Question

State and federal governments actively support education at the primary, secondary, and collegiate levels. But they mandate education at the primary and secondary levels, while merely providing subsidies and loan guarantees at the collegiate level. Of the key rationales for public provision of education described, which do you think underpins this differential treatment?

Answer 1

Answer:

1. positive externalities

2. educational credit for the market failure

3. redistribution

4. failure to maximize the family utility

Explanation:

There are generally four rationales or logical thinking for the public provisions for education. They are the positive externalities, failure to maximize the family utility, educational credit for the market failure, redistribution.

Now each rationales provides reasons that educations is more likely to be underprovided without any intervention from the government. But many of them does not provide any reasons for the mandate of education.

Like suppose the government can support and solve any educational credit market failure by just offering some loan guarantees for the students while letting them chose to receive education or not.

Similarly government can also address positive externalities that are associated with productivity gains or just letting a person educated without any mandating it.

And finally, government redistributes the poor families through the progressive taxation or the offerings of free education without any mandating them.