The Economics of Higher Education

by Clive R. Belfield, Henry M. Levin

Overview

Higher education is beginning to play an increasingly important role in the process of globalization, which promotes information technologies, development and diffusion of innovations and the ability of economies to benefit from rapid shifts in the production of goods, services, and ideas. In this volume the editors have brought together some of the most significant previously published academic papers describing how highly skilled graduate labour impacts on the economy. Topics covered include the economic benefits of higher education, student choice of subject and university, the technology of higher education, empirical research on the cost functions faced by universities, the funding and financing of university education, the market for higher education and how universities compete.

In their scholarly introduction, the editors provide an overview of the volume and offer suggestions for future research in this field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843760627
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	11/26/2003
Series:	The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics series , #165
Pages:	752
Product dimensions:	6.62(w) x 9.62(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edited by Clive R. Belfield, Assistant Professor of Economics, Queens College, City University of New York, US and Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of the Economics of Education and Director, National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, US

Table of Contents

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction Clive R. Belfield and Henry M. Levin
PART I ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
1. Elchanan Cohn and John T. Addison (1998), ‘The Economic Returns to Lifelong Learning in OECD Countries’
2. Mårten O. Palme and Robert E. Wright (1998), ‘Changes in the Rate of Return to Education in Sweden: 1968–1991’
3. Russell W. Rumberger and Scott L. Thomas (1993), ‘The Economic Returns to College Major, Quality and Performance: A Multilevel Analysis of Recent Graduates’
4. Dominic J. Brewer, Eric R. Eide and Ronald G. Ehrenberg (1999), ‘Does it Pay to Attend an Elite Private College? Cross-Cohort Evidence on the Effects of College Type on Earnings’
5. Linda Datcher Loury (1997), ‘The Gender Earnings Gap Among College-Educated Workers’
6. Kenneth J. Arrow (1973), ‘Higher Education as a Filter’
7. David A. Jaeger and Marianne E. Page (1996), ‘Degrees Matter: New Evidence on Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education’
8. Joop Hartog and Hessel Oosterbeek (1998), ‘Health, Wealth and Happiness: Why Pursue a Higher Education?’
9. Charles I. Jones (1995), ‘R&D-Based Models of Economic Growth’
10. Rebecca Henderson, Adam B. Jaffe and Manuel Trajtenberg (1998), ‘Universities as a Source of Commercial Technology: A Detailed Analysis of University Patenting, 1965–1988’
11. Nancy Birdsall (1996), ‘Public Spending on Higher Education in Developing Countries: Too Much or Too Little?’
PART II STUDENT DEMAND AND STUDENT PREFERENCES
12. Donald E. Heller (1997), ‘Student Price Response in Higher Education: An Update to Leslie and Brinkman’
13. Thomas J. Kane (1994), ‘College Entry by Blacks since 1970: The Role of College Costs, Family Background, and the Returns to Education’
PART III TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
14. Michael Rothschild and Lawrence J. White (1995), ‘The Analytics of the Pricing of Higher Education and Other Services in Which the Customers are Inputs’
15. Robert C. Dolan, Clarence R. Jung, Jr. and Robert M. Schmidt (1985), ‘Evaluating Educational Inputs in Undergraduate Education’
16. Julian R. Betts and Darlene Morell (1999), ‘The Determinants of Undergraduate Grade Point Average: The Relative Importance of Family Background, High School Resources, and Peer Group Effects’
17. Audrey Light and Wayne Strayer (2000), ‘Determinants of College Completion: School Quality or Student Ability?’
18. William E. Becker, Jr. (1974), ‘The University Professor as a Utility Maximizer and Producer of Learning, Research, and Income’
19. Marcia L. Bellas and Robert K. Toutkoushian (1999), ‘Faculty Time Allocations and Research Productivity: Gender, Race and Family Effects’
20. Ronald G. Ehrenberg (1991), ‘Projections of Shortages’
21. Michael R. Ransom (1993), ‘Seniority and Monopsony in the Academic Labor Market’
22. Geraint Johnes (1999), ‘The Management of Universities: President’s Lecture Delivered at Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Economic Society 6-8th April 1999’
PART IV COSTS
23. John Robst (2001), ‘Cost Efficiency in Public Higher Education Institutions’
24. Hooshang Izadi, Geraint Johnes, Reza Oskrochi and Robert Crouchley (2002), ‘Stochastic Frontier Estimation of a CES Cost Function: The Case of Higher Education in Britain’
25. Elchanan Cohn, Sherrie L.W. Rhine and Maria C. Santos (1989), ‘Institutions of Higher Education as Multi-Product Firms: Economies of Scale and Scope’
26. Halil Dundar and Darrell R. Lewis (1995), ‘Departmental Productivity in American Universities: Economies of Scale and Scope’
PART V FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION
27. George Psacharopoulos (1982), ‘The Economics of Higher Education in Developing Countries’
28. Nicholas Barr (1993), ‘Alternative Funding Resources for Higher Education’
29. Cecilia García-Peñalosa and Klaus Wälde (2000), ‘Efficiency and Equity Effects of Subsidies to Higher Education’
30. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Daniel R. Sherman (1984), ‘Optimal Financial Aid Policies for a Selective University’
31. Bruce Chapman (1997), ‘Conceptual Issues and the Australian Experience with Income Contingent Charges for Higher Education’
32. Martin Feldstein (1995), ‘College Scholarship Rules and Private Saving’
33. Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz (1998), ‘The Origins of State-Level Differences in the Public Provision of Higher Education: 1890–1940’
34. John Creedy and Patrick Francois (1993), ‘Financing Higher Education: A General Equilibrium Public Choice Approach’
35. Richard Jensen and Marie Thursby (2001), ‘Proofs and Prototypes for Sale: The Licensing of University Inventions’
PART VI MARKETS AND COMPETITION
36. Michael Rothschild and Lawrence J. White (1990), ‘The University in the Marketplace: Some Insights and Some Puzzles’
37. Gordon C. Winston (1999), ‘Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of Higher Education’
Name Index

Editorial Reviews

'. . . the authors have performed a very useful service for the academic community and for policymakers in bringing together such a comprehensive collection of papers; papers that either have or probably will stand the test of time.'

John Mace

'This book does pretty much what it says on the tin. It claims to be "an essential reference source for students, researchers and lecturers', and that is what it will be for anyone interested in current thinking on the economics of higher education. This is the one hundred and sixty-fifth volume in the International Library of Critical Writings in Economics: other disciplines and subject areas must jealously wish they were so well provided for. . . There is much of interest, and much to learn from, here.'

Malcolm Tight

'The volume is well structured and will provide a good starting point for economists coming to the subject. . . the selection of papers is a good one for a showcase volume and the volume is a very good addition to the International Library of Critical Writings series.'

Robert McNabb

'The volume is indeed very rich with theoretical and analytical contributions made by as many as 64 front-line economists to various economic aspects of higher education. . . The Economics of Higher Education stands as a major contribution to the literature on economics of education, that one would desire to have in their bookshelf as a handy valuable reference volume. . .'

Jandhyala B.G. Tilak