In this paper we investigate the demand for local public school expenditure
s in Sweden using survey data, a method previously never applied to Swedish
data. We compare our results to those of earlier US studies, where the sam
e method is used in a different institutional setup. Estimating a linear de
mand specification, we find that demand is inelastic with respect to income
and taxprice, much in line with previous Swedish findings in a median vote
r framework. Estimation of a log-linear demand specification indicates that
the elasticities of demand for schooling are higher in Sweden than in the
US. Testing the hypothesis that municipal employees tend to have a higher d
emand for public spending than others, we conclude that income, as well as
taxprice and grants, enters the demand function differently for the two gro
ups of employees.