Universities and Colleges as Economic Drivers

Appendix

295 APPENDIX DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ChaptEr 1 1. The chapter begins with the following quote from Clark Kerr: “We are just now perceiving that the university’s invisible product , knowledge, may be the most powerful single element in our culture, affecting the rise and fall of professions and even of social classes, or regions, and even nations.” Do you think this quote is accurate? Why or why not? 2. What is economic competiveness? What role does higher education play in its development? 3. What might be required of a nation’s higher or post-secondary institutions or systems to bring a measurably higher level of economic competitiveness? 4. The chapter suggests that issues of national competitiveness are increasingly driving educational policy development is some countries . What cautions might you address to policy makers about tightly coupling economic competitiveness and educational policy? 5. Should institutions include economic competitiveness in their economic impact reports? How might an institution measure its contributions to economic competitiveness? 6. What policies—from governments, institutions, or public higher education systems—might foster a greater level of governmental -institutional-business collaboration to foster economic development? 296 appENDIx ChaptEr 2 1. What is the import-export model? Why is it commonly used in the analysis of college and university economic impacts? According to the authors, what are the shortcomings of the model in understanding a higher education institution’s economic contributions? 2. This chapter introduces the concept of the counterfactual (also discussed in chapters 3 and 4). What is a counterfactual? How is it helpful in understanding a college or university’s potential economic impact? 3. The authors suggest three types of analysis for investigating an institution’s economic impact: an expanded import-export model, program evaluation, and comparative site research. Compare and contrast the positive and negative attributes of each type of analysis . If you could use only one, which one would you use if you were conducting an economic impact analysis? Why? 4. This chapter cautions against the tempting assumption that successful public-private university economic development partnerships can be replicated in other venues at other times. How does the authors’ suggestion of innovative incrementalism address this caution? ChaptEr 3 1. This chapter addresses several methodological concerns related to university-sponsored economic impact studies. Do you believe such studies should be held to the same research standards as scholarly publications? 2. What are the most significant concerns that the authors raise about economic impact studies? 3. What is a multiplier? Why is it relevant for understanding economic impact studies? 4. What affect does boundary definition have on an economic impact study? Appendix 297 5. The authors discuss the importance of only counting the spending of the students who would not be in the area “but for” the college. In this discussion, they often emphasize the value of those students who travel (i.e., are imported) to the region to attend college. However, on page 73, they discuss the concept of import substitution . What is import substitution and what type of students would be import substitutes? 6. Why is it not appropriate to include all of the spending of students and of institutions as part of an economic impact analysis? 7. According to the authors, when would you count construction spending in an economic analysis and when would you not? Explain. 8. As one moves from consideration of the economic impact of a single public university to the economic impact on the entire state of the entire public system, the impact attributable to exporting diminishes but the appropriate multiplier expands. Why is this so? Give examples in your state. 9. Many public colleges and universities seek to impress their state governors and legislators on what a good deal the state taxpayers are getting for their appropriations. To do so, they add the institution ’s total salary budget together with the institution’s purchases from local businesses, and estimates of what students from outside the area spend locally. They get a local spending number, which they then multiply by a standardized multiplier, that is meant to represent the number of times a dollar cycles through the economy . This formula then culminates in what the institutions might call a total institutional economic impact. What are some pitfalls in such impact claims? ChaptEr 4 1. Can economic impact studies be objective? Why or why not? 2. How might one assess the economic impact of a university’s research outputs? 298...