Hard choices in UK public policy: fees harm access – a case of pub economics

No matter who forms the new government in May 2010, the new set of ministers will have to tackle the worst deficit in UK public finance for decades. The 2010 to 2015 period will inevitably require policy-makers and citizens to make some hard choices – either raising taxes or pruning spending on previously highly valued public services. In the third of our ‘Hard Choices’ series, Nicholas Barr looks at the arguments against free higher education.