, T. & Uchida, Y. (2018). Human Capital, Public Debt, and Economic Growth: A Political Economy Analysis. Journal of Macroeconomics, 57, 1-14.
• Roberts, K. W. (1977). Voting Over Income Tax Schedules. Journal of Public Economics, 8(3), 329-340.
• Saint-Paul, G. & Verdier, T. (1993). Education, Democracy and Growth. Journal of Development Economics, 42(2), 399-407.
• Sylwester, K. (2002). Can Education Expenditures Reduce Income Inequality?. Economics of Education Review, 21(1), 43-52.
• Vedder, R. (2004). Private vs. Social Returns to Higher Education: Some New Cross-Sectional Evidence. Journal of Labor Research, 25(4), 677-686.
• Viaene, J. M. & Zilcha, I. (2013). Public Funding of Higher Education. Journal of Public Economics, 108, 78-89.
• Zhang, J. (1996). Optimal Public Investments in Education and Endogenous Growth. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 387-404.
• Zhang, J. (2003). Optimal Debt, Endogenous Fertility, and Human Capital Externalities in a Model with Altruistic Bequests. Journal of Public Economics, 87(7-8), 1825-1835.