2016-04: Explaining estimated economies of scale and scope in higher education: A meta-regression analysis (Working paper)
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Author(s)
Zhang, Liang-Cheng
Worthington, Andrew C.
Year published
2016
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Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching and research and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of these economies of scale and scope given the mixed findings, largely because of the significant institutional and other differences in the chosen context. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and ...
View more >Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching and research and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of these economies of scale and scope given the mixed findings, largely because of the significant institutional and other differences in the chosen context. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across nearly 50 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and others since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form, allowances for managerial efficiency, and the specification of teaching outputs have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key factors appear to be when the age of the analysis, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development in the chosen context.
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View more >Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching and research and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of these economies of scale and scope given the mixed findings, largely because of the significant institutional and other differences in the chosen context. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across nearly 50 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and others since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form, allowances for managerial efficiency, and the specification of teaching outputs have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key factors appear to be when the age of the analysis, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development in the chosen context.
View less >
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Copyright © 2010 by author(s). No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior permission of the author(s).
Note
Economics and Business Statistics
Subject
D29 - Production and Organizations: Other
C21 - Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions
I23 - Higher Education and Research Institutions
Economies of scale
economies of scope
meta-regression analysis
higher education