The Productivity Collapse in Schools

This paper presents alternative estimates of output price change in education and shows significant increases for education relative to prices for other goods and services. These price increases result from productivity declines of up to 3 percent per year in recent decades. To assess the significance of productivity change in education, Rothstein and Miles (1995) have suggested adjusting spending in education for the increase in a service sector output price index. By this comparison, education has had relative productivity declines of 3 1/2 percent per year compared to the service sectors- sectors identified as epitomizing low productivity growth