ABSTRACT This study critically evaluates the Swedish school system’s shift toward marketization since the early 1990s, noting that the anticipated educational gains from increased competition and innovation have not materialized significantly. We attribute major barriers to innovation in the school quasi-market to systemic institutional flaws. These include a national curriculum that lacks a clear mission for knowledge promotion, a grading system that undermines reliable measures of student knowledge, and insufficient, complicated information obstructing user choice. If these problems were remedied, the Swedish school system could harness the potential benefits of competition and the profit motive, ushering in substantial educational gains.