Förr irriterade jag mig på folk som slentrianmässigt skyller allt dåligt som händer på neo-liberalismen. Nu har jag bytt attityd, och börjat samla på dessa uttalanden likt sällsynta ädelstenar.
Jag har blivit ganska vass på att hitta dem. Ett säkert tecken är att Bo Malmberg är en av författarna. Här är en riktig pärla:
The idea of voucher-based independent school choice is commonly ascribed to Milton Friedman (1955). Friedman’s argument was that vouchers would decrease the role of government and expand the opportunities for free enterprise. He also believed that the introduction of competition would lead to improved school results. As we have seen in the Swedish case, this has not happened. As school choice has increased, differences between schools have increased but overall results have gone down. As has proved to be the case with other neo-liberal ideas, school choice—when tested—has not been able to deliver the results promised by theoretical speculation.
Denna höjdare är slutklämmen i "School Choice and Increasing Performance Difference: A Counterfactual Approach".
Vad de faktiskt gör i pappret? Det förklaras fullt begripligt i slutet av abstract:
Using a counterfactual approach, we compare the students’ variation in grades between observed schools of graduation and hypothetical schools of graduation, the latter being constructed by assigning students to their close to home school. The multilevel results indicate that school choice seem to increase between-school variation of grades
Resultatet känns både rimligt och väntat - men det är ju inte riktigt lika långtgående som papprets sista stycke...