The Economics of American Universities

Management, Operations, and Fiscal Environment

Edited by Stephen A. Hoenack & Eileen L. Collins

Subjects: Educational Administration
Series: SUNY series, Frontiers in Education
Paperback : 9780791400296, 285 pages, June 1990
Hardcover : 9780791400289, 285 pages, June 1990
Out of print (Paperback)

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Table of contents

Introduction
Stephen A. Hoenack

1. The Higher Education Production Function: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Findings
David S. P. Hopkins

2. Organization, Funding, Incentives, and Initiatives for University Research: A University Management Perspective
Frederick E. Balderston

3. Participant Goals, Institutional Goals, and University Resource Allocation Decisions
Howard P. Tuckman and Cyril F. Chang

4. Decision Processes and pRiorities in Higher Education
Estelle James

5. Higher Education Cost Functions
Paul T. Brinkman

6. An Economist's Perspective on Costs within Higher Education Institutions
Stephen A. Hoenack

7. The Demand for Higher Education
William E. Becker

8. The Impact of Changing Levels of Financial Resources on the Structure of Colleges and Universities
Joseph Froomkin

9. College and University Adjustments to a Changing Financial Environment
Paul T. Brinkman
Notes and References
Contributors
Index

Description

This book discusses the adjustment of universities to the changing financial environment. Its authors analyze the relationship between higher education inputs and outputs, assess the available information about the determinants of university costs, survey the influence of market conditions and pricing strategies on students' demands for attendance at institutions of higher education, summarize research on the objectives for institutions of higher education held by different participants and funders, analyze how universities determine their priorities and relative funding for different activities and disciplines, and explore the economics of universities' research functions.

In addition, the book addresses three questions regarding the external fiscal environment facing American universities. What are the recent and emerging changes in the key economic variables affecting these institutions? What mechanisms have universities used in the past to cope with tighter financial constraints? What are the implications for university research activities as these institutions adjust to their fiscal constraints?

Stephen A. Hoenack is Professor at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Director of the Management Information Division at the University of Minnesota. Eileen L. Collins is a Senior Economist in the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resource Studies.