The Peculiarities of Public and Private Production: Within School Sorting of Pupils

Dills, Angela K.; Mulholland, Sean E.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.889565

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The Peculiarities of Public and Private Production: Within School Sorting of Pupils

33 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2006

See all articles by Angela K. Dills

Sean E. Mulholland

Western Carolina University

Date Written: July 2006

Abstract

Economists predict inefficiencies in public relative to private production. This paper examines whether public and private institutions similarly sort students and teachers within schools. We use two nationally representative samples, covering high school and early elementary school. Public schools determine class size by ability and, to a lesser extent, by behavior. Private schools, however, primarily sort teachers, assigning teachers reporting greater control over discipline to larger classes. The endogeneity of class size due to non-random matching of students and teacher within institutions is due to uniquely different processes within public and private schools.

Keywords: Public production, education, class size

JEL Classification: L33, H40, I21

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Dills, Angela K. and Mulholland, Sean E., The Peculiarities of Public and Private Production: Within School Sorting of Pupils (July 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=889565 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.889565