  This paper investigates the distribution of public school expenditures across
U.S. school districts using a bayesian maximum entropy model. Covering the
period 2000-2016, I explore how inter-jurisdictional competition and household
choice influence spending patterns within the public education sector,
providing a novel empirical treatment of the Tiebout hypothesis within a
statistical equilibrium framework. The analysis reveals that these expenditures
are characterized by sharply peaked and positively skewed distributions,
suggesting significant socioeconomic stratification. Employing Bayesian
inference and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling, I fit these patterns
into a statistical equilibrium model to elucidate the roles of competition, as
well as household mobility and arbitrage in shaping the distribution of
educational spending. The analysis reveals how the scale parameters associated
with competition and household choice critically shape the equilibrium
outcomes. The model and analysis offer a statistical basis for shaping policy
measures intended to affect distributional outcomes in scenarios characterized
by the decentralized provision of local public goods.
