UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND POLICY STUDIES
SYLLABUS
ADMPS 3089: ECONOMICS & FINANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Spring 2016
INSTRUCTOR:
M. Najeeb Shafiq
Associate Professor of Education, Economics
& International Affairs
CONTACT INFO.:
Phone: (412) 648-1832
Room: 5909 Posvar Hall
Email: [email protected]
CLASS TIME:
Mondays 3-5 PM
CLASS LOCATION:
5915 Posvar Hall
OFFICE HOURS:
Thursdays 4:30-6:30 PM
To make an appointment please leave an email message.
OVERVIEW
This course provides an overview of the economics and finance of higher education. It is
designed for doctoral students in the School of Education. The course has two goals. The
first goal is to provide students with an up to date treatment of where the empirical
economics literature is, to hone their skills as empirical economists and their ability to do
independent research, and to suggest “under researched” areas that they may pursue. During
each class the professor and the students will discuss several papers in detail. The second
goal is for students to acquire an understanding of higher education finance in the United
States, with an emphasis on the analysis of financial policies and current issues at the
national, state and institutional levels.
REQUIRED READINGS AND PARTICIPANT RESPONSIBILITIES
Required texts:
Ehrenberg, Ronald (2002). Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Weisbrod, Burton, Jeffrey Ballou, and Evelyn Asch (2010). Mission and Money: Understanding
the University. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Required journal articles:
Reading journal articles teaches us how research is done. This course’s journal article
readings include a mix of classic and recent articles. The required readings will be made
available through CourseWeb at http://courseweb.pitt.edu or distributed in class. Optional
readings will be made available upon request.
Recommended texts:
Toutkoushian, Robert and Michael Paulsen (2007). Applying Economics to Institutional Research
New Directions for Institutional Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Basss.
Brewer, Dominic and Patrick J. McEwan (2010). Economics of Education. New York: Elsevier
Pindyck, Robert and Daniel Rubinfeld (2012). Microeconomics. New York: Prentice Hall. Or
virtually any microeconomics textbook, including Economics: Principles and Policy by William
Baumol and Alan Blinder; Economics (David Colander), Economics (Michael Parkin), Economics
(Joseph Stiglitz and Carl Walsh), and Economics (Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus).
Treimen, Donald (2009). Quantitative Data Analysis: Doing Social Research to Test Ideas. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Berry, William and Mitchell Sanders (2005). Understanding Multivariate Research: A Primer for
Beginning Social Scientists. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Hanushek, Eric and Finis Welch (2006-2010). Handbook of the Economics of Education 1-4.
Amsterdam: North Holland.
Murnane, Richard and John B. Willett (2010). Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in
Educational and Social Science Research. New York: Oxford University Press.
GRADING
Class attendance and participation
Response forms
Paper- Background of US higher education finance
Paper- Empirical research
10 points
30 points
30 points
30 points
100 points
Class attendance participation: Class participation is very important. Those who come to class
regularly, punctually, and prepared (and willing) to discuss the readings will get maximum
credit for class participation. Please contact the instructor if you are unable to attend class.
Response Forms: Each class, it is imperative that members of the class read the assigned
readings in a timely (i.e., by the time class meets) and thorough fashion. Members of the
class will be asked to fill out a Response Form prior to attending class. Completion of the
Response Form is a student’s ticket to attend class. This course requirement is aimed at
ensuring lively and insightful discussion during meetings of the class. Each Response Form
should be 1 double-spaced page in length, and will be graded check plus or check minus.
Students must prepare a Response Form for each article; for example, if there are 3 readings,
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then the student must prepare 3 Response Forms. The Response Form is provided at the
end of the syllabus.
Higher education finance paper: The purpose of this paper is to provide students with a
background on the higher education finance system in the U.S. The paper is intended to
serve as a resource for the student’s future pursuits in research and policymaking. Directions
for the paper are included at the end of this syllabus.
Empirical research paper: The purpose of the research paper is for students to develop a
research topic that can eventually evolve into a conference paper, doctoral dissertation
chapter, or journal publication. Directions for the paper are included at the end of this
syllabus.
Grading: A: 92.5-100; A-: 87.5-92; B+: 82.5-87; B: 77.5-82; B-: 72.5-77. If the standard of an
paper does not meet minimum standards, you may be asked to submit a revised version. The
highest grade for a revised assignment is B.
The letter grades should be interpreted as follows:
A
Outstanding achievement.
BAExcellent achievement.
C+
B+
Very good achievement.
C
B
Good achievement
CF
Fail
Fair achievement.
Not wholly satisfactory achievement.
Marginal achievement.
Unsatisfactory achievement.
DEPARTMENTAL GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
The purpose of grievance procedures is to ensure the rights and responsibilities of faculty
and students in their relationships with each other. When a student in ADMPS believes that
a faculty member has not met his or her obligations (as an instructor or in another capacity)
as described in the Academic Integrity Guidelines, the student should follow the procedure
described in the Guidelines by (1) first trying to resolve the matter with the faculty member
directly; (2) then, if needed, attempting to resolve the matter through conversations with the
chair/associate chair of the department; (3) if needed, next talking to the associate dean of
the school; and (4) if needed, filing a written statement of charges with the school-level
academic integrity officer. [Dr. Michael Gunzenhauser is the Associate Dean and Integrity
Officer.]
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Students in this course will be expected to comply with the University of Pittsburgh's Policy
on Academic Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any reason
during the semester will be required to participate in the procedural process, initiated at the
instructor level, as outlined in the University Guidelines on Academic Integrity. This may
include, but is not limited to, the confiscation of the examination of any individual suspected
of violating University Policy. Furthermore, no student may bring any unauthorized
materials to an exam, including dictionaries and programmable calculators.
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DISABILITY SERVICES
If you have a disability that requires special testing accommodations or other classroom
modifications, you need to notify both the instructor and Disability Resources and Services
no later than the second week of the term. You may be asked to provide documentation of
your disability to determine the appropriateness of accommodations. To notify Disability
Resources and Services, call (412) 648-7890 (Voice or TTD) to schedule an appointment.
The Disability Resources and Services office is located in 140 William Pitt Union on the
Oakland campus.
STATEMENT ON CLASSROOM RECORDING
To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record classroom lectures,
discussion and/or activities without the advance written permission of the instructor, and
any such recording properly approved in advance can be used solely for the student’s own
private use.
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Preliminary Syllabus
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
Class 1: Introduction
6 January 2016
Review of syllabus
SECTION II: THE DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
Class 2: The Economic Framework for Understanding Demand
11 January 2016
Becker, Gary (1993). “Nobel Lecture: The Economic Way of Looking at Behavior,” Journal
of Political Economy 101, pp. 385-409.
Eide, Eric and Mark Showalter (2010) “Human Capital,” In Dominic Brewer and Patrick
McEwan, eds., Economics of Education, pp. 27-32.
- Response Form not required
Gallup (2014). “Lumina Foundation/Gallup Poll 2014: Postsecondary Education:
Aspirations and Barriers.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/182462/postsecondaryeducation-aspirations-barriers.aspx
- Response Form not required
Luo, Tian and Richard Holden (2014). “Investment in Higher Education by Race and
Ethnicity,” Monthly Labor Review, March.
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2014/article/investment-in-higher-education-byrace-and-ethnicity.htm
Toutkoushian, Robert (2001). “Do Parental Income and Educational Attainment Affect the
Initial Choices of New Hampshire’s College-Bound Students?” Economics of Education
Review 20, pp. 245-262.
(Optional) Light, Audrey and Wayne Strayer (2002). “From Bakke and Hopwood: Does Race affect
College Attendance and Completion?” Review of Economics and Statistics 84, pp. 34-44.
(Optional) Schultz, Theodore (1980). “Nobel Lecture: The Economics of Being Poor,” Journal of
Political Economy 88, pp. 639-651.
(Optional) Charles, Camille, Vincent Roscigno, and Kimberly Torres (2007). “Racial Inequality and
College Attendance: The Mediating Role of Parental Investments,” Social Science Research 36,
pp. 329–352.
(Optional) Black, Sandra and Amir Sufi (2002). “Who Goes to College—Differential Enrollment
by Race and Family Background,” Working Paper No. 9310, National Bureau of Economic
Research.
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(Optional) Ganderton Philip and Richard Santos (1995). “Hispanic College Attendance and
Completion: Evidence from the High School and Beyond Surveys,” Economics of Education
Review 14, pp. 35–46.
Class 3: The History and Politics of Higher Education in the United States
18 January 2016
** No Class—Martin Luther King Day
Please see the voice PowerPoint slides on Courseweb. These will provide you with a basic
contextual understanding.
(Optional) Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz (1999). “The Shaping of Higher Education in the
Formative Years in the United States, 1890-1940,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13, pp. 3762.
(Optional) Ehrenberg, Ronald (2012). “American Higher Education in Transition,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 26(1), pp. 193–216
(Optional) Kane, Thomas and Cecilia Rouse (1999). “The Community College: Educating Students
at the Margin between College and Work,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13(1), pp. 63-84.
(Optional) Deming, David, Claudia Goldin, Lawrence Katz (2012). “The For-Profit
Postsecondary School Sector: Nimble Critters or Agile Predators?” Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 26(1), pp. 139-164.
Class 4: The Private Returns to Higher Education
25 January 2016
Cohn, Elchanan and Woodrow Hughes (1994). “A Benefit-Cost Analysis of Investment in
College Education in the United States: 1969-1985,” Economics of Education Review
13(2), pp. 109-123.
*Presentation by Aaron Anthony on the price of college
Oreopoulos, Philip and Uros Petronijevic (2013). “Making College Worth It: A Review of
the Returns to Higher Education,” Future of Children 23(1), 41-65.
Jaeger, David and Marianne Page (1996). “Degrees Matter: New Evidence on Sheepskin
Effects in the Returns to Education,” Review of Economics and Statistics 78, pp. 733-740.
(Optional) Hu, Shouping and Gregory Wolniak (2013). “College Student Engagement and Early
Career Earnings: Differences by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Academic Preparation,” Review
of Higher Education, 36(2), pp. 211–233.
(Optional) Belfield, Clive and Thomas Bailey (2011). “The Benefits of Attending Community
College: A Review of the Evidence,” Community College Review 39, pp. 46–68.
(Optional) Fryer, Roland and Michael Greenstone (2010). “The Changing Consequences of
Attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” American Economic Journal: Applied
Economics 2, pp. 116-148.
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(Options) Lang, Kevin and Russell Weinstein (2013). “The Wage Effects of Not-for-Profit and ForProfit Certifications: Better Data, Somewhat Different Results,” Working Paper 19135,
National Bureau of Economic Research.
(Optional) Krueger, Alan, Jesse Rothstein and Sarah Turner (2006). “Race, Income and College in 25
Years: Evaluating Justice O'Connor's Conjecture,” American Law and Economics Review 8, pp.
282-311.
Class 5: The Social Returns to Higher Education and the Quality of Higher
Education
1 February 2016
Toutkoushian, Robert, M. Najeeb Shafiq and Michael Trivette (2013). “Accounting for Risk
of Noncompletion in Private and Social Rates of Return to Higher Education,”
Journal of Education Finance 39, pp. 73–95.
Brewer, Dominic, Eric Eide and Ronald Ehrenberg (1999). “Does it Pay to Attend an Elite
Private College? Cross Cohort Evidence on the Effects of College Type on
Earnings,” Journal of Human Resources 34(1), pp. 104-123.
Beeson, Patricia and Edward Montgomery (1993). “The Effects of Colleges and Universities
on Local Labor Markets,” Review of Economics and Statistics 75, pp. 753-761.
(Optional) Eide, Eric, Dominic Brewer and Ronald Ehrenberg (1998). “Does it Pay to Attend an
Elite Private College? Effects of Undergraduate College Quality on Graduate School
Attendance,” Economics of Education Review 17, pp. 371-376
(Optional) Moretti, Enrico (2004). “Estimating the Social Return to Higher Education: Evidence
from Longitudinal and Repeated Cross-Section Data,” Journal of Econometrics, pp. 175-212.
(Optional) McMahon, Walter (2009). Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private and Social Benefits of
Higher Education. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
(Optional) Cecile Rouse (1998). “Do Two-Year Colleges Increase Overall Educational Attainment?
Evidence from the States,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 17(4), pp. 593-620
(Optional) Buckles, Kasey, Andreas Hagemann, Ofer Malamud, Melinda Morrill, and Abigail
Wozniak (2013). “The Effects of College Education on Health,” Working Paper No. 19222,
National Bureau of Economic Research.
(Optional) Dale, Stacy and Alan Krueger (2011). “Estimating the Return to College Selectivity over
the Career Using Administrative Earnings Data”, Working Paper No. 17159, National
Bureau of Economic Research.
(Optional) Hoekstra, Mark (2009). “The Effect of Attending a Flagship State University on Earnings:
A Discontinuity – Based Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics 91, pp. 717-724
(Optional) Rodney Andrews, Jing Li, and Michael Lovenheim (2012). “Quantile Treatment Effects of
College Quality on Earnings: Evidence from Administrative Data in Texas,” Working Paper
18068, National Bureau of Economic Research.
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Class 6: The Effects of Federal and State Aid on Students
8 February 2016
* Danielle Lowry to present on aid possibilities for students
Dynarski, Susan (2003). “Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College
Attendance and Completion,” American Economic Review 93(1), pp. 279-288
Cornwell, Christopher, David Mustard, and Deepa Sridhar (2006). “The Enrollment Effects
of Merit-Based Financial Aid: Evidence from Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship,” Journal
of Labor Economics 24(4), pp. 761-786.
Zhang, Liang and Eric Ness (2010). “Does State Merit-based Aid Stem Brain Drain,”
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 32(2), pp. 143-165.
(Optional) Seftor, Neil and Sarah Turner (2002). “Back to School: Federal Student Aid Policy and
Adult College Enrollment,” Journal of Human Resources (Spring 2002): 336-352
(Optional) Castleman, Benjamin and Bridget Terry Long (2013). “Looking Beyond Enrollment: The
Causal Effects of Need –Based Grants on College Access, Persistence and Graduation’
NBER Working Paper 19306.
(Optional) Toutkoushian, Robert and M. Najeeb Shafiq (2010). “A Conceptual Analysis of State
Support for Higher Education: Appropriations versus Need-Based Financial Aid,” Research in
Higher Education 51(1), pp. 40–64.
(Optional) Thomas Kane (1994). “College Attendance by Blacks Since 1970: The Role of College
Costs, Family Background and the Returns to Education,” Journal of Political Economy 102(5),
pp. 878-911.
Class 7: Pricing and Student Loans
15 February 2016
Leslie, Larry and Paul Brinkman (1987). “Student Price Response in Higher Education: The
Student Demand Studies,” Journal of Higher Education 58(2), pp. 115-132.
Avery, Christopher and Sarah Turner (2012). “Student Loans: Do College Students Borrow
Too Much or Not Enough?” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(1), pp. 165-192.
Rothstein, Jesse and Cecilia Rouse (2011). “Constrained After College: Student Loans and
Early-Career Occupation Choices,” Journal of Public Economics 95, pp. 149-165.
Class 8: The Effects of Institutional Financial Aid
22 February 2016
Linsenmeier, David, Harvey Rosen and Cecilia Elena Rouse (2006). “Financial Aid Packages
and College Enrollment Decisions: An Econometric Case Study,” Review of Economics
and Statistics 88(1), pp. 126-145.
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Castleman, Benjamin and Lindsay Page (2016). “Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An
Experiment to Increase Financial Aid Renewal and Sophomore Year Persistence,”
Journal of Human Resources 51, forthcoming.
(Optional) Page, Lindsay and Judith Scott-Clayton (2016). “Improving College Access in the United
States: Barriers and Policy Responses,” Economics of Education Review, forthcoming.
Class 9: The Effects of Affirmative Action on Students
29 February 2016
Hinrichs, Peter (2016). “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Segregation in Higher Education,”
Working Paper 21831, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Arcidiacono, Peter and Michael Lovenheim (2016). “Affirmative Action and Quality-Fit
Tradeoff,” Journal of Economic Literature, forthcoming.
Cortes, Kalena (2010). “Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence
from the Texas Top 10% Plan,” Economics of Education Review 29(6), pp. 1110-1124.
(Optional) Eleanor Dillon and Jeffrey Smith, “The Determinants of Mismatch Between Students and
Colleges”, NBER Working Paper 19286 (August 2013)
7 March 2016
**Spring Break-- No Class
SECTION IV: THE SUPPLY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Class 10: Higher Education Finance & Higher Education Production Functions
*Aizat Nurshatayeva to present on alternative sources of higher education finance
14 March 2016
Winston, Gordon (1999). “Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of
Higher Education,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13(1), pp. 13-36.
Cheslock, John and Rodney Hughes (2011). “Differences Across States in Higher Education
Finance Policy,” Journal of Education Finance 36(4), pp. 369-393.
Hurlburt, Steven and Rita Kirshstein. (2012) “Spending: Where does the Money Go?”
Washington, DC: The Delta Cost Project at American Institutes for Research.
- Overview Form not required
Webber, Douglas (2012). “Expenditures and Postsecondary Graduation: An Investigation
Using Individual Level Data from the State of Ohio,” Economics of Education Review
31(5), pp. 615-618
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(Optional) Webber, Douglas and Ronald Ehrenberg (2010). “Do Expenditures Other Than
Instructional Expenditures Affect Graduation and Persistence Rates in American Higher
Education,” Economics of Education Review 29(6), pp. 947-958.
(Optional) Hans de Groot, Walter McMahon and J. Fredericks Volkwein (1991). “ The Cost
Structure of American Research Universities,” Review of Economics and Statistics 73(3), pp. 424431.
*Discussion of Potential Research Topic with Instructor
Class 11: Higher Education Production Functions (contd.): Gender and Peer Effects
21 March 2016
Bettinger, Eric and Bridget Terry Long (2005). “Do Faculty Serve as Role Models? The
Impact of Instructor Gender on Female Students,” American Economic Review 95(2),
pp. 152-157.
Rask, Kevin and Jill Tiefenthaler (2008). “The Role of Grade Sensitivity in Explaining the
Gender Imbalance in Undergraduate Economics Programs,” Economics of Education
Review 27(6), pp. 676-687
Griffith, Amanda (2010). “Persistence of Women and Minorities in STEM Field Majors: Is it
the School that Matters?” Economics of Education Review 29, 911–922
(Optional) Levin, Henry (1991). “Raising Productivity in Higher Education,” Journal of Higher
Education,” Journal of Higher Education 62(3), pp. 241-262.
(Optional) Bound, John, Michael Lovenheim, and Sarah Turner (2010). “Why Have College
Completion Rates Declined? An Analysis of Changing Student Preparation and Collegiate
Resources,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2, pp. 129-157.
(Optional) Sacerdote, Bruce (2001). “Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth
Roommates,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 681-704
Class 12: Faculty Types, Salaries, and Retirement
28 March 2016
Ehrenberg Ronald and Liang Zhang (2005). “Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty
Matter,” Journal of Human Resources XL(3), pp. 647-659.
Toutkoushian, Robert, Marcia Bellas, and John Moore (2007). “The Interaction Effects of
Gender, Race, and Marital Status on Faculty Salaries,” Journal of Higher Education
78(5), pp. 572-601.
Ehrenberg, Ronald (1999). “No Longer Forced Out,” Academe 85(3), pp. 34-39
- Response Form not required
Pencavel, John (2001). “The Response of Employees to Severance Incentives: The
University of California Faculty,” Journal of Human Resources XXXVI, pp. 58-84
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(Optional) Hoffman, Florian and Phillip Oreopoulos (2009). “Professor Qualities and Student
Achievement,” Review of Economics and Statistics (February 2009): 83-92.
(Optional) Porter, Stephen, Robert Toutkoushian, and John Moore (2008). “Pay Inequities for
Recently-Hired Faculty, 1988- 2004,” Review of Higher Education 34, pp. 465-487.
(Optional) Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long (2010). “Does Cheaper Mean Better? The Impact
of Using Adjunct Instructors on Student Outcomes,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 92, pp.
598-613.
(Optional) Xiangmin Liu and Liang Zhang (2013). “Flexibility at the Core: What Determines
Employment of Part-Time Faculty in Academia?” Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations 6,
pp. 312-339.
SECTION V: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Class 13: Student Presentation
4 April 2016
Student Presentations on Higher Education Finance Paper
- Each student will prepare a PowerPoint presentation, and will give a 20 minute
presentation
- Students will submit a draft or final version of Higher Education Finance Paper
- Students will discuss their Research Papers, and solicit feedback from colleagues
17 April 2016
* Higher Education Finance Paper Due. Please leave a hardcopy in instructor’s mailbox, and
send an email copy to [email protected]
* Research Paper Due. Please leave a hardcopy in instructor’s mailbox, and send an email
copy to [email protected]
25 April 2016
Presentations
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DIRECTIONS FOR PAPER ON HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCE
Total length 20-25 double-spaced pages (excluding references)
Section I: Introduction
Ehrenberg, Ch. 1
Weisbrod, Ch. 1 & 2
Section II: Federal, State, & Local Roles in Higher Education Finance
Doyle, Will (2010). “Does Merit-Based Aid ‘Crowd Out’ Need Based Aid?” Research in Higher
Education 51(5), pp. 397-415.
Dynarski, Susan and Judith Scott-Clayton (2013). “Federal Aid Policy: Lessons from
Research,” Future of Children 23(1), pp. 67-86.
Dowd, A. and J. Grant (2006). “Equity and Efficiency of Community College
Appropriations: The Role of Local Financing,” Review of Higher Education 29(2), pp.
167-194.
Cheslock, John and Rodney Hughes (2011). “Differences Across States in Higher Education
Finance Policy,” Journal of Education Finance 36(4), pp. 369-393.
Section III: Finance, Choice, and Access)
Weisbrod, Ch. 5
Hurlburt, Steven and Rita J. Kirshstein. (2012) “Spending: Where does the Money Go?”
Washington, DC: The Delta Cost Project at American Institutes for Research.
http://www.deltacostproject.org/sites/default/files/products/Delta-SpendingTrendsProduction.pdf
Provide examples from Georgia HOPE, Kalamazoo Promise, Pittsburgh Promise, or others.
Section IV: Theories of Organization Finance
Ehrenberg, Ch. 2 & 4
Weisbrod, Ch. 3 & 4
Winston, Gordon (1999). “Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of
Higher Education,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13(1), pp. 13-36.
Section V: Revenue Generation: Tuition, Financial Aid, and Fees
Ehrenberg, Ch. 5
Long, Bridget (2004). “How do Financial Aid Policies Affect Colleges? The Institutional
Impact of the Georgia HOPE Scholarship,” Journal of Human Resources 39, pp. 10451066.
Section VI: Revenue Generation: Philanthropy and Endowments
Ehrenberg, Ch. 3
Weisbrod, Ch. 6 & 7
Cheslock, John and M. Gianneschi (2008). “Replacing State Appropriations with Alternative
Revenue Sources: The Case of Voluntary Support,” Journal of Higher Education 79(4),
pp. 208-229.
Clotfelter, Charles (2003). “Alumni Giving to Elite Private Colleges and Universities,”
Economics of Education Review 22, pp. 109-120.
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Section VII: Revenue Generation: Licensing, Patents and Technology
Weisbrod, Ch. 8 & 10
Anderson, M. (2001). “The Complex Relations between the Academy and Industry: Views
from the Literature,” Journal of Higher Education 72(2), pp. 226-246.
Hong, W. and J. Walsh (2009). “For Money or Glory? Commercialization, Competition, and
Secrecy in the Entrepreneurial University,” The Sociological Quarterly 50(1), pp. 145171.
Powers, J. and E. Campbell (2009). “University Technology Transfer: In Tough Economic
Times,” Change 41(6), pp. 43-47.
Section VIII: Budgeting and Resource Allocation
Ehrenberg, Ch. 12
Section IX: Cost Structures: Human Capital
Ehrenberg, Ch. 12
Weisbrod, Ch. 11
Section X: Cost Structures: Research, Facilities, and Capital
Ehrenberg, Ch. 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, & 20
Weisbrod, Ch. 12 & 15
Section XI: Conclusion
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OUTLINE FOR FINAL PAPER
Total length 14-20 double-spaced pages (excluding references)
Based on the economic theories and methods covered in this class, write an empirical paper.
The analysis can be original or a replication of an existing study. Lengthwise, the paper
should be 12 double-spaced pages, excluding graphs and tables. The section titles and
double-spaced page lengths are as follows:
Section I: Introduction (1 page)
Section II: Background of Region and Education System (1 page)
Section III: Conceptual Framework/ Theory (1 page)
Section IV: Data Description: Who collected it? Can broader inferences be made
from the sample? (1 page)
Section V: Empirical Model with description of all variables (2 pages)
Section VI: Descriptive Statistics—explanation (2 pages)
Section VII: Regression Results—explanation (3 pages)
Section VIII: Conclusion and Future Research (1 page)
Section IX: Graphs and Tables (at least 2 graphs and 2 tables)
Our readings should provide some starting points on your possible research topic. You
should also look into the major journals in the economics of higher education. At present,
there are no specialized journals in the economics of higher education. Regular articles on
the economics of higher education are found in American Economic Review; American Economic
Journals; Community College Review; Economics of Education Review; Education Economics; Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis; Education Finance and Policy; Higher Education; Journal of Economic
Perspectives; Journal of Education Finance; Journal of Higher Education; Journal of Human Capital;
Journal of Human Resources; Journal of Labor Economics; Journal of Public Economics; Research in
Higher Education; Review of Higher Education; Review of Economics and Statistics; and Working
Papers of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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RESPONSE FORM
Student name:
Paper citation:
1. What are the primary questions asked and explored in this paper?
2. Describe the theoretical or conceptual framework.
3. What are the data source(s)? In the case of a quantitative study, what is the
dependent variable and what are the independent variables? What are the
empirical techniques?
4. What conclusions can you draw from the study?
5. Identify one or more shortcoming of the paper. For instance, is the analysis
using the theoretical framework incomplete? Is the data and quantitative
approach satisfactory? Are the interpretations appropriate?
6. Identify one or more important questions that are not examined, but should
be?
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