The Direct Economic Impact of Texas’s Appropriations to Higher Education

The authors examine the economic impacts of public higher education in three areas: income (or gross state product), payroll, and employment, compare two alternative models, and use the net difference to show the quantitative benefits of appropriations to selected public institutions rather than lowered tax rates. This quantification of the direct economic impacts stemming from appropriations to higher education is positive, even excluding nonquantifiable benefits to quality of life, industry attraction, and others.