teachers: not what they used to be

[Max Sawicky]

Not Baumol, who seems like not a bad sort, but the NBER guy and the 
uses to which his paper could be put. I'm tempted to say that once 
you use the language of productivity to talk about the public sector, 
the battle is already half lost.   Doug

You could also say the battle is already half lost.  If you
don't contest the productivity issue, you lose the rest too.
There is no real disagreement that education is important.
To the contrary, the scuttlebutt is that it is more important
than ever.  Farmer Perelman mentioned this.  I alluded to how
income growth could be expected to increase demand.

The real issue is public v. private.  The cost
disease lit does not grant any advantage to private providers.
The same factors reduce productivity in private schools and
make them more expensive too.

mbs