This dissertation consists of three essays on market and mechanism design. In each essay, I utilize tools and knowledge from game theory, equilibrium theory, and mechanism design to explain agents' behavior and assess the market equilibrium structure in different allocation mechanisms, both with and without monetary transactions. The first two…

This case study details how a community college library, in response to rising textbook costs and COVID-related closures, advocated for and received an increase in funding to provide online copies of many textbooks in its reserve collection. It also provides a glimpse into the roadblocks acquisitions librarians might encounter in trying to bolster…

GPE's [Global Partnership for Education's] Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) aims to strengthen national education systems and accelerate educational progress by engaging developing countries and other partners in knowledge generation, innovation, and capacity strengthening. KIX will have two components: the Learning Exchange -- a knowledge…

There are 240 million children with disabilities in the world; half of them are out of school. Many are invisible, stigmatized, hidden by their families and abandoned by their governments. Children with disabilities, especially in humanitarian settings, are among the poorest members of the population and one of the most marginalized and excluded…

South Sudan is in a protracted crisis. Four million people have been displaced and many have been left living with high levels of injury, poverty and food insecurity. The impact of the crisis on children -- who make up over 29% of the population -- is particularly high, and a large number are at risk of being born with or acquiring a disability.…

Over the last decade, state efforts to build stronger data infrastructure and integrate data about early childhood services have continued to grow. A stronger data infrastructure supports states in more easily linking data across programs, which in turn makes it easier to analyze and use that data to answer important policy questions. An Early…

The article reports the results of an interview-based study exploring how international PhD holders re-integrate into the research environment in Kazakhstan. One of the main results consistent with prior studies is that returning scholars face poor access to international and domestic scholarly societies. Interaction with external peers is…

Considering the key role of social-emotional and character development (SECD) competencies in college, career, and life success--and considering that many of those competencies are teachable--there is no excuse for failing to incorporate them systematically into our education system. That would be the equivalent of depriving children of oxygen.…

Open access textbooks (OATs) and educational resources (OERs) are being lauded as a viable alternative to costly print textbooks. Some academic libraries are joining the OER movement by creating guides to open repositories. Others are promoting OATs and OERs, reviewing them, and even helping to create them. This article analyzes how academic…

In "Costs and Benefits in the Economy of Honors," Richard Badenhausen identifies several pressing issues regarding the economic status of honors in the current financial climate of higher education, including the role of faculty in addressing those issues. In her response to Badenhausen's essay, Annmarie Guzy, a faculty member at the…

In the last few decades, there has been steady increasing awareness of the need to empower women in order to improve their socioeconomic status to be able to cope and also contribute effectively in this period of economic crisis. ATI (access to information) provision is a vital factor in empowerment, thus, many organizations, such as library,…

This report is designed to help state and local policymakers identify the policy changes needed to expand access to quality personalized learning in their states and communities, and to give them the tools to make those changes. Each of the 15 policy ideas, or "plays," in this playbook provides background context on the challenges it is…

The disparity in funding between low-income and affluent school districts has stirred much discussion among educators and policymakers. Low-funded schools, which generally educate the greatest number of minority and low-income students, also tend to have lower test results on standardized exams, lower graduation rates, higher dropout rates, and…

Californians are very concerned about funding for their K-12 public schools. They consistently say that K-12 education should be protected from spending cuts over and above any other area of the state budget. California's system of school finance is in trouble. Many studies have found it to be inequitable, with wide variation in per-pupil funding.…

This paper offers seven things one should know about open textbook publishing. These seven facts are: (1) The open educational resources model, including textbooks, has emerged as a response to rising text prices, a need for greater access to high-quality learning materials, the proliferation of e-reader devices, and a trend in publishing toward…