The dissertation comprises of two chapters that use applied econometric techniques to analyze policy related questions that have implications for educational outcomes and one chapter that assesses factors that influence foreign direct investment inflows. In the first chapter I study the impact of equity premiums on the completion numbers of…

The Public School Forum's Top Education Issues outlines the Forum's priorities on what should be at the forefront of education policy decision-making each legislative biennium, as the Forum works toward eliminating the systemic racism and inequities that exist and are visible throughout the educational system. The Top Education Issues publications…

The Catholic school system in the United States is undergoing significant changes in size, populations served and the funding models which have traditionally supported such schools. The closing of many schools in urban areas in the last 10 years in conjunction with the rising costs of schooling suggests that unless a new approach to funding…

California is fortunate to be the 5th largest economy in the world with an abundance of resources and diverse talent. Among those resources are our state colleges, which are not only premier institutions, but they are also changing lives and communities. Access to financial aid is critical for low-income students and students of color who want to…

Social programs and mandates are usually studied in isolation even though they often interact closely with each other. Given the immense recent changes to health insurance systems, there is much potential for spillover effects to other systems in which health plays a large role. In this study, we examine how health insurance interacts with…

This paper analyses the composition, distribution, and history of school funding in Australia through a spatial lens (Soja 2010). We explore multi-scalar school funding policy through three layers of economic maldistribution. We sketch the funding disparities between the three school sectors (public, Catholic, and independent) exposing a spatial…

The need for valid and reliable ways to assess developmental outcomes of preschool children becomes continually more acute as public investments in preschool education grow, with corresponding pressure for programs to demonstrate their ability to influence child outcomes. The authors conducted studies of one assessment widely used in Head Start…

There 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…

As explored in the first report in this series, the past decade has been a period of tremendous growth for UMass. This growth has taken many forms, including expansion of the school's capital facilities, increased student enrollment, and a growing national profile and public mission. These developments have resulted in innumerable successes for…

This study examines the effect of state need-based financial aid on crucial student outcome measures at 4-year institutions. In particular, I seek to analyze differential effects across income groups. To account for potential endogeneity bias and the nested data structure, this study employs a propensity score matching, multilevel modeling…

Since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991, charter schools have become one of the most prominent school reforms in the U.S. While charter schools educate a small portion of public school enrollments, their existence has prompted various responses from traditional public school (TPS) districts. This paper explores education…

Many argue that the California Master Plan for Higher Education is no longer effective in meeting the needs of students. This policy analysis assesses the impact of California higher education policy on the state's community colleges that are considered minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Using longitudinal data to determine how the metrics have…

The success of policy interventions is frequently stymied by the inability to induce take-up in target populations. In this article, I show that local advertising in combination with small financial lotteries increases the likelihood that low-income students apply for and receive state aid. I isolate causal impacts by estimating the change in…

Lawsuits challenging state methods for funding public schools have been launched in 46 of the 50 states, and in recent years they have been extraordinarily successful. Since 1989, plaintiffs have prevailed in over 65 percent of the final liability decisions in cases based on "adequacy claims"--assertions that all students have a…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between state funding along with tuition and baccalaureate graduation rates as well as degrees awarded at 4-year public institutions in the State of Texas. The goal of this study was to identify possible trends which may exist regarding institutions, institutional governance structures,…