After receiving his PhD in 1970, the author has spent almost 30 years conducting research on the economics of higher education, chairing faculty budget committees at Cornell, serving as a Cornell vice president and then as a trustee of both Cornell and SUNY, and being associated with innumerable national commissions and higher education…

This paper focuses on three academic labor market issues that researchers at Cornell University are addressing currently: (1) the declining salaries of faculty employed at public colleges and universities relative to the salaries of their counterparts at private higher education institutions; (2) the growing dispersion of average faculty salaries…

Data on high school students' college choice was used to estimate the effects of attending different college types on labor market outcomes. Even controlling for selection effects, there was strong evidence of a significant economic return to elite private colleges, an effect that has increased over time. (SK)

This paper discusses the growing resource imbalance that is emerging between public and private institutions of higher education and the growing inequality of resources that is occurring within the public and private sectors. It illustrates implications of some of these changes for patterns of faculty compensation and faculty turnover observed…

This book explores the causes of tuition inflation, using Cornell University (New York) as a prototypical institution. There are 9 sections with 20 chapters. Section 1, "Setting the Stage," includes (1) "Why Do Costs Keep Rising at Selective Private Colleges and Universities?" and (2) "Who Is In Charge of the…