Education and the Characteristics of Public Goods. Overlaps and Differences.docVIP

Theoretical and Applied Economics Volume XVIII (2011), No. 9(562), pp. 33-40 Education and the Characteristics of Public Goods. Overlaps and Differences Tatiana MO?TEANU Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies tatiana_mosteanu@ Georgiana Camelia CRE?AN Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies georgiana_cretan@ Abstract. This paper aims to identify characteristics of the good education, particularly higher education, in terms of pure public goods, mixed goods and merit goods, starting from classical and neoclassical theories on public goods. The experience of several economists showed that the nature of the good education is not seen strictly according to its intrinsic characteristics, but also in relation to the functions and benefits released. So, the conclusion of our study shows that education, particularly higher education, meets limited aspects of pure public goods (non-rivalry and non- exclusion property) in terms of functions performed. Keywords: education; public goods; mixed goods; merit goods; private goods; externalities. JEL Codes: H23, H41, H42, H44, I20. REL Codes: 4A, 13B.  34 Tatiana Mo?teanu, Georgiana Camelia Cre?an 1. Introduction This paper aims to reinvent the reasons why the good called education is classified – from various theoretical perspectives as well as under the aspect of the possible destinations it really has – as ”public”, ”private” or ”mixed” goods. The discussion proposed by us is appropriate not necessarily through theoretical novelty but through pragmatic actuality, although, in essence, it remains a revisiting of several basic concepts and not an applied study. Current debates in the Romanian education system, for instance being under the empire of some performances appreciated as inappropriate to the requirements of the European modernity – to the desired structural convergence of the entire Roma