Question

As Stamford International University continues to grow and grow, expanding into post graduate, and doctorate courses, many have asked for higher education to be free. Describe the advantages and disadvantages to the economy, if education was free in Thailand.

Answer 1

The obvious advantage to the economy for making higher education free is the production of highly skilled and qualified individuals who will help drive the economy forward. search high skilled individuals will be the driving force of the economy such as business operators, sophisticated engineers as well as the social scientists Who will help with building an accelerating economy with higher output, higher efficiency as well as high income which will help lift the living standards much higher. the economy will do well financially, in terms of education, and might even help to reduce the poverty and social ills. there will be a minimization of redundant human resources who are not skilled; with education, such individuals will all be in the school and learning something which is beneficial for their future.

The obvious disadvantage of making high education free is the outflow of money for the government for a sustained period of time. the government must engage in deficit spending to finance free education such as their spending on teachers' salaries, facilities in the school, and even the establishment of many schools around the country which requires massive capital investment from the government. this could take a toll on the government finances if the government has no tangible backing from tax income. the government then needs to resort to borrowing in the loanable funds market, which will lead to crowding out effect and leading to lower private investment. it is also good to know that the government will have to service the interests payments which can be hefty given the size of deficit spending that they have undertaken to finance the free education