We analyze the meanings of university's autonomy throughout western history and capitalism's recent transformations in order to suggest a taxonomy of present universities according to the type of capital enterprise they are imitating. As a first step, we distinguish three dimensions of university's autonomy in the Medieval University and the…

This broad-based article discusses teaching and learning that connects artists and their creative art products with the capitalistic system within the market valuation model for a created product that is particularly associated with artists. This general discussion is transferable across teaching and learning disciplines involving the market…

The fiascoes that seem to accompany the annual publication of examination results in England, the subsequent inquiries instituted to ensure they "never happen again" and the Secretary of State's decision, reversed six months later because of fears about possible EU legal challenges, to "end competition between exam boards"…

This commentary explores the so-called global "crisis" in education and the corresponding pressures and moves to "reform" education, and in particular, public education. The myths underpinning and driving these developments are examined. Supposed problems with (public) education and proposed solutions are explored. The…

This paper explores the ways in which policy discourses have constructed rationales for addressing adult literacy over the last 50 years. In particular, we examine how policy positions the literacy learner as citizen within discourses of rights and equity. Taking the case of the UK, we compare two key documents produced at different historical…

Markets have a number of uses. One increasingly important use of markets by politicians is as a means of regulating the supply and distribution of goods and services formerly supplied and distributed by governments on non-market bases. The use of markets as a regulator of higher education is not novel. However, the increased reliance on markets as…

Friedman (1962) argued that a free market in which schools compete based upon their reputation would lead to an efficient supply of educational services. This paper explores this issue by building a tractable model in which rational individuals go to school and accumulate skill valued in a perfectly competitive labor market. To this it adds one…

In this paper, market orientation in Croatian higher education (HE) is discussed within the context of stakeholder-oriented management. Drawing on existing studies, the "classical" empirical model, describing the market orientation of generic nonprofit organisations, has been adapted to the contingencies of the Croatian HE sector.…

In the United States, developing "human capital" for both economic and social benefit is an idea as old as the nation itself and led to the emergence of world's first mass higher education system. Now most other nations are racing to expand access to universities and colleges and to expand their role in society. Higher education is…

Observes that, before 1973, determining a valuation formula for option prices was an elusive goal of financial economics. Discusses Louis Bachelier's early twentieth-century work on the problem. Notes that Bachelier derived a normal distribution for stock price movements by modeling price changes in specific way. Reviews Bachelier's option pricing…

Evaluations of the appropriate level of investment in schooling have typically focused on market outcomes, but in this chapter the focus is on nonmarket effects, which add to the returns to schooling and must be considered in evaluating the optimum level of public-sector investment in education. A model is presented to estimate these returns. (SLD)

Borland and Howsen (1992) showed that public schools' market structure affected academic performance. This paper examines the effects of neighboring school districts' performance on that of six metropolitan Ohio school districts, modeling student achievement as a function of control variables and competition from neighboring school districts.…

Examines participation in small businesses by 272 immigrant entrepreneurs in Ontario (Canada) using a theoretical model viewing immigrant enterprise as a product of class and ethnic resources in combination with a favorable opportunity structure. In Ontario, Hong Kong Chinese immigrants predominate among new ethnic entrepreneurs. (SLD)

This essay reviews the history of school commercialization in the USA and the forms that it has taken over time, with particular attention paid to research measuring the scope and variety of commercialization trends in US public schools. The implications of commercialization activities such as those that promote the consumption of nutritionally…

Whereas private institutions are chiefly accountable to the narrow, limited constituencies supporting them, public institutions are typically accountable to more general constituencies that are diverse, broad, and conflicted. This essay reviews two recent books by British authors that discuss the two "ideal" accountability models and…