ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the substantive issue of what exactly a 'public good' is, whether education is one, and whether this has implications for the role of the state in educational provision, funding and regulation. It explores whether the public goods dilemma shows, as suggested by Raz, that there will be 'market failure' in producing the desired ends of education, and issue addressed by Ruth Jonathan. She argues that the prisoner's dilemma shows that: market forces are no substitute for careful, collective deliberation about the ends and means of educational policy, even if the principal criterion for judging the success of policy were aggregate increases in wealth generation. Having explored some game theoretic notions, the chapter suggests that there is little reason for the pessimism of Raz and Jonathan about markets in educational provision and regulation. The externalities which are of particular concern in this thesis are equality of opportunity, education for democracy for all, and education for autonomy for all.
