What has gone wrong?
In his latest book, Let Colleges Fail, economics professor Richard Vedder employs his insights to answer that question. The book’s subtitle, “The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education,” further elucidates his point of view. Consumers enjoy the results of markets where wide-open competition prevails, because the drive to succeed weeds out entities that fail to provide good value for the money. The problem in higher education, Vedder observes, is that competition is greatly hampered. Colleges can get into financial trouble just like failing businesses, “but, typically, third parties come to their rescue—governments allocate emergency funds and private donors respond to appeals for support,” he writes.
The higher-education system is riddled with features that protect the status quo and retard innovation.Moreover, the higher-education system is riddled with features that protect the status quo and retard innovation. Americans should therefore embrace changes that would allow much more competition than we now have.
