In Chapter 1 I investigate the supply of college majors and how this facet of institutional behavior influences student outcomes and costs in higher education. As a first contribution, I identify a decades-long trend in 4-year postsecondary education in the United States--the production of bachelor's degrees measured by their concentration across…

Leaders in 446 communities throughout North Carolina answered questionnaires designed to determine the perceived need for trained personnel in their communities. The leaders described the availability of 33 professional/occupational categories as "serious shortage", "minor shortage", "sufficient",…