应用经济学报告系列 (1112-7)

题目：Free Schools in America, 1850-1870: Who Voted for Them, Who Got Them, and Who Paid

报告人：Sun Go，Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea

时间：2:00-3:30pm, October 25

地点：成人直播新楼217教室

Abstract:

Mass public schooling is indispensible to modern economic growth. This paper explores the emergence and consequences of free schooling in the USA in the nineteenth century, focusing on voters' self interests rather than ideology or the role of great men, as emphasized in popular views. Though literature on the political economy of policy decisions does not offer clear consensus on inequality and educational spending, a political economy model suggests that increases in both average property values and inequality in property holding are key to the emergence of free public education financed by local property taxes in the mid-19th century U.S. Empirical tests using data from various nineteenth century records support this view. The consequences of universal free public schooling were immediate. Children's education became less dependent on parents' wealth, and geographical inequality in enrollment rates declined.