Across the United States, the Great Depression was a period of tremendous upheaval. Economic, family, political, and educational institutions shook mightily as the tremors of widespread financial downturn were felt. Public schools faced increasing hardships, which included financial problems such as a weakened tax base due to the non-payment of…

Most colleges have steered through the first jolts of the recession without resorting to layoffs, cutting employee benefits, or imposing across-the-board freezes on hiring. But the economic pain is afflicting campuses in many other ways, according to the findings from a new survey of chief business officers conducted last month by "The Chronicle"…

Why should society support the humanities when so many people are suffering from the effects of the economic crisis? What claim do the humanities, or scholarship generally, have on increasingly limited resources? Shouldn't such pursuits be considered luxuries at a time when people should be focusing on essentials? The alleviation of human…

Economists may be biased in ways that are not apparent to many. A widely espoused theory in economics is that regulators' decisions often become biased in favor of the industries they regulate; to use economic jargon, they become "captured." Economic incentives encourage even the best-intentioned regulators to cater to the interests of the…

This article presents an overview of major factors contributing to the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Descriptions of teaching resources and ideas for lesson plans are provided.

This report is the third in a series of reports designed to analyze the impact of the fiscal cutbacks on opportunity for higher education in the California State University system, the huge network of 23 universities that provide the greatest amount of Bachelor of Arts (BA) level of education in the state. The first study, "Higher Tuition,…

On June 7, 2007, the Antioch University board of trustees declared that Antioch College, an independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, was in a state of financial exigency, and, two days later, voted to suspend college operations after the next academic year. After that year, the board oversaw the closing of the college while…

Robert C. Bobb, the state-appointed emergency financial manager of the Detroit public school system, may have the biggest "turnaround" job in the nation. The district, with an annual budget of $1.2 billion, has a deficit projected to be $259 million and growing. Over the past 10 years, about half of the district's students have left,…

The authors' recent study of all published decisions in state and federal courts concerning superintendent termination led to a surprising finding: The decisions overwhelmingly favored school districts. In this article, the authors examine several superintendents' intriguing cases. The authors also discuss practical lessons for superintendents.

Big isn't as big as it used to be for many of the largest school districts. The most recent enrollment numbers for the nation's biggest school districts seem to reflect the country's ailing economy. Forty-eight of the 100 largest public school systems in the United States in 2008-09 reported enrollment declines compared with the previous year's…

Every reader of this volume will determine which information is most relevant to his or her home campus. Like their readers, the authors, as editors of the book, have identified prominent overarching themes and have organized this chapter around three of them. Accordingly, the authors highlight the three macrolevel approaches--identifying and…

Surviving the aftermaths of the Asian Financial Crisis and SARS in 2003, Hong Kong's economy has re-gained its momentum and its economic growth has been quite remarkable too in recent few years. Nevertheless, as reflected by the Social Development Index (SDI), economic growth in Hong Kong does not seem to have benefited the people of the city at…

The author reports that tough economic times are leading administrators to propose changes that short-circuit faculty governance, long a prized principle that gives professors wide-ranging authority over educational matters. The results, faculty members say, are hastily conceived plans that reorganize academic programs, decrease professors' roles…

During periods of economic turmoil and uncertainty, employment opportunities are often greatly diminished. The Great Recession beginning in 2007 caused such a labor market disruption, hitting new college graduates especially hard. Under such conditions, business ownership may appeal to some as a conceivable substitution to "finding a job." The…

This report is a sequel to the 2005 "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources." This new report provides updated information and new insights into information consumers and their online habits, preferences, and perceptions. Particular attention was paid to how the current economic downturn has affected the information-seeking behaviors…