澳大利亚教育成本上升的分析外文翻译学士学位论文.docx
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澳大利亚教育成本上升的分析外文翻译学士学位论文.docx
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澳大利亚教育成本上升的分析外文翻译学士学位论文
中文2965字
本科毕业论文(设计)
外文翻译
原文:
AnAnalysisoftheRisingCostofEducationinAustralia
(extract)
Abstract
Humancapital,orabettereducatedlabourforce,isamajordeterminantofeconomicgrowthandproductivity.However,recenttrendsinthecostofeducationinAustraliamaycausegrowthandproductivitytosuffer.Forexample,duringtheperiod1982-2003inflationroseonaverageby4.4percentperannum,whereasthecostofeducationgrewoverallonaverageby7.8percent.ThishasmadeeducationarelativelyexpensiveitemamongAustralianhouseholds.ThispapercomparesandcontraststhecostofeducationinAustraliaandcomparableeconomieswiththecostofothergoodsandservicesembeddedintheCPI(ConsumerPriceIndex)basketusingthelatestavailablequarterlydata.Finally,themajordeterminantsoftherisingcostofeducationinAustraliaareexamined.Itisfound,interalia,thatovertheperiod1986-2003theincreasingnumberofstudentsenrolledatnon-governmentalprimaryandsecondaryschoolsandtheintroductionoftheHigherEducationContributionScheme(HECS)weremajorinfluencesontherisingcostofeducation,explainingsome98percentofvariationinthecostofeducationinAustraliaovertime.
1.Introduction
Thereisaconsensusamongeconomiststhathumancapitalplaysasubstantialroleinachievinghighereconomicgrowthandincreasedlabourproductivity.Newgrowththeoriesidentifythechannelsthroughwhicheconomicgrowthoccursandhowreformprocessescanstimulatetherateofinvestmentinphysicalcapital,humancapital,technologicalknow-howandknowledgecapital.Togetherthesefactorsexertasustainedandpositiveeffectonthelong-rungrowthoftheeconomy(Rebelo,1991).Forinstance,intheirseminalworkBarro(1991)andBarroandLee(1994)echoedtheimportanceofhumancapital(orabettereducatedlabourforce)asamajordeterminantofeconomicgrowthandproductivity.Morerecently,Valadkhani(2003)found,interalia,thatlong-termpoliciesaimedatacceleratingthevarioustypesofinvestmentinhumancapitalwillalsoimprovelabourproductivity.Ashigherproductivitytranslatesdirectlyintohigherpercapitaincome,Australians,asawhole,benefitfromhigherstandardsofhealthcare,educationandpublicwelfare.Veryrecently,Chou(2003,p397)foundthat“42percentofAustraliangrowthbetween1960and2000isattributabletotheriseineducationalattainment”.Therefore,itisimportanttomonitorthecostandaffordabilityofeducationthroughtime.However,comparedwiththepriceofmostothergoodsandservices,itwouldappearthatthecostofeducationinAustraliahasbeenincreasingatanalarmingrate.Moreover,withsimilartrendswitnessedinboththeUnitedKingdomandtheUnitedStates,itseemsthatAustraliaisnottheonlydevelopedcountrythathasexperiencedthisphenomenon.
Abettereducatedworkforcewillalmostcertainlyhavehigherincomeinthefutureandsowedonottakeissueinthispaperwiththeincreasingroleoftheprivatefundingofeducationalexpenses.Itisclearlyself-evidentthattheindefiniteprovisionof“free”educationbythevarioustiersofgovernment,throughcollectingtaxesfromthesocietyasawhole,isneitherequitablenorsustainableintothefuture.However,giventhehigherincomelevelsforgraduatesandthepositiveexternality(orpublicbenefits)associatedwithabettereducatedworkforceforsociety,costsshoulddesirablybesplitbetweenthetaxpayerandthestudentinsomesortofoptimalmanner.Inthecontextofhighereducation,theimportantpointisthatstudentsstudyinginareasyieldingsubstantialsocialbenefits-butperhapsassociatedwithrelativelylowmarketincome-shouldhaveaccesstointerest-free,income-contingentloansaswellasgovernmentdirectfundingforatleastsomeportionoftheirstudycost.However,iftheirareasofstudyarehighlymarketable(e.g.lawandmedicine),theymayhavelimitedaccesstosuchloans(King,2001,p.192).Nevertheless,thefundingofschoolsanduniversitiesremainsoneofthemostvigorouslydebatedissuesinAustralia.Itisinterestingtonotethatthetotaloperatingrevenueofthe40highereducationinstitutionsin2002was$11.6billionofwhich16percentwascollectedthroughHECSand41percent(54percentin1997)financedbyCommonwealthGovernmentGrants(DepartmentofEducation,ScienceandTraining,DEST,2002,p.3).Similarly,in1997theCommonwealthandStateGovernmentsaltogetherfunded:
(i)upto95percentofrevenueforgovernmentschools;and(ii)56percentofrevenuefornon-governmentprimaryandsecondaryschools(Borthwick,1999,p.1).
Ofcourse,attheoutset,itshouldbenotedthatpurchasingpowerparitystudiesindicateservicesareoftenmoreexpensiveinrichcountriesthaninpoorcountries(see,interalia,Dowrick,2001,andOECD,2001)andsoonemightexpectalabourintensiveservicelikeeducationtobeincreasinginrelativepriceasthecountrygrows.Morebroadly,Baumol(1997)alsoarguesthattherisingcostoflabour-intensiveindustries,suchasthearts,healthcare,andeducation,isinevitable.Pricerisesinserviceindustriescanthereforebeexpectedtobehigheronaveragethantheinflationratefortheeconomyasawhole.
Furthermore,therisingrateofpublic-sectorinflationcanbeexplainedby“thelowproductivityoflabour-intensivegovernmentactivitiescomparedwiththerelativelycapital-intensiveprivatesector”(Fordham,2003,p.574).MorespecificallyGundlachandW?
βmann(2001)examinedchangesintheproductivityofschoolingforsixEastAsiancountries,supportingtheviewthatthepriceofschoolingrosebymorethanthepriceofotherlabour-intensiveservicesin1980to1994.Therisingpriceofschoolingcanbeattributedtodecliningrelativeproductivityinschooling.AccordingtoGundlachandW?
βmann,thefadingproductivityofschoolinginEastAsiancountriesrelatestoamarkeddeclineinthepupil-teacherratio.
Therefore,itisimportanttonotethatitisquitenormalthatservicessuchaseducationprobablycanbeexpectedtobecomemoreexpensiveforanadvancedcountrysuchasAustralia.However,itnonethelessremainsausefulexercisetoinvestigatetowhatextentthecostofeducationhasbeenincreasingandwhatmaybethepossiblecausesofthisrise.
Thebasicobjectivesofthispaperarethereforeto:
(i)substantiatetheextenttowhichthecostofeducationhasbeenrisinginAustraliaandinternationally;and(ii)determinethemajorfactorscontributingtosuchimportantphenomenawhichundoubtedlywillhaveimplicationsforthelong-runprosperityofAustralia’seconomy.Itisnotourintentiontodelveintoalternativepolicyapproacheswhichattempttodealwiththeissueofthemostappropriatewaytofundtheeducationsystem.ForadetailedaccountoftheliteratureonthevariousviewsonthewayinwhicheducationatalllevelscanbefinancedseeBarr(1998),Borthwick(1999),Quiggin(1999),King(2001),Chapman(2001)andBurkeandLong(2002),amongstothers.
2.TheCostofEducationinAustralia,theUKandtheUS
Figure1showsthattheannualisedrateofincreaseinthecostofeducation,asmeasuredbyln(P)t-ln(P)t-4,inAustralia,theUKandtheUShasalmostalwaysbeensubstantiallyhigherthantherateofinflation.Moreover,accordingtoFigures2and3,thegapbetweentheCPI(1996=100)andtheeducationsub-groupindexhasbeenwideningcontinuouslywiththepassageoftime,particularlyintheUKandtheUS.FromFigure4itcanbeinferredthat,tosomeextent,thisgrowinggapmaybeattributedtothedifferencebetweenthegovernmentandprivateexpensesoneducationasaproportionofGDPcomparedwithpublicfundingalone.AscanbeseenfromFigure4,overtheperiod1992-2001,whiletheaverageshareofgovernmentexpensesinGDPwasaround4.8percent,theshareoftotalexpenses(bothprivateandgovernment)inGDPwas5.8percent,suggestingthattheshareofprivatespendingoneducationhasincreased.
Inasimilarway,Figure5showsthatanincreasingproportionofprimaryandparticularlysecondarypupilsstudyatprivateschools.In1986about30percentofsecondarypupilswereattendingprivateschools,whereasin2003thisfigurereachedabout35percent.Totalenrolmentsatbothprimaryandsecondaryprivateschoolsroseby1.7percentperannumoverthe15yearsfrom1986to2001,comparedwithamoremodestincreaseof0.18percentannuallyforgovernmentschools.
InFigure6wepresentthegeometricannualizedaveragegrowthrateofallgroupsintheCPIandtheeducationsub-groupforAustralia,theUKandtheUSduringtheperiod1993-2003.Therearetworeasonsforselectingthisparticularsampleperiod.First,consistentdatawereonlyavailableforallthreecountriesoverthisperiod,andsecond,inthebeginningofthissampleperiodandfollowingmanyotherOECDcountries,inflationtargetingbecametheprimarygoalofAustralianmonetarypolicy.Inthis,theReserveBankofAustraliaisrequiredtokeeptheoverallrateofinflationbetween2-3percentperannumoverthecourseofthebusinesscycle,butwithnosimilarcommitmenttokeepthegrowthrateofanysubgroupoftheCPIincheck.Thischartlendsfurthersupportthatthecostofeducationhasbeengrowingwellaboveinflationinthesethreecountriesovertheperiodinquestion.
AcursorylookatFigure6alsorevealsthattheannualgrowthrateofthecostofeducationinAustraliaisrelativelylowerthanthatintheUKandtheUS.TosomeextentthedifferencebetweenthegrowthrateofthecostofeducationandinflationinAustraliaandtheothertwocountrieswillbenarrowedifweconsidertheinstantaneousgrowthratesinlieuofthecompoundrates.
Table1presentsthecompoundandaver
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- 澳大利亚 教育 成本 上升 分析 外文 翻译 学士学位 论文