An Economic Theory of Home Schooling

(Hardback)

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Description

In this book, Brian Baugus examines home schooling as an education enterprise, arguing that successful home school families have the same characteristics and motivations as entrepreneurs. Baugus examines the history and economic theories behind home schooling to explain the rational decision-making that motivates home schooling endeavors, examining dissatisfaction with mainstream education, expectations of return on investment, and resistance from established providers.

Reviews

Almost no one thinks American education, especially public education, is as good as it could and should be. The problem, as Brian Baugus explains using economic analysis, is that competing constituencies have competing incentives. Baugus' fascinating economic study of homeschooling gives us grounds for hope. As more and more people opt to homeschool, they exert pressure on the system as a whole, much as alert entrepreneurs can introduce creative destruction in a stagnant market. Homeschooling need not be an opt-out. It may be an option that benefits not only homeschooled students, but also, by disrupting a bad but stable equilibrium, benefits all students.

Author Bio

Brian Baugus is associate professor of economics at Regent University.