Economic Challenges in Higher Education.

• Author: Tuckman, Howard P.

The need for substantive research in the field of the economics of education is growing. Concerns over the efficiency of the public school system, fears that the American labor force is becoming less competitive, rises in college tuition to a level where the average family finds it difficult to finance a college education, claims that college professors are unproductive, and declining federal and state subsidies have all increased the need for researchers in the field to provide answers rather than questions. As subsidy dollars become increasingly scarce, the demand for studies that assist policy makers to make informed resource decisions grows. Thusfar, supply has not been responsive, in part, because research funding in this area has been limited and, in part, because economists have been preoccupied with other fields of interest. Indeed, fewer economists are writing in this field today than in the last two decades, and the resulting vacuum has largely been filled by scholars in other disciplines.

The appearance of this book by an eminent group of economists must thus be welcomed with open arms and I opened it with the expectation that important gaps in my own knowledge might be filled. These hopes were modestly fulfilled. The authors examine three higher education areas: the growth and composition of undergraduate enrollments, the supply of faculty in academic labor markets, and the rising costs of operating colleges and universities. These are useful topics and much of the research undertaken by economists in these areas is not widely disseminated.

The authors set forth several objectives for their work; to provide findings from the economics literature in a form accessible to noneconomists, to present and discuss relevant data to their respective fields of study, and to highlight the implications of their findings for both the higher education industry and for the public policies that affect the industry. They meet with varying degrees of success in achieving these objectives. The attempt to reach noneconomists leaves the informed reader with the impression that they are sometimes talking down and many of the data presentations document trends already well recognized in the literature. The volume is most useful for those interested in having a wide variety of previously published studies reviewed and presented in one place and for those who do not have the time to read the journals.

Part 1 is concerned with undergraduate demand and...