In support of charter schools, author Andrei Shleifer of “State Versus Private Ownership” explained that from the “contracting perspective” described in his paper, private ownership (charter schools) is better than state ownership (public schools) for the following reasons. 1. State run school incentives for cost reduction are weak. 2. State run school incentives for innovations are weak. 3. State run schools face a powerful run union (American Federation of Teachers), which puts more emphasis on the teachers than the education of the students. Shleifer then goes on to explain in contrast the reasons why charter schools are better and dispel common critics beliefs on why public education is better.
