I enjoyed Tyler Cowen's BigBusiness: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero. Indeed, I have not yet come across a negative review. There is a chapter on crony capitalism ("How Much Does Big Business Control the American Government"?) Corporations are cited as spending about $3 billion a year lobbying the federal government but they spend $200 billion advertising (p. 171).
Sad to say, perhaps these corporations get the job done with more leverage and fewer dollars. That, of course refers to the "Bootleggers and Baptists" model developed by Bruce Yandle. Unmentioned in Cowen's chapter but perhaps the most powerful model in public choice. In politics, assembling winning coalitions matters most. In a world where many voters are rationally (and irrationally) ignorant, assembling such coalitions is quite doable and perhaps even inexpensive. Hence, "only" $3 billion.
But perhaps the worst cronyism involves the public schools. Politicians dare not cross the unions involved. Poor performance is routinely ascribed to "underfunding." But two scholars who know of what they speak reported this a few years ago: "Nor is money the answer. The U.S. spends $12,000 per pupil in grades K-12, one of the highest in the world. Among U.S. states, increments in spending per pupil between 1990 ad 2010 show no correlation with changes in student performance." (P.E. Peterson and E.A. Hanushek, WSJ, Sep 12, 2013).
This morning's WSJ includes a story on charter schools in New York.
The Economist (April 13, 2019) notes "Governments should stop regarding private education as the enemy." Who are "governments" in this case? They are the shameless coalition of cronies who are doing great harm to some of our poorest children and families.
Sad to say, perhaps these corporations get the job done with more leverage and fewer dollars. That, of course refers to the "Bootleggers and Baptists" model developed by Bruce Yandle. Unmentioned in Cowen's chapter but perhaps the most powerful model in public choice. In politics, assembling winning coalitions matters most. In a world where many voters are rationally (and irrationally) ignorant, assembling such coalitions is quite doable and perhaps even inexpensive. Hence, "only" $3 billion.
But perhaps the worst cronyism involves the public schools. Politicians dare not cross the unions involved. Poor performance is routinely ascribed to "underfunding." But two scholars who know of what they speak reported this a few years ago: "Nor is money the answer. The U.S. spends $12,000 per pupil in grades K-12, one of the highest in the world. Among U.S. states, increments in spending per pupil between 1990 ad 2010 show no correlation with changes in student performance." (P.E. Peterson and E.A. Hanushek, WSJ, Sep 12, 2013).
This morning's WSJ includes a story on charter schools in New York.
Most children at urban public schools aren’t learning what they should. So it’s encouraging to see New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ask fellow Democrats who run Albany to lift the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in New York.
The state now caps the total number of charters statewide at 460. But in New York City, where the demand is greatest and where 235 charters are now teaching 123,000 students, the subcap has already been reached. New York public schools teach about 1.14 million students overall with a budget of some $25 billion.
Why cap the number of good schools? The most recent state test results for grades 3-8 show that while the majority of New York students attending traditional public schools are not proficient in either math or English language arts (ELA), a majority of charter school students are.
For New York City, the charter performance is even more impressive when broken down by race. At city charters, 57% of black students and 54% of Hispanic students pass ELA, compared with 52% of white students statewide. It’s the same in math, with 59% of black students and 57% of Hispanics at city charters passing, against 54% of white students statewide.
The Economist (April 13, 2019) notes "Governments should stop regarding private education as the enemy." Who are "governments" in this case? They are the shameless coalition of cronies who are doing great harm to some of our poorest children and families.
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