Examines characteristics of Scottish parents who exercised choice two years after the British government's 1980 school choice legislation became operational. Parents exercising choice were more highly educated and had more prestigious occupations than nonchoosing parents. Choosers selected schools with higher mean socioeconomic status and higher…

Uses a model of student and school behavior to simulate effects of differing voucher amounts on students in different income categories, drawing on two major assumptions concerning service delivery and competition. Poor youngsters would not be better off under voucher system. Even under highly favorable conditions, a systemic choice system would…

The choice debate has seriously neglected an important variable: the welfare costs (between 50 to 80 cents per marginal dollar raised) associated with tax collection necessary to finance public schools. Once corrected for the omitted variable, the balance is swung unambiguously in favor of private schools, even when revenue-financed vouchers are…

Chile's 1981 decentralization reforms kept most educational finance responsibility with the Ministry of Education, but transferred service-delivery responsibility to municipalities and nonprofit private schools. This paper examines this reform's effects. Municipal finance, tied to fiscal capacity, has created inequities in school expenditures.…

Overviews the charter-school phenomenon and these schools' basic design. Discusses the government's role in education and identifies various school-choice options. Explores overall autonomy via legislative provisions and examines empirical evidence on charter schools' innovative features, teacher and student characteristics, and parental contracts…

Presents a simple framework for (1) demonstrating how households determine schooling investments through choice and voice; and (2) considering effects of decentralization on household behaviors, given information problems. Some aspects of decentralization may increase efficiency; others may be neutral or decrease efficiency. Further research is…

Extends Feldstein's notion of wealth neutrality to embrace fiscal neutrality, using a representative consumer context. Employs an "ideal" demand system to model school district expenditures in a general equilibrium framework. Rejects constant price and income elasticity demand models. Supports the fiscally neutral elasticity model…

Although the public school choice plan implemented in Richmond, California, in 1987 through 1990 received much favorable publicity, the school district filed for bankruptcy in 1991. This paper describes the plan and the events preceding financial collapse and presents data on student absenteeism, dropout rates, test scores, and school…

One of Lewis Solmon's research interests is whether parents can choose the best schools for their children. This paper shows how economic principles predict parents would do a better job choosing schools for their children than do experts in government agencies. Three types of empirical research relevant to the hypothesis are reviewed: surveys…