The college financial aid system imposes an implicit asset tax that is prevalent and substantial. Facing this tax, rational families should reduce their total assets and shelter assets in protected categories. I find that the tax induces a 7-12% reduction in total assets, a result in line with the literature. Furthermore, I find evidence that…

Uses panel data on 1982 to 1996 state appropriations to examine the sensitivity of results from the legislative-demand model to changes in statistical methodology employed. Signs and significant levels of variables used in this model vary widely when least-squares and fixed-effects methods are used. Expected relationships between state…

Technical and allocative efficiencies of 26 academic departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University are computed using Data Envelopment Analysis over 2004/05. Allocations of faculty time between teaching, research, and extension vary by department and are used as unique prices in calculating allocative…

This paper puts forth a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to estimating higher education institutions' per-student education costs (PSCs) in an effort to redress a number of methodological problems endemic to such estimations, particularly the allocation of shared expenditures between education and other institutional activities. An example…

Reports on a Hong Kong study that addresses how time, a crucial resource, is deployed in grammar schools to provide a curriculum for sixth-form students. The education department's enrollment limits, together with a focus on preparing students for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and university entrance, have a pervasive…

Demonstrates that popular assertions regarding the social benefits of additional higher education are dubious. Reveals four decisive factors: presumed economic growth; changes in graduates' and nongraduates' relative earnings; differences between the marginal and average student; and belief in scale economies. Unless economic growth favors…

A study of the equalization effects of in-kind transfers of public education in Greece finds that results of in-kind transfers in primary and secondary education lead to a major decline in aggregate inequality, whereas the distributional impact of tertiary education is regressive. (Contains 30 references.) (PKP)

This paper constructs a theoretical model to evaluate the effects of borderless education on education resource allocation by a public university in a developing country. It is sometimes argued that, with sole emphasis and competence in global knowledge, borderless education will lead to the demise of local knowledge in the developing country. We…

The states exhibit policy variations affecting school districts' local environment. This paper develops a theoretical model demonstrating that bias induced by omitting relevant state characteristics is greater in state-level analyses than in less aggregate studies. Aggregation to the state level inflates the coefficients on school input variables.…

Explores whether observed levels of educational attainment and expenditure per student are endogenously determined by schools' optimizing behavior in resource-allocation decisions, considering both supply- and demand-side factors. This process can generate patterns of expenditure per student in line with empirical findings. Difficulties with…

Reviews, from a management accountant and funding council chief executive's perspective, relationship among (British) funding council models for competitive funding of higher education institutions, resource management, and quality assessments of teaching and learning. Posits a constrained funding environment for the rest of the 1990s. Concludes…

Surveys costs of education in China, focusing on three areas: national expenditures on education; unit cost of education; and educational cost functions. Relates the analysis of education costs to four enduring policy issues: resource mobilization, inequality, inequity, and inefficiency. Compared with other Asian countries, China's public…

Estimates the rates of return to overeducation in the United Kingdom, using the 1991 British Household Panel Survey. Describes three approaches to analyzing skill utilization and their returns. Analyzes characteristics of the overeducated and undereducated work force. Overeducation is part of an adjustment in the labor market and tends to…

Recently, monies allocated to the additional educational needs (AEN) component of (Britain's) standard spending assessment (SSA) have decreased markedly. The strategy for determining the AEN weighting (to aid socially deprived and ethnic-minority students) is undermined by central-government spending constraints. Weighting should be determined by…

To coincide with International Literacy Year and a 1991-92 royal inspection, the Scottish Office Education Department commissioned a research project to map provision for adult basic education in Scotland and identify the cost effectiveness of numerous delivery systems. This article describes efforts to estimate delivery system costs, inherent…