Do Public Subsidies for Higher Education Affect Regional Economic Development?
Shawn Kantor University of California, Merced NBER TIAA-CREF Institute Fellow Alex Whalley University of California, Merced May 2008 | Issue # 91 Email This Page Download PDF In fiscal year 2006 state and local governments contributed nearly $77.7 billion to higher education across the United States, of which 91 percent was from state funding sources. Despite the importance that policymakers and local boosters of public higher education institutions place on the economic impact of the institutions, very little is understood about how the higher education industry affects the real economy. This paper represents the starting point in a long-term project that will explore the political economy of higher education in the United States since World War II. Gaining a better understanding of the public’s support for higher education institutions will offer new insights into the economic growth of the United States over the course of the last century. The specific goal of this paper is to analy
