What If Higher Ed Funds Don'T Help Economy?
Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2007.

University officials have long been citing their economic importance as grounds for their support. Some critics have noted that this reduces departments like art and philosophy to irrelevance, but they have been largely muted. Well, now the other shoe may be dropping. "The study found that more state funding to higher education doesn't necessarily lead to higher growth, and in fact correlates negatively with high growth rates." The argument for the arts and philosophy remains unchanged: knowledge is of intrinsic worth to society. As for those institutions that placed the demands of knowledge second to the dictates of the economy? Live by the sword...

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Re: What If Higher Ed Funds Don't Help the Economy?

Anymouse, June 24, 2007

Anyone reading Andy Guess's article should scroll down and through the many comments that have been made on it, and note, in particular claims that the Vedder study (which I've not read) relates to the state of Michigan rather than to the US economy as a whole. For example:

"I agree with another respondent that this study has a major, very significant flaw. It only looks at one state (Michigan) and fails to account for inter-state migration (in and out).

Educational attainment is highly correlated with migration. It's a fact. The more education one has, the more likely they are to migrate. There are even differences by field and discipline (engineers, for instance, more likely to move than teachers).

So, this study fails to capture (or even account for or even mention!) the fact that graduates may move to other states, failing to capture the benefits these graduates bring to the economy."
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