The effect of public and private competition on high school outputs in New York State

An extensive data set on upstate New York school district is used to test whether competition from private schools and competition within the public school sector positively affect public school output and again whether different types of expenditures affect output differently. It finds generally significant positive effects of private competition for some measures of school output, but little if any on measures such as the percent of students receiving high quality statewide Regents diplomas. It also finds that private school competition could reduce spending in the non-instructional categories, while competition from other public schools might encourage it. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.