Suchergebnisse

Despite periodic consideration of public sector unions in the public management and administration literature, empirical evidence on the union membership decisions of public employees remains scant. In this article, we begin to address this issue by considering unique data on union membership drawn from a local educational agency in a midsize American city. We find union membership rates to be highest in schools that are hardest to staff and where working conditions may be most difficult. We consider this evidence in light of recent efforts to reform public sector unions in general and teacher unions in particular.

This article uses spatial econometric modeling to estimate the extent to which state higher education spending in three categories (need-based aid spending, non-need-based aid spending, and appropriations to public universities) is affected by the spending decisions of neighboring states. Drawing on the relevant empirical and theoretical literature in public finance and economics, it evaluates three theoretically justified alternatives for defining the connectivity between states: physical proximity, relative population migration flows between states, and common state membership in regional interstate higher education compacts. Our empirical results find statistically significant geographical spatial interdependence in spending for need-based aid and higher education appropriations, but no equivalent effects for non-need-based aid. We discuss our results in the context of the continually evolving role of higher education in state budgets.

AbstractThere is a substantial literature that assesses the effects of tax‐exporting capacities on the tax structures and aggregate spending levels that state governments choose to implement, but no work exists that isolates the effects of state tax exporting on higher education spending. Using state‐level data for 1989, 1995, 2002, and 2007, we estimate for the median voter in each state the change in the marginal cost of higher education subsidization generated by tax exportation, and calculate the increased higher education spending that results. We consider three types of spending: state appropriations to public universities as well as need‐ and non‐need‐based aid awarded to in‐state students. We find that neither type of aid is responsive to the marginal cost, or tax price, faced by the median voter. However, the median voter's price elasticity of demand for state appropriations is statistically significant and negative. We find that the median voter's tax price is substantially reduced by the presence of prominent mining and tourism industries and by the federal deductibility offset available to firms. Thus, these tax‐exporting capacities exert upward pressure on voter demand for state appropriations to public universities.

Institutions of higher education provide an excellent opportunity to compare long‐term debt financing in the nonprofit and public sectors. The proposed models explain the long‐term debt per student at public and private‐nonprofit research universities. Student enrollment, enrollment growth, total assets, and revenue variables as a group all influence debt levels. The strongest predictors of debt balances are the fixed characteristics of the universities themselves. Empirical evidence from the university sector also suggests the absence of a powerful arbitrage incentive to issue debt.

While Katrina has raised awareness of the potential impact of hurricanes on municipalities along the Gulf Coast, it remains unclear if the municipal bond market considers other types of natural disaster risk in other areas. We attempt to fill this gap by conducting an analysis to determine if underlying geologic earthquake risk affects interest costs for municipal bond issuers in California. We find that earthquake risk does matter in determining the interest costs for municipalities issuing debt, but not universally—only for municipal bonds issued after Hurricane Katrina and only in relation to underlying geologic earthquake risk.

AbstractResearch into state appropriations across the United States frequently examines the influence of socio-demographic characteristics and political characteristics on particular levels of funding. We extend this literature to examine the year-to-year volatility of funding in order to test hypotheses surrounding the interlocks among multiple actors in the political stage. Our findings suggest that, when state higher education leaders are politically close to governors and have no formal budgetary power they capture more revenue volatility.

AbstractUniversity ranking has high public visibility, the ranking business has flourished, and institutions of higher education have not been able to ignore it. This study of university ranking presents general considerations of ranking and institutional responses to it, particularly considering reactions to ranking, ranking as a self‐fulfilling prophecy, and ranking as a means of transforming qualities into quantities. The authors present a conceptual framework of university ranking based on three propositions and carry out a descriptive statistical analysis of U.S. and international ranking data to evaluate those propositions. The first proposition of university ranking is that ranking systems are demarcated by a high degree of stability, equilibrium, and path dependence. The second proposition links ranking to institutional identity. The third proposition posits that rankings function as a catalyst for institutional isomorphism. The conclusion reviews some important new developments in university ranking.

As local governments across the United States adapt to economic shifts, workforce reshaping, and continued demand for services, training to confront these challenges has become more important. However, training resources are limited, investment in these programs is not always prioritized, and evaluating outcomes is difficult. This study analyzes data from a local government leadership development program to examine training impacts over time. It focuses on leadership skills and the ways in which individual's self-assessments change over time. The findings indicate that although leadership training is an important factor in the development of both conceptual and interpersonal leadership skills, the long-term effects of training on these two types of skills vary significantly. Understanding the training effect decay associated with leadership skills development can help human resource managers and public organizations strategically plan, evaluate, and invest in these training activities to better prepare their workforce to meet future challenges.