On the entry barriers in the independent school market

Abstract: This paper examines and evaluates one of the entry barriers in the Swedish upper secondary school market,the governmental imposed restriction which states that the establishment of an independent school can notresult in substantial negative eects for municipal schools. Identication of what variables are consideredwhen ruling the establishment of an independent school inappropriate due to the risk of causing substantialnegative eects is carried out through quantitative analysis by gathering data from a stratied sample ofapplications sent in to the Swedish School Inspectorate 2011 and 2012 to start or expand independentschools. The probability of getting an application to start or expand independent school is regressed on thepredicted number of remaining students at municipal schools, on the predicted student population changeand on the municipality recommendation. The models developed show that the predicted number ofstudents left in municipal schools has a big impact on the probability of getting an application approvedwith distinct kinks in the explanatory power. The result also show that the predicted student populationschange is taken into account but that the municipal recommendation is not.