Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v96y2012i3p317-330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The design of the university system

Author

Listed:
  • De Fraja, Gianni
  • Valbonesi, Paola
Abstract
This paper compares the organisation of the university sector under unregulated private provision with the structure which would be chosen by a welfare maximising government. It studies a general equilibrium model where students attend university to earn higher incomes in the labour market, and universities teach them and carry out research. Each university chooses its tuition fee to maximise the amount of resources it can devote to research. Research bestows an externality on society. Government intervention needs to balance labour market efficiency considerations – which would tend to equalise the number of students attending each university – with considerations of efficiency on the production side, which suggest that the most productive universities should teach more students and carry out more research. We find that government concentrates research more that the private market would, but less than it would like to do if it had perfect information about the productivity of universities. It also allows fewer universities than would operate in a private system.

Suggested Citation

  • De Fraja, Gianni & Valbonesi, Paola, 2012. "The design of the university system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 317-330.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:96:y:2012:i:3:p:317-330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.10.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272711001630
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.10.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. P. Raines & Charles G. Leathers, 2003. "The Economic Institutions of Higher Education," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2721.
    2. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, April.
    3. Danzon, Patricia Munch, 1982. "Hospital `profits' : The effects of reimbursement policies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 29-52, May.
    4. De Fraja, Gianni & Iossa, Elisabetta, 2002. "Competition among Universities and the Emergence of the Elite Institution," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 275-293, July.
    5. Rey, Elena Del, 2001. "Teaching versus Research: A Model of State University Competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 356-373, March.
    6. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Estimating the social return to higher education: evidence from longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 175-212.
    7. Terry Long, B.Bridget, 2004. "How have college decisions changed over time? An application of the conditional logistic choice model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 271-296.
    8. Johnes, Jill & Johnes, Geraint, 1995. "Research funding and performance in U.K. University Departments of Economics: A frontier analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 301-314, September.
    9. Izadi, Hooshang & Johnes, Geraint & Oskrochi, Reza & Crouchley, Robert, 2002. "Stochastic frontier estimation of a CES cost function: the case of higher education in Britain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 63-71, February.
    10. Tuckman, Howard P & Gapinski, James H & Hagemann, Robert P, 1977. "Faculty Skills and the Salary Structure in Academe: A Market Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 692-702, September.
    11. William E. Becker Jr., 1975. "The University Professor as a Utility Maximizer and Producer of Learning, Research, and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 10(1), pages 107-115.
    12. Robert J. Gary-Bobo & Alain Trannoy, 2008. "Efficient Tuition Fees and Examinations," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(6), pages 1211-1243, December.
    13. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline M. Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2009. "The Governance and Performance of Research Universities: Evidence from Europe and the U.S," NBER Working Papers 14851, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Holger Sieg & Dennis Epple & Richard Romano, 2003. "Peer effects, financial aid and selection of students into colleges and universities: an empirical analysis," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 501-525.
    15. Baron, David P & Myerson, Roger B, 1982. "Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 911-930, July.
    16. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Using Cost Observation to Regulate Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 614-641, June.
    17. Stijn Kelchtermans & Frank Verboven, 2010. "Participation and study decisions in a public system of higher education," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 355-391.
    18. De Fraja, Gianni & Valbonesi, Paola, 2012. "The design of the university system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 317-330.
    19. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2010. "The governance and performance of universities: evidence from Europe and the US [Distance to frontier, selection, and economic growth]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(61), pages 7-59.
    20. Rothschild, Michael & White, Lawrence J, 1995. "The Analytics of the Pricing of Higher Education and Other Services in Which the Customers Are Inputs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 573-586, June.
    21. de Groot, Hans & McMahon, Walter W & Volkwein, J Fredericks, 1991. "The Cost Structure of American Research Universities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 424-431, August.
    22. John Beath & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & David Ulph, 2005. "University Funding Systems and their Impact on Research and Teaching: A General Framework," Discussion Paper Series 2005_2, Department of Economics, Loughborough University.
    23. Robert J. Gary-Bobo & Alain Trannoy, 2005. "Efficient Tuition & Fees, Examinations, and Subsidies," IDEP Working Papers 0501, Institut d'economie publique (IDEP), Marseille, France, revised 01 Mar 2005.
    24. Becker, William E, Jr, 1979. "Professorial Behavior Given a Stochastic Reward Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(5), pages 1010-1017, December.
    25. Stacy Berg Dale & Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1491-1527.
    26. Bill B. Golden & Leah J. Tsoodle & Oluwarotimi O. Odeh & Allen M. Featherstone, 2006. "Determinants of Agricultural Economic Faculty Salaries: A Quarter of a Century Later," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 254-261.
    27. Yaakov Gilboa & Moshe Justman, 2005. "Academic Admissions Standards: Implications For Output, Distribution, And Mobility," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(5), pages 1105-1133, September.
    28. Léonard,Daniel & Long,Ngo van, 1992. "Optimal Control Theory and Static Optimization in Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521331586, October.
    29. repec:bla:jemstr:v:3:y:1994:i:1:p:169-209:a is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Dranove, David & White, William D, 1994. "Recent Theory and Evidence on Competition in Hospital Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 169-209, Spring.
    31. Dundar, Halil & Lewis, Darrell R., 1995. "Departmental productivity in American universities: Economies of scale and scope," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 119-144, June.
    32. Melville McMillan & Wing Chan, 2006. "University Efficiency: A Comparison and Consolidation of Results from Stochastic and Non-stochastic Methods," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 1-30.
    33. Caroline M. Hoxby, 1997. "How the Changing Market Structure of U.S. Higher Education Explains College Tuition," NBER Working Papers 6323, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Holger Sieg, 2006. "Admission, Tuition, and Financial Aid Policies in the Market for Higher Education," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 885-928, July.
    35. Rob Euwals & Melanie Ward, 2005. "What matters most: teaching or research? Empirical evidence on the remuneration of British academics," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(14), pages 1655-1672.
    36. Jacques H. Drèze & Fernanda Estevan, 2007. "Roundtable on Research and Higher Education in Economics Research and Higher Education in Economics: Can We Deliver the Lisbon Objectives?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(2-3), pages 271-304, 04-05.
    37. Ehrenberg, R.G.Ronald G., 2004. "Econometric studies of higher education," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 19-37.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Facciamo i conti
      by Alberto Bagnai in Goofynomics on 2014-02-25 06:03:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Philippe De Donder & Francisco Martinez-Mora, 2015. "On the Political Economy of University Admission Standards," Discussion Papers in Economics 15/11, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    2. Manna, Ester, 2013. "Mixed Duopoly with Motivated Teachers," MPRA Paper 52041, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. T Agasisti & G Johnes, 2009. "Cost Structure, Efficiency and Heterogeneity in US Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers 599308, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    4. De Fraja, Gianni & Valbonesi, Paola, 2012. "The design of the university system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 317-330.
    5. Jill Johnes, 2018. "University rankings: What do they really show?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 585-606, April.
    6. Cremer, Helmuth & Maldonado, Dario, 2013. "Mixed oligopoly in education," TSE Working Papers 13-381, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    7. Hidalgo-Hidalgo Marisa & Valera Guadalupe, 2016. "University Merging Process: A Guideline Proposal for Excellence-Enhancing," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(3), pages 1359-1386, September.
    8. Woohyung Lee & Ki-Dong Lee, 2018. "Strategic behaviors on privatization between regions," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 227-242, April.
    9. Gianni De Fraja & Giovanni Facchini & John Gathergood, 2016. "How Much Is That Star in the Window? Professorial Salaries and Research Performance in UK Universities," Discussion Papers 2016-13, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    10. De Fraja, Gianni, 2011. "A Theoretical Analysis of Public Funding for Research," CEPR Discussion Papers 8442, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Buckley, Ralf, 2019. "Tourism publications as newly tradeable commodities: Academic performance, prestige, power, competition, constraints and consents," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 121-133.
    12. De Donder, Philippe & Martinez-Mora, Francisco, 2017. "The political economy of higher education admission standards and participation gap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1-9.
    13. repec:lan:wpaper:4487 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Lisa Grazzini & Annalisa Luporini & Alessandro Petretto, 2010. "Competition between State Universities," Working Papers - Economics wp2010_02.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    15. Kolpin, Van & Stater, Mark, 2024. "The perverse equilibrium effects of state and federal student aid in higher education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 679-691.
    16. Omphile Temoso & Lindikaya W. Myeki, 2023. "Estimating South African Higher Education Productivity and Its Determinants Using Färe-Primont Index: Are Historically Disadvantaged Universities Catching Up?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(2), pages 206-227, March.
    17. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Sinan Sarpça & Holger Sieg, 2013. "The U.S. Market for Higher Education: A General Equilibrium Analysis of State and Private Colleges and Public Funding Policies," NBER Working Papers 19298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. repec:lan:wpaper:4358 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Masahito Ambashi, 2021. "Theoretical Analysis of University Research and Teaching in the Presence of External Research Funding," KIER Working Papers 1069, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    20. Verbitskiy, Andrey (Вербицкий, Андрей) & Fridman, Alla (Фридман, Алла), 2014. "Competition between universities and government regulation [Конкуренция Между Вузами И Государственное Регулирование]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 137-160, December.
    21. Vanesa D’Elia & Gustavo Ferro, 2019. "Empirical Efficiency Measurement in Higher Education: An Overview," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 708, Universidad del CEMA.
    22. repec:lan:wpaper:4792 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ehrenberg, R.G.Ronald G., 2004. "Econometric studies of higher education," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 19-37.
    2. Kolpin, Van & Stater, Mark, 2024. "The perverse equilibrium effects of state and federal student aid in higher education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 679-691.
    3. Joan Rosselló, 2007. "Does a public university system avoid the stratification of public universities and the segregation of students?," DEA Working Papers 26, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Departament d'Economía Aplicada.
    4. Jellal, Mohamed, 2014. "Gouvernance optimale moderne des universités [Modern optimal governance of universities]," MPRA Paper 57275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Eisenkopf, Gerald & Wohlschlegel, Ansgar, 2012. "Regulation in the market for education and optimal choice of curriculum," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 53-65.
    6. Hidalgo-Hidalgo Marisa & Valera Guadalupe, 2016. "University Merging Process: A Guideline Proposal for Excellence-Enhancing," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(3), pages 1359-1386, September.
    7. Alexander Kemnitz, 2007. "University Funding Reform, Competition, and Teaching Quality," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 163(2), pages 356-378, June.
    8. Patrizia Ordine & Giuseppe Rose, 2007. "Students' Mobility and Regional Disparities in Quality and Returns to Education in Italy," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 66(2), pages 149-176, July.
    9. Cantner, Uwe & Grashof, Nils & Grebel, Thomas & Zhang, Xijie, 2023. "When Excellence is not Excellent: The Impact of the Excellence Initiative on the Relative Productivity of German Universities," MPRA Paper 118139, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Groen, Jeffrey A. & White, Michelle J., 2004. "In-state versus out-of-state students: the divergence of interest between public universities and state governments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1793-1814, August.
    11. Jeffrey A. Groen & Michelle J. White, 2003. "In-State versus Out-of State Students: The Divergence of Interest between Public Universities and State Governments," NBER Working Papers 9603, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lisa Grazzini & Annalisa Luporini & Alessandro Petretto, 2010. "Competition between State Universities," Working Papers - Economics wp2010_02.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    13. Aloys Prinz & Thomas Ehrmann, 2022. "Academia as a league system," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(7), pages 1065-1092, September.
    14. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Jonas Didisse, 2017. "Inter-university competition and high tuition fees," Post-Print hal-02356872, HAL.
    15. Dur, Robert & Glazer, Amihai, 2008. "Subsidizing Enjoyable Education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 1023-1039, October.
    16. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2016. "The Effects of State Merit Aid Programs on Attendance at Elite Colleges," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 527-549, October.
    17. repec:lan:wpaper:4358 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Cellini, Roberto & Brekke, Kurt Richard & Siciliani, Luigi, 2008. "Competition and Quality in Regulated Markets: a Differential-Game Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 6801, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Miraldo, Marisa & Siciliani, Luigi & Street, Andrew, 2011. "Price adjustment in the hospital sector," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 112-125, January.
    20. T Agasisti & G Johnes, 2009. "Cost Structure, Efficiency and Heterogeneity in US Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers 599308, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    21. repec:lan:wpaper:4487 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Michael Kaganovich & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "College curriculum, diverging selectivity, and enrollment expansion," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(4), pages 1019-1050, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; The organisation of the university sector;

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:96:y:2012:i:3:p:317-330. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.