Individual policy preferences for vocational versus academic education: Microlevel evidence for the case of Switzerland

Marius Busemeyer, Maria Cattaneo and Stefan Wolter
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Marius Busemeyer: Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Maria Cattaneo: Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education (SKBF-CSRE), Aarau, Switzerland

No 68, Economics of Education Working Paper Series from University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW)

Abstract: This paper uses an original dataset from a survey conducted in Switzerland in 2007 to explore the dynamics of education policy preferences. This issue has largely been neglected in that most studies on welfare state attitudes do not look at preferences for education. We argue that education policy preferences vary along two dimensions: the distribution of resources across different sectors of the education system (that is, vocational training versus academic education) and the level of investment in education both from public and private sources. With regard to the former, the findings suggest that individual educational experience matters most, that is, individuals prefer to concentrate resources on those educational sectors that are closest to their own educational background. With regard to the latter, we find that affiliation to partisan ideologies matters much more than other variables. Proponents of the left demand more investment both from the state as well as from the private sector and oppose individual tuition fees.

Keywords: academic education; vocational training; individual policy preferences; Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iso:educat:0068

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