Integrated Public Education, Fertility and Human Capital

This article analyzes the consequences of integration in public education. I show that the flight from the integrated multicultural public schools to private education increases private educational expenditures and, as a result, decreases fertility among more affluent parents whose children flee. In contrast, among less prosperous parents, integration in public education decreases their children’s human capital levels. I demonstrate that the poor, who cannot opt out, incur greater costs than the rich, who can resort to private education. I also analyze the overall society-wide effect of the integration policy and derive a condition that determines precisely whether this policy increases or decreases the average level of human capital in society.