Educational system, income inequality and growth: the median voter's decision

Educational system, income inequality and growth: the median voter's decision

Joilson Dias

Professor at the Universidade Estadual de Maringá

ABSTRACT

I analyze a long run educational policy as a mechanism to close the income gap among low, median and high-income families. If the choice is made endogenous by the use of the median voter theorem, the results are as follow: i) public education system guarantees income convergence, however the income growth rate of the median voter is smaller; ii) the combination public and private (hybrid) educational system allows faster income growth rate, but income inequality is almost the natural outcome. The ending result is that the combination public and private system will prevail, since the income growth rate of the median voter is higher in this system. This might explain the persistence and differences of income inequality among the economies.

Key words: education, income inequality, growth

JEL Classification

H52, I28, O5

RESUMO

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a utilização da política educacional no longo prazo como mecanismo para a redução da desigualdade de renda entre famílias de renda baixa, mediana e alta. Se a decisão sobre a política for endogeneizada, de acordo com o teorema do eleitor mediano, os resultados são os seguintes: i) o sistema educacional público para todos, apesar de garantir convergência de renda, produz uma menor taxa de crescimento da renda do eleitor mediano; ii) a combinação público-privado (sistema educacional híbrido) permite uma maior taxa de crescimento da renda do eleitor mediano, no entanto a desigualdade de renda é inerente a este sistema. Como resultado final, o eleitor mediano irá escolher o sistema público-privado, pois o crescimento da sua renda é maior, o que pode explicar a persistência e as diferenças na desigualdade de renda das economias.

Palavras-chave: educação, desigualdade de renda, crescimento.

Full text available only in PDF format.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

(Recebido em outubro de 2003. Aceito para publicação em janeiro de 2005).

I would like thank the very helpful suggestions made by Luís Eduardo Afonso and Maria Helena Ambrosio Dias, and the financial support provided by CNPq.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  14 Sept 2009
• Date of issue
  Mar 2005

History

• Accepted
  Jan 2005
• Received
  Oct 2003