The Study Group in the Economics of Education, which is responsible for the publication of this report, was established under the auspices of the committee for Scientific and Technical Personnel as an independent group of professional economists and educational planners. Its task is to bring the resources of academic thought to bear on the…

Study attempts to provide conclusive answers to questions concerning the worth of teachers, the efficiency of school operations, and teacher/classroom characteristics particularly within a racial-ethnic context. (EA)

A survey of literature regarding production functions or the technical relationships between the inputs and outputs of education. The survey includes the methodology for establishing production functions, the problems associated with establishing such functions, and the application of production functions in educational planning at macro and micro…

Without a conscious effort to achieve optimum resource allocation, there is a real danger that educational resources may be wasted. This document uses input-output analysis to develop a model for rational decision-making in secondary education. (LLR)

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…

The central issue is that to the extent these funds are from sources external to the state, they represent a pure economic stimulus to both the university and the state and a direct savings for the state's higher education commitment. The estimated magnitude of this stimulus in Washington is examined by using multipliers derived from the state…

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)

This paper provides a conceptual framework for addressing the issue of effectiveness and efficiency in education. It considers alternative criteria for identifying efficiency and discusses constraints on improving efficiency. The first section distinguishes efficiency from effectiveness, and also distinguishes "internal" from "external" efficiency…

This publication is a discussion of the concept of an educational production function, a mathematical formulation of the relationship between inputs and outputs in education. A description of how a production function can direct decision making toward economic efficiency precedes a theoretical discussion of the nature of actual estimation. Several…

Utilizing the American Council on Education model for determining the economic impact of colleges on local economies, it was found that Cypress College significantly affected the local economy of its district in a positive direction. The model is recommended for evaluating benefits derived from tax payments to support community college districts.…

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)

First generation resource allocation studies examined relationships between student learning and the availability of resources to a school or district. This article analyzes the transition from these early inquiries to more recent studies of resource flow into the individual classroom, and considers the contributions economists can make to such…

Suggests that evaluations of educational input-output studies frequently overlook some basic characteristics of the nation's schools as a whole, which, when conjoined with economic theory, permit viewing the results of these studies as neither counter intuitive nor damaging to the education profession. (Author/DN)