香港专上副学位课程中的市场失灵与政府角色

Financing Higher Education: Market Failures and Government Roles in the Development of Postsecondary Sub-degree Programs in Hong Kong SAR

教育是一项具有相当可观收益的投资。大多数国家将资源集中于基础教育阶段, 专上副学位教育的资助则主要由市场承担。各利益相关者的成本一收益计算会影响其参与的动力和融资策略:学生受到预期经济回报的驱动,教育提供者受到利润和社会影响力的激励, 政府则受到社会目标和经济发展的影响。由于外部性、信息不对称和规模经济的存在, 市场通常是失灵的, 需要政府的干预。本文以香港为例,讨论了教育市场可能会如何失灵以及政府可能会如何干预教育的发展。

Education is investment with considerable benefits. Most countries focus resources in their basic education. The financing of postsecondary sub-degree education is largely left to the market. The cost/benefit calculus of the stakeholders influences participation motivation and financing strategies. Students are motivated by the expected economic returns, the providers the profits and social influence, and the State the social goals and economic development. Because of externalities, information asymmetry and scale economies, market usually fails and the State needs to intervene. This paper discusses how the market may fail and the State may intervene in the development of education, taking examples from Hong Kong.