The Visible Hand: Markets, Politics, and Regulation in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Abstract

In this article Huriya Jabbar examines how the regulatory environment in post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans has influenced choice, incentives, and competition among schools. While previous research has highlighted the mechanisms of competition and individual choice—the “invisible hand”—and the creation of markets in education, Jabbar focuses here on how markets, especially those in education, are also governed by the “visible” hand of the government, which, through regulations and policies, influences how they operate and the outcomes they generate. She compares two governing agencies to examine how the different policy environments in New Orleans shaped school leaders' perceptions of competition and their behavioral responses to it. Her findings indicate that governing agencies constrain or enable school leaders' ability to respond to market pressures, sometimes mitigating and other times exacerbating inequities in the marketplace. These findings can inform other school districts across the United States as they adopt market-based reforms, providing directions for ensuring that such policies are equitable.