Caroline M. Hoxby, editor, National Bureau of Economic Research
2003
In this new volume, Harvard economist Hoxby presents a compilation of papers that take a close look at various aspects of school choice from the perspective of economic research. As she notes in her introduction, economists are particularly well suited to evaluate programs like vouchers, charter schools, and public school choice. They employ robust analytic models and understand market forces, efficiencies and inefficiencies, productivity gains and other factors essential to drawing conclusions about choice. In short, economists know how to simplify complex problems and arrive at useful answers, and this book does just that. For instance, Hanushek and Rivkin find that competition among schools (in Texas) does in fact boost teacher quality. Nechyba shows that choice can help break the link between housing and schooling. Fernandez and Rogerson show that vouchers can not only make markets more efficient, they can also redistribute resources (helping those who most need it). And Peterson et al. recount their studies showing the potential achievement gains from vouchers. The book also explains why public schools have incentives to resist accepting students from other schools and suggests that one reason so many parents seek special ed status for their kids is simply to get personal attention in an otherwise inattentive public system. The book's basic arguments favor choice, but the papers are not one-sided. They carefully explain the tradeoffs, caveats, and details that matter so much in complex public policy decisions. Though lay readers will find the chapters' conclusions more interesting than the methodologies used to reach them, this book could find a place on any serious education reformer's bookshelf. Unfortunately, a copy will cost you $75. The ISBN is 0226355330 and you can find it at http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/15642.ctl.
