The print publishing industry is showing signs of recovering from the worst of the economic downturn even as the surge in popularity of ebooks raises questions about the future of printed materials. From a high of 190,502 titles in 2007, overall American book title output fell to 178,841 in 2009 but climbed back to 186,344 in 2010; preliminary…

Since 1935, Social Security has provided a vital safety net for millions of Americans who cannot work because of age or disability. This safety net has been especially critical for Americans of Latino decent, who number more than 50 million or nearly one out of every six Americans. Social Security is critical to Latinos because it is much more…

Library school courses focusing on management and budgeting are as important as ever, as are continuing education opportunities for librarians who may not have encountered a severe economic recession. The journal crisis of the 1990s is still a fresh and unpleasant memory for many. However, for other librarians who may have graduated from library…

The year 2009 will be remembered as one of angst, with the economy dominating news around the world. Few libraries were immune to the extraordinary financial pressures. The library marketplace by year's end was in a weakened position, with prospects of a long recovery at best. Concern persists that even deeper budget cuts will come when federal…

Real-estate markets are almost as volatile as stock markets. Prices of agricultural land, of commercial real estate, and of homes and condominiums have gone through a series of huge bubbles, as if people never learned from the previous ones. Such events--in particular the recent housing bubble--are driven by what John Maynard Keynes called animal…

Certificates are recognition of completion of a course of study based on a specific field, usually associated with a limited set of occupations. Certificates differ from other kinds of labor market credentials such as industry-based certifications and licenses, which typically involve passing an examination to prove a specific competency,…

This paper examines the cost of the increased provision of higher education courses within further education colleges in England. We believe this to be the first attempt to fit a cost function specifically to the further education sector. Cost functions for a sample of 96 colleges over a 2-year period, from 2000 to 2002, are fitted using a panel…

This dissertation presents new evidence on neighborhood transition and its impact on housing markets using a novel micro-level dataset on housing transactions. It focuses on three issues: the neighborhood effect, housing discrimination, and stable integration. The first essay examines the relationship between increased minority composition and…

The economic, educational and social environments of the students served by a community college are important factors in college performance accountability, policy analysis, program evaluation, and strategic planning. For example, previous research shows that income per county is a significant predictor of transfer rates for community colleges.…

Following the behavior-analytic tradition of analyzing individual behavior, the present research investigated demand elasticity of individual consumers purchasing supermarket products, and compared individual and group analyses of elasticity. Panel data from 80 UK consumers purchasing 9 product categories (i.e., baked beans, biscuits, breakfast…

The purpose of this project was to review the use of price measures in education and training and to consider the types of measures that could be applied. There are several contexts in which price measures are needed and the context will affect the type of measure of price change that is needed. Section 1 of the report discusses budget estimates…