Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private and Social Benefits of Higher Education

by Walter W. McMahon

Overview

The chronic underinvestment in higher education has serious ramifications for both individuals and society.

Winner, Best Book in Education, 2009 PROSE Awards, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, Association of American Publishers

Winner, Best Book in Education, PROSE Awards, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, Association of American Publishers

A college education has long been acknowledged as essential for both personal success and economic growth. But the measurable value of its nonmonetary benefits has until now been poorly understood. In Higher Learning, Greater Good, leading education economist Walter W. McMahon carefully describes these benefits and suggests that higher education accrues significant social and private benefits.

McMahon's research uncovers a major skill deficit and college premium in the United States and other OECD countries due to technical change and globalization, which, according to a new preface to the 2017 edition, continues unabated. A college degree brings better job opportunities, higher earnings, and even improved health and longevity. Higher education also promotes democracy and sustainable growth and contributes to reduced crime and lower state welfare and prison costs. These social benefits are substantial in relation to the costs of a college education.

Offering a human capital perspective on these and other higher education policy issues, McMahon suggests that poor understanding of the value of nonmarket benefits leads to private underinvestment. He offers policy options that can enable state and federal governments to increase investment in higher education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801896781
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	03/18/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Walter W. McMahon is emeritus professor of economics and emeritus professor of education at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He is the author of Education and Development: Measuring the Social Benefits.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. What Is the Problem?
2. Challenges Facing Higher Education Policy
3. Higher Education and Economic Growth
4. Private Non-Market Benefits of Higher Education and Market Failure
5. Social Benefits of Higher Education and Their Policy Implications
6. University Research
7. New Higher Education Policies
8. New Strategies for Financing Higher Education
Appendixes
A. Correcting for Ability Bias in Returns to Higher Education
B . A Simplified Dynamic Model with Higher Education Externalities
C. Valuing the Effects of Higher Education on Private Non-Market Outcomes
D. Higher Education and Growth, U.S. and OECD Countries, 1960–2005
E. Valuing the External Social Benefi ts of Higher Education
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Stanley O. Ikenberry

Walt McMahon's Higher Learning, Greater Good is an important book made even more so by the current economic crisis. This insightful volume derives from a lifetime of scholarly exploration and arrives at a time when a clear understanding of the economic benefits of higher education has never been more crucial. Through his analysis of the market and non-market returns on higher education, McMahon makes clear the chronic underinvestment in higher education and the serious ramifications for both individuals and society. Higher Learning, Greater Good is a detailed and thoughtful contribution to education and policy debates that deserves a careful reading by all who care about the future.

— Stanley O. Ikenberry, Professor and Former President, University of Illinois, and Former President of the American Council of Education

From the Publisher

Walt McMahon's Higher Learning, Greater Good is an important book made even more so by the current economic crisis. This insightful volume derives from a lifetime of scholarly exploration and arrives at a time when a clear understanding of the economic benefits of higher education has never been more crucial. Through his analysis of the market and non-market returns on higher education, McMahon makes clear the chronic underinvestment in higher education and the serious ramifications for both individuals and society. Higher Learning, Greater Good is a detailed and thoughtful contribution to education and policy debates that deserves a careful reading by all who care about the future.
—Stanley O. Ikenberry, Professor and Former President, University of Illinois, and Former President of the American Council of Education

Editorial Reviews

An important contribution that not only provides a diagnosis of the main problems facing US higher education but also offers some solutions.
—Times Higher Education Supplement

McMahon has written a serious and important book on the economics of higher education . . . This book is a must-read for students interested in the economics of higher education and should be included as a required reading in such courses . . . McMahon's extension and revitalization of human capital theory in higher education should be of interest to a general readership in the field.
—Journal of Higher Education

This extraordinary book patiently, thoughtfully, and thoroughly provides the conceptual framework for understanding the higher education market, the empirical findings about what that market produces and the policy prescriptions needed to make it work better in the future.
—Review of Higher Education

No one else before McMahon has systematically and comprehensively presented the whole picture of higher education benefits and provided a valuation of the private and social non-market benefits.
—Higher Education

This is a significant contribution to both theory and research findings in the study of investment in higher education . . . Highly recommended.
—Choice

The overwhelming success of this work is that McMahon has articulated clearly and succinctly what students, their families, and governments are getting for their investment in higher education.
—Journal of Education Finance

A timely and insightful text . . . Academic advisors who want to show their students that a college degree offers benefits beyond starting salaries and career opportunities will find this book to be a valuable resource.
—NACADA Journal

It is not surprising that there is a growing interest in the private and social benefits of higher education and discussion of who should pay for what. Professor McMahon’s book . . . is central to this debate.
—Academic Matters

The first book to systematically identify and develop the evidence necessary to measure comprehensively the benefits of higher education and to estimate their economic value.
—Rorotoko

From the Publisher

No one else before McMahon has systematically and comprehensively presented the whole picture of higher education benefits and provided a valuation of the private and social non-market benefits.

Higher Education

It is not surprising that there is a growing interest in the private and social benefits of higher education and discussion of who should pay for what. Professor McMahon’s book . . . is central to this debate.

Academic Matters

This is a significant contribution to both theory and research findings in the study of investment in higher education . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

An important contribution that not only provides a diagnosis of the main problems facing US higher education but also offers some solutions.

Times Higher Education Supplement

A timely and insightful text . . . Academic advisors who want to show their students that a college degree offers benefits beyond starting salaries and career opportunities will find this book to be a valuable resource.

NACADA Journal

This extraordinary book patiently, thoughtfully, and thoroughly provides the conceptual framework for understanding the higher education market, the empirical findings about what that market produces and the policy prescriptions needed to make it work better in the future.

Review of Higher Education

The first book to systematically identify and develop the evidence necessary to measure comprehensively the benefits of higher education and to estimate their economic value.

Rorotoko

McMahon has written a serious and important book on the economics of higher education . . . This book is a must-read for students interested in the economics of higher education and should be included as a required reading in such courses . . . McMahon's extension and revitalization of human capital theory in higher education should be of interest to a general readership in the field.

Journal of Higher Education

The overwhelming success of this work is that McMahon has articulated clearly and succinctly what students, their families, and governments are getting for their investment in higher education.

Journal of Education Finance

This extraordinary book patiently, thoughtfully, and thoroughly provides the conceptual framework for understanding the higher education market, the empirical findings about what that market produces and the policy prescriptions needed to make it work better in the future.

Review of Higher Education - David Shulenburger

McMahon has written a serious and important book on the economics of higher education... This book is a must read for students interested in the economics of higher education and should be included as a required reading in such courses... McMahon's extension and revitalization of human capital theory in higher education should be of interest to a general readership in the field.

Journal of Higher Education - Edward P. St. John

It is not surprising that there is a growing interest in the private and social benefits of higher education and discussion of who should pay for what. Professor McMahon’s book, Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private and Social Benefits of Higher Education is central to this debate.

Academic Matters - Kjell Rubenson

No one else before McMahon has systematically and comprehensively presented the whole picture of higher education benefits and provided a valuation of the private and social non-market benefits.

Higher Education - Shouping Hu

An important contribution that not only provides a diagnosis of the main problems facing US higher education but also offers some solutions.

Times Higher Education Supplement - Roger Brown

A timely and insightful text... Academic advisors who want to show their students that a college degree offers benefits beyond starting salaries and career opportunities will find this book to be a valuable resource.

NACADA Journal - Jon Kleinman

The overwhelming success of this work is that McMahon has articulated clearly and succinctly what students, their families, and governments are getting for their investment in higher education.

Journal of Education Finance - Mary McKeown-Moak