From the Ballot to the Blackboard ? Partisan and Institutional Effects on Education Policy in the OECD

Most policymakers and economists agree that the quality of a nation’s human capital stock is a chief determinant of economic growth. However, public spending on education also has serious implications for the future distribution of resources in society. This study examines how these distributional concerns are realized in the arena of party politics. Three key questions are explored. Firstly, whether left-wing parties spend absolutely greater amounts on public education than do right-wing parties. Secondly, whether leftwing parties also spend a greater relative proportion of the government budget on education. And thirdly, how the structure of electoral institutions impacts such partisan patterns. Using a panel dataset of OECD countries from 1960 to 2000 the study finds that not only do left-wing parties spend both absolutely and relatively larger amounts on public education but also that this pattern is amplified in majoritarian electoral systems, which produce volatile swings in education spending.