As for the odd political coalition . . . it sounds like one more case of the American love of the fallacy of composition to me. "Anyone" can go to a public college if it's priced reasonably, so naturally I'll assume that my little darlings are among those "anyones," even if all the evidence shows that they probably aren't. (Look at the burn rate on small businesses . . . you're more likely to survive most forms of cancer five years down the road, but since "anyone" can be in the 20% that survive, "everyone" assumes that they're among the chosen few.) Has anyone surveyed public school students (or their parents) in CA and asked how many think they'll go to the U of C system, how many expect to go to Cal State, how many expect to end up in community colleges? If everyone (or far too many) expects to go to the most highly subsidized public institutions, then there's an irrationally large constituency for the subsidy.
Just don't ask me to explain the coalition behind the prison construction boom...
Michael McIntyre
>>> delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU 06/21/01 18:44 PM >>>
Dropping into the EPI datazone for a moment, the current college wage premium is 45%. Clemson University graduates are likely to be richer over their lifetimes than the average American.
Public subsidies to higher education students are a pie-growing policy--one that I believe in--but they are also a blow for a less egalitarian society. I've never figured out why the odd coalition that supports them does so...
Brad DeLong