KNOWLEDGE AND HIGHER EDUCATION: PUBLIC/PRIVATE ‘GOODS’ DIVIDE

Serguei Mikhailitchenko

Economy & Business Journal, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 8-15

Abstract: While it is generally understood that higher education is a mixed private/public good, researchers rarely look at what within this mix is, or at least can become, private goods or private goods. Knowledge as a product of higher education is generally considered a predominantly public good. However, frequently researchers ignore rivalry and excludability in obtaining knowledge and often confuse positive externalities in education with the characteristics of a public good. Disaggregating knowledge into stocks and flows of knowledge and, further disaggregating flows into processes of acquiring knowledge and the process of expanding the knowledge base might help in solving the private/public ‘good’ divide puzzle. This paper also looks at the economic properties of the operational functions of a higher education institution and discusses their potential of becoming predominantly public or even global goods. The study considers implications of the public/private nature of knowledge and education for higher education reform.

Keywords: public goods; externalities; market failure; higher education reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isp:journl:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:8-15

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