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Joe Potts's avatar

I wonder if all this applies to policing. Judicial services (arbitration?).

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Boring Radical Centrism's avatar

>If government supplies numerous expensive low-value services, private competitors might decide to just outshine the government on other dimensions.

I think it's still curious why there aren't schools that are able to dramatically outshine the government on stuff like test scores or college admissions or practical learning in a way that isn't just selection effects. Britain has a famous one, but why aren't such schools common place?

https://time.com/5232857/michaela-britains-strictest-school/

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Iceberg's avatar

Don't forget that as far as education is concerned with signaling, there are almost no features of education that aren't important to a consumer; the features may be an end to themselves. Only those who are less interested in signaling will seek out alternatives to the standard model.

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Onos's avatar

Similar arguments could be made for various sorts of cheap labor — overseas, immigrants, AI.

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