High returns: public investment in higher education

Conservatively speaking, a college graduate generates $142,000 in state fiscal benefits over time while costing a state only$60,500. But trends in higher education allocations (4.1 percent of total state spending nationwide in 1984; 1.8 percent in 2004) suggest states have become shortsighted.Education - New England ; Education - Economic aspects ; College graduates ; College graduates - New England

Nonlinearity in the return to education

This study estimates marginal rates of return to investment in schooling in 12 countries. Significant systematic nonlinearity in the marginal rate of return is found. In particular, the marginal rate of return is increasing significantly at low levels of education, and decreasing significantly at high levels of education. This may help explain why estimates of the return to schooling are often considerably higher when instrumenting for education.return to education, nonlinearity, instrumental variables

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labor Market in 2020

The disruption of the labor market caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented. The unemployment rate in February 2020, just before the pandemic spread to the United States, was 3.5 percent nationally and 3.2 percent in Maine; two months later, the unemployment rate jumped to 14.8 percent nationally and 10.4 percent in Maine. Although usually changes in the unemployment rate reliably indicate changes in the health of economy, that was not the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. The harm to the labor market in 2020 was even worse than indicated by the dramatic increase in unemployment. In addition to the unprecedented spike in unemployment, there was an unprecedented decrease in labor force participation. There were also an important increase in absence from work and an important decline in average weekly hours of work among those employed. This article takes an in-depth look at these trends both nationally and in Maine

Recent Developments in the Labor Market in Maine

This report examines recent developments in Maine’s labor markets. This study also calculates a projection of recent labor market trends into the future to show the likely changes ahead unless significant policy changes are made

Micro evidence on human capital as the engine of growth

This study examines a crucial assumption in much of the recent work on endogenous growth, namely, constant returns to scale in the production of human capital. A simple model is constructed to show that the returns to scale in human capital production can be inferred from the relationship between the wage rate and years of schooling. A large international micro dataset is used to estimate this relationship. The empirical evidence is decisive. There are decreasing returns to scale in human capital production; that is, the micro-level evidence is not supportive of endogenous growth driven by human capital accumulation

Workforce Development in Maine: Held Back by the Lack of HigherEducation

This study examines what we believe to be the crucial issue for workforce development in Maine, namely, higher education. The intent of this report is to provide some factual context that will be useful for policy analysis for the state

Maine’s State- and Local-Government Payroll and Expenditure

This report examines state- and local-government spending in Maine in comparison to other states

Impact of New Science and Engineering Graduates on Intrastate Labor Markets

A major policy issue confronting states is the level of state support to higher education. A crucial question in this policy debate is whether a state\u27s production of college graduates has a proportionate effect on the level of college attainment in the state. Although it is widely accepted that rising college attainment leads to rising prosperity, there is widespread concern that many new college graduates will take their state-supported degrees to labor markets in other states. The belief that state support to higher education subsidizes the workforce development of other states undermines states\u27 incentives to promote wider access to higher education. Moreover, there is some suggestive evidence to support this view. There are compelling reasons, however, to be skeptical of this view and the existing evidence. The proposed study will explore those reasons and develop an appropriate framework to examine the impact of a state\u27s production of college graduates on college attainment in the state. For several reasons, the emphasis will be on science and engineering (S&E) graduates. This study will use this framework and appropriate econometric methods on data from the National Center for Education Statistics\u27 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u27 Current Population Survey and Occupational Employment Statistics Survey to quantify the effects of states\u27 production of S&E graduates on state\u27 labor markets. To be more specific, this research will estimate the effects of new S&E graduates in a state on the state\u27s employment and wages of S&E graduates. These estimates will implicitly test alternative views on the nature of job creation for skilled labor. This research will also explore the spillover benefits from new S&E graduates on non-S&E labor markets. That is, this project will estimate the complementary effects of S&E degrees on the wages and employment in labor markets for less-skilled workers and for non-S&E graduates

It’s Not Just the Money The Benefits of College Education to Individuals and to Society

This report provides a more complete picture of the benefits of a college education by highlighting many of the frequently unmeasured and ignored benefits of college attendance

Background Report on College Affordability in Maine

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave Maine an “F” grade for affordability of higher education in both Measuring Up 2000 and Measuring Up 2002. In the 2000 report, Maine’s affordability score (54 on a 100-point scale) was 3rd worst in the nation (ahead of RI and NH). In the 2002 report, Maine’s affordability score (56) was in a three-way tie (with NY and VT) for 7th worst in the country (ahead of NH, RI, MT, OR, DE, OH). Although there are legitimate criticisms of the methodology for constructing these scores, it seems pretty clear that college affordability is an important barrier to attainment of higher education in Maine. This report is an introduction to current issues on college affordability in Maine. It is meant to serve as a starting point for discussion. The goal of this report is to present the dimensions of the problem as best as possible while avoiding the temptation to evaluate the facts