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Dissertation Information for David Welsch

NAME:
- David Welsch

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Economics

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (2005)

ADVISORS:
- Gerhard Glomm

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- William C. Becker
- MIchael Kaganovich
- Brian M. Peterson

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: Essays on education policy

Abstract: There are significant questions with regard to education, its effects, how the government does or should fund or regulate it, and the policy implications of these government funding or regulation decisions. I study three of these questions.

First, I examine the possible effects of a stylized fact: most poor countries spend much more on tertiary education per student compared to primary and secondary education spending per student, while in rich countries this ratio is much smaller. I present a model with heterogeneous agents and a government where the government provides different amounts of funding for primary plus secondary schooling and tertiary schooling. I find that insufficient funding for primary and secondary school hurts every individual in the economy as well as decreasing output and increasing inequality, while excessive funding for primary plus secondary school per pupil leads to a huge tax burden, decreasing the welfare of all individuals.

Next, I examine how competition through the entry of charter schools affects the policies and various funding decisions of the current public schools. I find strong evidence that when faced with competition from charter schools public school districts spend less on teacher aides and other employees that support teachers, more on principals and vice principals, and more on adult education. I further find a higher percentage of resources are collected locally, and a greater percentage of expenditures are outsourced.

Finally, I examine the possible economic ramifications of affirmative action policies in college admission. I present a model which consists of a large number of students that differ by race and by the stock of human capital of their parents. The college in my model has an admission requirement. The computational experiments reveal that under affirmative action some minority students, who were already attending college without affirmative action, acquire less human capital because affirmative action reduces their incentive to exert effort in high school.

MPACT Scores for David Welsch

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-10-06 21:54:21

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