The market for higher education does not operate like other markets. It exhibits several types of market failure that make government intervention imperative for protecting students and taxpayers. One market-based approach to solving problems of imperfect information is to simply provide more information to students, but information provision alone is not sufficient to protect students and taxpayers. New research shows that accountability systems, like gainful employment, that sanction or close poor-performing for-profit colleges, do not reduce college access, but instead cause students to attend colleges with better outcomes.
