Our goal for the first session is twofold: First, we aim to understand the origin and historical use of the theory of public goods argument that's frequently deployed in debates on the provisioning of education. Second, we aim to critically evaluate the claims the public goods argument makes in order to identify its limitations when informing education policy. We will be reading:  Daviet, B. (2016) Revisiting the Principle of Education as a Public Good. Education Research and Foresight Series, No. 17. Paris: UNESCO. Williams, G. (2016) 'Higher education: Public good or private commodity?' London Review of Education, 14 (1), 131–42.