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Working Paper
A new social compact: how university engagement can fuel innovation
Richard K. Lester feels that colleges and universities, because they are immobile, can replace local institutions whose leadership has been eroded by globalization. However, university attempts to improve the regional economy must be well-planned. North Dakota clearly illustrates benefits of a strategic approach to university and college interaction with the economy. This paper examines the degree to which their Higher Education Roundtable fits into the specific model of engagement proposed by Lester. Much of the specificity of the North Dakota plan came in the implementation, which has been ...
Journal Article
Noteworthy: New Texans, Mexican population, higher education
Encouraging signs are present in manufacturing and services, with a marked pickup in temp employment and initial signs that direct hiring is on the upswing.
Newsletter
Can higher education foster economic growth?—a conference summary
While higher education is being asked to perform more roles in the local economy, specific pathways for influencing local and regional economic transformation are still being identified. On October 30, 2006, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Midwest Higher Education Compact held a conference on higher education and economic growth.
Speech
You earn what you learn
Delivered to the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce Seventh Annual Real Estate Symposium,> Dallas, Texas, September 24, 2007. ; "The vital capital stock of our modern economy is not our buildings or our factories or our farms. It is our brains. It is our ability to conjure new and better ideas, inventions and solutions. It is our commitment to exceptional customer service. It is our designs for better buildings, faster computers and more successful space flights."
Working Paper
Imperfect information, self-selection and the market for higher education
This paper explores how the steady trends in increasing tuition costs, college enrollment, and the college wage gap might be related to the quality of college graduates. The model shows that the signaling role of education might be an important yet largely neglected ingredient in these recent changes. I develop a special signaling model in which workers of heterogeneous abilities face the same costs, yet a larger proportion of able individuals self-select to attend college since they are more likely to get higher returns. With imperfect information, the skill premium is an outcome which ...
Working Paper
Insuring student loans against the risk of college failure
Participants in student loan programs must repay loans in full regardless of whether they complete college. But many students who take out a loan do not earn a degree (the dropout rate among college students is between 33 to 50 percent). The authors examine whether insurance against college-failure risk can be offered, taking into account moral hazard and adverse selection. To do so, they develop a model that accounts for college enrollment, dropout, and completion rates among new high school graduates in the US and use that model to study the feasibility and optimality of offering insurance ...
Speech
The U.S., Mexican, and border economies
Remarks before a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Community Luncheon, Laredo, Texas, September 10, 2007. ; "It is fair to say that I am encouraged by what I have heard against a background of constant negative speculation and the occasional discordant note, such as last week's employment numbers. Our economy appears to be weathering the storm thus far. The future path of that storm and the appropriate policy course, however, are still to be determined."
Speech
The southern states in a globalized economy
Remarks before the Southern Governors' Association 73rd Annual Meeting, Biloxi, Mississippi, August 25, 2007. ; "There is no great secret about how to lay the groundwork for Southern states' success in harvesting and harnessing--in mastering--globalization. The key to adapting to and profiting from globalization lies in education."
Speech
Digits and widgets (with reference to a wise mother, the Golden Book Encyclopedia, Winston Churchill and Hunter Lawrence)
"In the world of "superfine processes" of the Knowledge Age, digits are the new widgets. The brain is to the Knowledge Age and the mastery of digits what the engine was to the Manufacturing Age and the management of widgets. Education is the steam and the oil and the gas that propel that engine. The speed at which we move our economy forward from this point onward will depend on how well we educate our children." ; Remarks before the Austin Chamber of Commerce's 4th Annual State of Education in Austin Conference; Austin, Texas; December 8, 2009.
Journal Article
Raising the college degree share: How nongraduates figure into it
In their search for strategies to spur economic development, one statistic civic leaders and researchers invariably use to identify the cities to emulate is the share of college graduates. That is because the college degree share of a region is highly correlated with its economic performance. But too narrow a focus on the graduates can lead to misguided policies. A more thorough analysis suggests that the reason some areas pull ahead and some fall behind in their college degree shares may be due to trends in nongraduate population growth that regional leaders either cannot or would not ...