Sweden ♥ Friedman

"School Choice Works! The Case of Sweden" (Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation):

Swedish law since 1992 mandates that the government separate the financing of schools from the administration of schools, as Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman proposed in 1955. Sweden’s independent schools are now financed on par with municipal schools, so long as they are approved. Since the reform, Sweden has shown the following advances:

- Competition created by this new supply of schools has increased performance in Sweden’s municipal (government-run) schools. - Most independent schools in Sweden are run by for-profit educational companies, with no detrimental effects. - There is absolutely no evidence that the new “voucher system” has created a scenario where the rich are supplemented in their private choices. In fact, poorer Swedes choose independent schools at higher rates than do wealthy families. - Teachers’ unions in Sweden support the reform measures and indicate that they prefer to work in independent schools, where working conditions are better.

"School Choice Works! The Case of Sweden" (PDF) por Fredrik Bergstrom and Mikael Sandstrom.