buying professors

Max Sawicky sawicky at epinet.org
Wed Sep 8 06:50:21 PDT 1999


. . . At the Chicago School website, it's also possible to read this gem by John Lott:

"The standard public goods argument for education . . .

For those who want to know, Lott proves this by estimating the following equation:

CURRENT EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA i = c + b 5 TOTALITARIANISM RATING i + b 6 REAL PER CAPITA GDP i + b 7 (GOVERMENT NET OF SCHOOL EXPENDITURES/GDP)I + b 8 (TOTALITARIANISM RATING*REAL PER CAPITA GDP)i + u 2i (2)
>>>>>>>>

This is not a L&E study; it's a public choice model, and dumb as all get-out, as you note.

L&E and public choice research overlap substantially in terms of academics and subject matter. We had a discussion here some years ago, so I won't rehash, but public choice is not inherently reactionary either, though a majority of those who practice it are on the right. A mainstream treatment of public choice, incl a guide to the literature, can be found in Dennis Mueller's survey published by Cambridge UP.

mbs



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