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Academic Standards as Public Goods and Varieties of Free-Rider Behaviour

Academic Standards as Public Goods and Varieties of Free-Rider Behaviour Economists have long recognized that goods allowing non-rival enjoyment accompanied by costly exclusion - pure public goods - present a challenge to efficient production because beneficiaries tend to understate their willingness to support such goods: such 'free-riders' realize that they cannot be denied access and may choose to enjoy without providing appropriate contribution. 'Academic standards' help identify the quality of academic performance (e.g., research, educated students), but the benefit they confer (e.g., reputation) strongly resembles a public good with its corresponding tendency to elicit free-riding and inefficiently low levels of production or support. This paper explores the manner in which such standards confer benefit, exhibit public good characteristics, and elicit free-riding and 'underproduction' in various parts of the academic community. It examines the resulting challenge to the maintenance of academic quality and the difficulty of discouraging free-rider behaviour. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Education Economics Taylor & Francis

Academic Standards as Public Goods and Varieties of Free-Rider Behaviour

Marks, Denton
Education Economics , Volume 10 (2): 19 – Aug 1, 2002
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References (31)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1469-5782
eISSN
0964-5292
DOI
10.1080/09645290210126896
Publisher site
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Abstract

Economists have long recognized that goods allowing non-rival enjoyment accompanied by costly exclusion - pure public goods - present a challenge to efficient production because beneficiaries tend to understate their willingness to support such goods: such 'free-riders' realize that they cannot be denied access and may choose to enjoy without providing appropriate contribution. 'Academic standards' help identify the quality of academic performance (e.g., research, educated students), but the benefit they confer (e.g., reputation) strongly resembles a public good with its corresponding tendency to elicit free-riding and inefficiently low levels of production or support. This paper explores the manner in which such standards confer benefit, exhibit public good characteristics, and elicit free-riding and 'underproduction' in various parts of the academic community. It examines the resulting challenge to the maintenance of academic quality and the difficulty of discouraging free-rider behaviour.

Journal

Education Economics – Taylor & Francis

Published: Aug 1, 2002

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