Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate on open questions, demand denial of verifiable scientific truths, eliminate due process for students accused of misdeeds by other students, or insist…

We estimate the trend in the transitory variance of male earnings in the United States using the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1970 to 2004. Using an error components model and simpler but only approximate methods, we find that the transitory variance started to increase in the early 1970s, continued to increase through the…

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information…

This paper examines the effects of preschool expansion in Kalamazoo County on the county's economic development. Effects on the county's economic development are defined as effects on the employment and earnings of county residents. The estimated effects are found to be large relative to the costs. In addition to their relevance to Kalamazoo…

Voters in the State of Michigan reformed K-12 school financing significantly in 1994. The reform largely removed local government from playing a role in the determination of school finance and lodged this authority mainly with state government. In this article we examine the long-term impacts of the reform legislation. We find that although the…

At Grand Valley State Colleges an early retirement program for faculty was proposed as a contingency plan for potential enrollment shifts or declines. In this analysis, as a preliminary to the institution of such a program, a number of questions are considered in detail: potential benefits; principles on which the institution should base the plan;…

Based on data submitted by Michigan's 28 community colleges for 1997-98, this report provides instructional, enrollment, personnel, revenue, and expenditure information at the state's colleges and reviews the state funding formula. Section 1 provides historical data from 1987 to 1998 on state appropriations, property tax revenue, tuition and fee…

Based on data submitted by Michigan's 28 community colleges for 1996-97, this report describes instruction, personnel revenues, and expenditures at the state's colleges and reviews the state funding formula. Section 1 provides historical data from 1986 to 1998 on state appropriations, property tax revenue, tuition and fee revenues, state equalized…

The National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies was conducted to explore whether programs examined in the evaluation have helped welfare recipients move into the labor force and remain employed over the long term. As part of the evaluation, a study was conducted to identify the 4-year impacts that 10 programs in 6 sites have had on former…