tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post6316632803529480025..comments2023-10-11T06:50:10.494-04:00Comments on The Glass-Bottom Blog: Private Universities as CharitiesZedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10623092831367861959noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-13639433102735360262009-06-04T14:43:59.247-04:002009-06-04T14:43:59.247-04:00All I meant was that the question my original post...All I meant was that the question my original post addresses is exclusively about funding, viz. charitable _giving_ vs. government _spending_. I agree, of course, that management matters for efficiency etc., though I'm more skeptical than you are that the private sector can be incentivized to do a good job in practice. The record of privatized public goods -- British rail, CA electricity, etc. -- is unspectacular. <br /><br />OK, back to schools, and let me attempt a less flippant response than last time. The basic reason I'm skeptical about private schools is that I think most of the failures of the public school system have to do with the fact that a large number of inner-city parents are poor, ignorant, and apathetic. Public schools work fine in the suburbs, where parents are actually involved. (There's also the disparity in finances, but let's leave that aside for now.) If you'll grant that the failure of inner-city schools has to do with parents who are clueless or don't give a fuck, that undermines the rationale for school choice -- competition leads to good results when customers are well-informed about the alternatives; when they're not, it doesn't. Info like the rate at which students go on to good colleges is very unlikely to be noticed by the typical parents at issue.Zedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10623092831367861959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-36925493266962273712009-06-04T12:55:54.675-04:002009-06-04T12:55:54.675-04:00Yes, I agree in general that public goods are wort...Yes, I agree in general that public goods are worthy of subsidy, but I think that it actually matters a great deal whether they are state-run or not simply because of the importance of competition. I think that the "Government failures" you speak of are largely due to lack of competition, but I must admit that publicly-run institutions can be subject to competition, just as private ones may not be. <br /><br />The point about private schools being church-run is a real concern, but it is fool-hardy to think that this issue is settled by state control. It simply moves the dispute into the political system, creating a risk that the religious may someday inject their agenda into the education system. Even now there are many places where teachers are afraid to teach evolution or sex-ed because they don't want to rustle any feathers. Moreover, the situation is so bad in our public schools that I would rather send my kids to a Catholic school than many of the public schools in this country. I don't like the idea of government subsidizing religious schools, but I would rather have a bunch of indoctrinated literate people than illiterate people walking around. Moreover, because of the undergraduate admissions process, it is pretty hard to get into college if you are the sort of ignoramus that many religious zealots want their kids to be. Not many people would want to send there kids to a school that didn't ever send students to decent colleges because they don't teach them science.andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13672144445167878418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-43087686059481756152009-06-03T13:17:51.337-04:002009-06-03T13:17:51.337-04:00For the purposes of my argument, what matters is w...For the purposes of my argument, what matters is who pays for the projects, not who manages them. The government is obligated to spend taxpayer money on public goods like curing AIDS and educating kids; whether it does this directly or through intermediaries is a separate issue.<br /><br />My problem with vouchers, school choice, etc. is that a lot of private schools are church-run. Also, I don't think how US universities are run has much to do with their reputation for good research. Recall that the US was mediocre until WW2. The two things that transformed the US into a research powerhouse were the influx of refugee Jewish scientists, and a huge spike in research funding due to the Cold War.Zedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10623092831367861959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-43263597307512341162009-06-03T12:30:27.313-04:002009-06-03T12:30:27.313-04:00I take issue with this statement:
"On the ...I take issue with this statement: <br /><br />"On the other hand, the public does care about education, feeding the poor, curing AIDS, etc.; therefore, these are sensible enterprises for the government to run, and charitable giving serves largely as a figleaf for the state's more egregious failures."<br /><br />I am running the risk of rehashing an argument you have already heard, but I think you should say that "these are sensible enterprises for the government to subsidize." I tend to argue that the failure of our public education system results largely from its being publicly run. My view is based on the idea that monopolies largely suck, and government-run enterprises are monopolies. It is far better to have organizations that compete for the limited funds that are available for charity. Obviously there are a number of possible good and bad systems within this general framework, but I think a comparison of the way we do public grade schools versus our university system makes my point quite well. I bet that you wouldn't be doing research in the US right now if the government ran the university system to the extent it does the grade schools.andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13672144445167878418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-5325353557075354452009-06-01T10:28:03.113-04:002009-06-01T10:28:03.113-04:00I don't think the amounts required are the same or...I don't think the amounts required are the same order of magnitude.Zedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10623092831367861959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145200404704322540.post-51133395129888331922009-05-31T22:10:15.159-04:002009-05-31T22:10:15.159-04:00I have to wonder how many people would consider do...I have to wonder how many people would consider donating to an educational institution for underprivileged kids when they can barely afford to send their own kids to decent colleges.Westcotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12274195880382734983noreply@blogger.com