Do Differences in Heterogeneity and Intergovernmental Competition Help Explain Variation in the Private School Share? Evidence From Early California Statehood

Abstract

This essay documents the persistent tnterstate and mtrastate differences in private Abstract school enrollment shares in the United States and argues that heterogeneity of the population and the extent of intergovernmental competition could be important factors in explaining these differences. To further explore this argument, this article considers determmants of the public and private school shares in the early days of California statehood. Measures of the heterogeneity of school distncts, of the resultant ability of districts to provide publccly the optimal amount of education for the majority of their residents, and of the extent of intergovernmental competition are shown to explain a sIgnificant portion of the variation across California counties in the public and private shares. Furthermore, simulation results indicate that these determinants of private school demand played an important role in the evolution of the equilibrium public and pnvate shares in the early years of California statehood.