What If Higher Ed Funds Donât Help Economy? - InsideHigherEd

[Leigh Meyers <the.buffalo.in.the.midst@xxxxxxxxx>]

What If Higher Ed Funds Don't Help Economy?

Greater prosperity requires more jobs, and more jobs require more
economic growth. And the best way to do that, this chain of reasoning
continues, is to make investments in higher education and high-tech
research. How else to cultivate the next generation of highly skilled,
motivated workers for today's ever-dynamic information economy?

That view â promoted by college presidents, governors and experts in
the economics of higher education â is often cited in the quest for
more funding for state university systems. But what if it's wrong?

A new study published Wednesday by the free-market-oriented,
Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy suggests just that.
Its major finding, that increased state appropriations for higher
education actually correlate with lower economic growth, is counter to
both established understanding and conventional wisdom.

The study, also sponsored by the Center for College Affordability and
Productivity, will have its critics, to be sure. The primary author,
Richard Vedder, has defended his work from other economists in the
past. He has made a name for himself â and earned a spot on the
Spellings Commission â by criticizing colleges as too expensive and
poorly run. But Vedder, a distinguished professor of economics at Ohio
University, the director of the college affordability center and a
visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, believes he has
found "startling enough" results that others will want to try to look
at the issue themselves â a development he'd welcome.

In Full: http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/22/growth