The authors present a Web application they designed in the R programming language as an experiential learning tool for teaching production theory. The app simulates production decisions where a manager is tasked to find the optimal mixture of inputs through experimentation. Users of the application are instructed to use calculations and intuitions…

In an ominously steady progression over the past decades, education in general, higher education in particular, and even honors education have increasingly been contextualized in the realm of the marketplace. Cost/benefit analyses of colleges and universities are examined; institutions in terms of their price to consumers (students and their…

In fundamental economics, individuals acquired education for two broad reasons, as an investment and as consumption. The investment function of education has continued to create tension for job search leading to cases of unemployment. Entrepreneurship education and establishment of mega universities have been identified as panaceas. This paper…

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program is growing at an unsustainable pace. Over the past 40 years the number of disabled worker beneficiaries has increased nearly sixfold, rising from 1.5 million in 1970 to 8.2 million in 2010. Rapid growth in the rolls has put increasing pressure on program finances. The rapid rise in SSDI…

For the past two decades, and recently with the economic recession, the media has emphasized the decline of manufacturing in the United States and other developed countries. In the U.S., some initially blamed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for this decline. Hearing that manufacturing is on the decline, one might reason that its…

Over recent years governments have been placing more emphasis on innovation as a source of national competitiveness. Governments now assess their investments across many areas in terms of the contribution that such investments make to increasing innovation. This has been especially significant for education and in particular for the development of…

General acceptance of the strong relationships between education, income, and public economic strength is at the core of all of college attainment goals at the national and state levels. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) have collaborated to develop online tools…

Using data collected in a beginning teacher evaluation study, this paper attempts to show that time is an important input in producing learning. First the paper discusses equalization of tax bases in school districts, inequality in the distribution of inputs, and the importance of multiple outputs in schools. Next it describes an economic model of…

Resource allocation within education systems is approached from the perspective of economic theory and input-output processes. It is suggested that economic concepts of efficiency and productivity focus attention on factors affecting effective use of resources and should be systematically encouraged. (Author/MSE)

Post-productivism is a contested concept, and some argue that it should be abandoned. In this paper, a more focused definition for post-productivism is suggested. Evidence for change in forestry and agriculture that could be categorised as post-productivist is presented, in relation to both the narrower definition and to characterisations…

Expands on an earlier article which states that economies of scale cannot exist unless the production function exhibits increasing returns to scale. Argues that this is correct only to the extent that the firm faces constant input prices as output expands. Concludes that the assumption that product and input markets are competitive may be…

A newly developed input/output method for comparing the efficiency of urban elementary schools is presented. The method results in the identification of efficient and inefficient schools and provides management information relative to input and output measures. (Author/IRT)