There are several ways to construct an education price index (EPI). This report represents an attempt to identify methods and procedures for producing an accurate measure of educational resource input price indices. The methods are largely mathematical equations that link student achievement to the unique social, political, and economic costs of…

Topics related to the identification and use of effectiveness indicators in the economic analysis of education are discussed. These topics include the relation between economic concepts and educational production; the economic concept of utility; and the nature and use of input, process, output, and outcome indicators. (TJH)

This study investigates the income-cost effects resulting from public and private higher education expenditures in Japan. Economic returns are presented according to sex, public or private sector, and areas of study, and the method of government expenditure on education in Japan is evaluated. (TE)

Support for public education wavers in a number of states due to a lack of evidence indicating that increased funding is associated with increases in output. Maintaining and increasing this support, however, is critical for rural communities as they seek to strengthen their human capital base as a strategy for economic growth and development. The…

Examines the relative contributions of human and physical resources in the production of private undergraduate higher education. The parameters in the output equation suggest a traditional recipe: a relatively high ratio of quality faculty to good students in a facilitating environment reflected by academic expenditure. Better students are drawn…

Using an input-output framework, the author derives hypotheses on wage differentials based on the assumption that human capital (in this case, education) will explain workers' wage differentials. The hypothetical wage differentials are tested on data from the Italian economy. (RW)

This paper discusses a statistical analysis of the impact on student learning of socioeconomic characteristics, certain aspects of the school environment, and the amount of educational resources expanded on students. It is felt that the analysis is quite similar to what economists do when they estimate production functions for films; but that…

The relationship of teachers' allocation of time to individual student achievement was studied. It was concluded that teachers prefer to increase students' average achievement rather than to decrease the variance in achievement within the classroom. (MH)

This report explores some techniques that could assist educational managers in their attempts to arrive at more optimal input and output mixes. Following a review of the literature on input-output analyses in education and a description of the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment Program (the basis of the present study), an empirical…

Explores secondary economic effects of rural Minnesota school districts, including purchasing power of payrolls, employment, retail stimulus, recapture of taxes, property values, and banking services. Provides nontechnical approach to interpreting how school operations offset costs of rural education. Study can be replicated by rural educators.…

Measures of school achievement over a 4 year lag period in Virginia's 95 school districts were used to investigate the relationship of investment in education to student achievement since variations in spending among counties would have four years to affect student achievement levels. Because educational output is a function of selected…

Data from studies of productivity and funding at colleges and universities show that teacher education is seriously underfinanced, in part because of the ways that university administrators allocate money provided under state funding formulas among their departments. Options for a more equitable distribution of funds are suggested. (PP)

The first part of this paper discusses two principal forms elaborated upon in previous literature for describing the relation between per pupil operating costs and school enrollment size. The first of these forms indicates that average per pupil costs decline up to a point as enrollment increases, reach a minimum, and then rise with further school…

Fiscal and other economic constraints facing developing nations underscore the need for careful and detailed planning for education focused on the identified purposes. Until recently educational requirements have been measured in terms of inputs. Effectiveness measurements change the basis for judging the educational system from such input or…