Tiebout Sorting and Competition

Public and private schools operate in local economies in which households choose where to live based, in part, on access to schools and, in part, on features of local housing markets. These residential location choices, in turn, determine where children attend schools, the types of resources available to different schools and the degree to which schools are focused primarily on the educational needs of students. The sorting of students and resources that emerges across schools, known as Tiebout sorting, is therefore closely linked to features of local economies as well as institutional characteristics of school finance and assignment policies.

Duke Scholars

Author Thomas J. Nechyba Economics