The economic theory of auctions is used to show that systems recently introduced by the British Universities Funding Council, whereby British institutions bid for students, are likely to produce similar bid prices by all institutions. As predicted, the first run of the bidding process for universities collapsed when most institutions submitted…

Education can improve productivity only if there are employment opportunities for more productive workers. Without complementary inputs, education cannot fulfill its advocates' promises. Test scores have never shown a strong connection with earnings or productivity. Japanese firms that establish manufacturing plants in the United States produce…

The analysis of educational outcomes and evaluation of their efficiency depend on three elements of organizational behavior analysis: costly information, decentralized advantages in defraying information costs, and incentives. This paper suggests several research directions for educational economists to apply these tools to analyze educational…

Addresses the need for reference librarians to reassess their service priorities and service delivery methods to operate efficiently and compete effectively with commercial information services. Highlights include inappropriate use of librarians' time; inefficient service delivery methods; cost effectiveness; and a consultation model of service…

A study of 20 faculty searches in 4 comprehensive universities during a period of substantial academic labor market change identified 6 patterns of recruitment strategies, with less prestigious institutions adopting recruitment norms of more prestigious institutions. In response to labor market forces, institutions emphasized credential…

Describes a study that investigated the nature of hiring criteria in hiring assistant professors for educational technology positions. Data were collected through a survey of recent search committees. Topics discussed include increased competition and the importance of oral presentations and personal interviews. (14 references) (LRW)

Includes "Skill Upgrading in Public and Private Organizations"; "Developing the Wealth of the Nation" (O'Toole, Simmons); "Dumbing down America" (Shanker); "Career Preparation"; "What Work Requires of Schools: The SCANS Report"; "Industry-Education Collaboration in Canada" (Clark); and…

Presents a case study of radio broadcasting that could be used with students in an investigation of competition and regulation. Discusses the British Broadcasting Act and its attempts at privatization, encouragement of competition, and deregulation of markets. Includes questions and the Hotelling Model of a market to explain the situation in radio…

To blame the decline in national competitiveness solely on poorly educated, less productive workers is misguided. Despite the growing intensity of corporate criticisms of public education, there is no consensus among economists that schools have caused the productivity crisis. Schools are not critical to economic competitiveness in a global…

Experimental design studied global and componential self-esteem. Perceived ethnic status was manipulated among 132 Anglo- and Mexican-American college students. For both groups, those in the high-status condition showed higher overall self-esteem and higher social competitiveness. Compared to Anglos, Mexican-Americans showed lower social-power…

A discussion of college and university retrenchment based on interviews with 40 faculty and 20 administrators at 2 research universities looks at programs threatened with termination as terrains contested among academic fields, where wide divergences in professional/discipline-based power become evident. Results appeared to have less to do with…

In the vision of workplace past, work and education combined to improve productivity; in workplace present, workers are deficient and need specialized training. Workplace future must reconceptualize work, addressing race, sex, and class bias and making families and subsistence production, rather than commodity production, the centerpiece. (SK)

The increasing competitiveness in international industry has raised new demands for effective research management, resulting in an array of science policy techniques and extensive experimentation. However, the new techniques must be tested, developed, and refined and applied with considerable caution before science policy can be based on them…

The study of a peer-mediated instructional procedure (Classwide Peer Tutoring) with 9 students (ages 78 to 119 months) classified as mildly mentally retarded found that daily practice of spelling words using the procedure resulted in 95 percent correct on weekly tests, about 90 percent correct on tests of long-term retention, and positive student…

The strategic use of information technology (IT) is pervading almost all areas of higher education. Institutions must review their IT management structure to assure that the application of this rapidly changing technology will be maximized in the highly competitive 1990s. (Author/MSE)