… is from page 93 of John Lott’s 2007 book, Freedomnomics (footnotes deleted):
Private charities ensure that 80 to 90 percent of donations go to those in need, while only 20 percent of government welfare spending actually reaches the intended recipients. Likewise, non-teacher costs make up over 40 percent of the budgets in public schools compared to less than 20 percent in private ones. Overall, the per pupil costs of public schooling are about twice as much as for private schools despite the fact that children typically learn much faster in private institutions. These statistics indicate that private charities and schools can provide better service than public ones if they receive just half the funding.
The market isn’t perfect, of course. But the government is usually much further from perfection.
