"Economic Development Consequences of State Support for Higher Education".

• Author: Marciniak, Todd

Storm, Ruth and Feiock, Richard C.

State and Local Government Review, Spring 1999, pp. 97-105.

This article attempts to determine if state financial support for higher education positively contributes to a state's overall economic performance. The authors' opinion is that such state support enhances economic performance in two ways: 1) higher education influences the productive capacity of the labor force through human capital investment, and 2) higher education enhances a state's competitiveness in national markets and thereby creates an environment attractive to high-quality employers and high-skilled workers. Several more examples, both specific and general, are offered throughout the article. One is that human capital investments such as education expenditures simply attract taxpayers, who then positively influence the economy. The authors also lend support to their theory by proposing "a methodology to test the impact of state appropriations for higher education on state economic performance." After...