Intergenerational Conflict, Partisan Politics, and Public Higher Education Spending: Evidence from the German States

Ulrich Oberndorfer () and Viktor Steiner ()
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Ulrich Oberndorfer: ZEW Mannheim
Viktor Steiner: Free University of Berlin

No 2417, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We analyze potential effects of demographic change and political constellations on higher education spending. In our panel analysis of west German states (Laender) for the period 1985 to 2002 we find empirical evidence for the hypothesis of a negative relationship between demographic aging and spending on public higher education. In contrast to the hypothesis of the classical partisan theory that implies higher public expenditures under leftist parties, we find that governments under conservative parties or a coalition between social democrats and conservatives spend more on public higher education than governments run by the social-democratic party alone.

Keywords: demographic change; public higher education spending; partisan politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 H72 I22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2006-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eec, nep-pbe and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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