24-5 |
|
L. KALAMBOKIDIS, Dept. of Applied Economics, Univ. of Minnesota, 1994 Buford Ave., 217-F Classroom Office Bldg., Saint Paul, MN 55108-6040 The current economic climate has placed significant pressure on the budgets of state and county governments. In turn, those governments have compelled state Cooperative Extension Services to defend their continued receipt of state and county funding. Even when policymakers are persuaded of the efficacy of an Extension program, they have questioned whether the program should be supported with scarce public dollars rather than through user charges. In contrast with the private value that accrues to an individual who purchases a private good, public value is created when a service benefits society as a whole. For example, the consumption of a restaurant meal benefits only the consumer, but a public health program ultimately benefits the entire community. When a service is recognized as having significant public value, even citizens who do not directly receive the service will endorse its public funding. When a service is not recognized as having significant public value, citizens believe that it should have the same status as a private good, and should be purchased on the private market for a price. Cooperative Extension, the recipient of funding from several levels of government, is challenged to explain why its services should be public rather than private. Public sector economics addresses this very challenge by identifying the conditions that call for a service to be publicly funded. Those conditions include the classic cases of market failure (imperfect information, externalities, public goods, and natural monopoly) as well as the desire of a community to ensure fairness and justice. When those conditions are met, collective action (possibly, though not necessarily, through government intervention) leads to general improvements in welfare. This presentation, based on a 2004 Journal of Extension article, describes how to apply the principles of public sector economics to persuasively argue for Extension's public support.
Session 24, Are you making a difference: Evaluating the impact of education programs
2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana |