Recent Research:Chicago Fed Looks at Higher Ed and Economic Growth

It is no coincidence that every article in this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest touched on some aspect of higher education's role in promoting economic growth. Knowledge-based economies driven by innovation require strong and successful institutions of higher learning. Those same types of economies, particularly when applied on a global scale, present unique challenges to sustaining educational and research excellence with academia based on older models of financing and leadership.

Last November, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a one-day conference examining the future of higher education and economic growth. Two January Chicago Fed Letters by Richard Mattoon summarize the event, calling out one of the most troubling trends in America: "The perception of higher education as an important public good has eroded. Higher education is viewed by some as a private good with the benefits accruing to the student in the form of higher future wages and quality of life."

Both Chicago Fed Letters are available at: http://www.chicagofed.org/economic_research_and_data/chicago_fed_letter.cfm

Individual presentations made during the conference, which was cosponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, may be downloaded from http://www.chicagofed.org/news_and_conferences/conferences_and_events/2005_future_of_higher_education_agenda.cfm

Links to this paper and more than 3,000 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.