Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Returns To Public Agricultural Expenditure Under Uncertainty, Sanjeev Misra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A vast literature has investigated the returns to investment in agriculture research and generally found extremely high rates of return. These results suggest policymakers would do well to maintain or increase resource allocation to public agricultural research. Remarkably little attention has been paid, however, to the issue of how best to allocate public agricultural research funding between competing research areas and organizations. This paper considers the relative returns to alternative uses of public agricultural research funds committed to the agricultural experiment stations of 10 western states of the United States over the years 1967-91. A model of expected utility maximization …

Essays On Scale Economies And Efficiency In Public Education, Kalyan Chakraborty

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Efficiency in public education is a significant issue in the United States. Nationwide, real expenditure per student increased 8% per year between 1960 and 1993, but output as measured by standardized test scores has not increased and in some cases (i.e., the verbal SAT [Scholastic Achievement Test] score) has declined. One explanation is that resources are not being utilized efficiently either in the technical or allocative sense. Also, the issue is important because substantial savings are possible by consolidation of schools and/or districts.

This dissertation explores efficiency by measuring technical efficiency at the school district level from four perspectives. The …

Taxpayer Satisfaction With Public Urban Services In Salt Lake County, Lea J. Cottam

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although citizens do not generally consider themselves consumers of public services in the same Sense they consider themselves consumers in the retail marketplace, their demand for public services clearly affects what local government units provide. Citizens are involved daily with the consumption of public urban services; yet most consumer education textbooks and teaching materials ignore tax supported services.

The purpose of this study was to measure the satisfaction of consumers with certain public urban services, public officials, and several units of government.

Satisfaction was found to be correlated with age, length of residence in the community and the respondents' attitudes …

Transportation And Public Service Costs For Rural Communities Of Various Sizes, Thomas L. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Lower real incomes in the agricultural sector compared with other sectors of the economy have led to continued migration of rural people to urban areas. Despite this movement of surplus people from farm areas, incomes in the rural sector have failed to keep pace with those in urban areas. Fewer social amenities and other conveniences have also contributed to rural-urban migration.

This reduction in rural population and the consequent reduction in the economic bases of many rural communities has raised some interesting questions about city and rural government consolidation. What sizes of cities should be encouraged in the rural areas, …

The Supply Of Public School Teachers In The United States: A Study In Human Capital Theory, Andrew W. Bacdayan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study uses the principles of human capital theory to develop and test a theory of a supply of a class of educated manpower services with special reference to school teachers.

In the theory formulation, the determinants of the existing stock of teacher education capital are first identified. These are: (a) the price per man-year of teaching service, WTS, (b) the rate of interest, r, (c) the price of the human capital already embodied in the individual working for a college degree in teacher education, WCS, and (d) private costs of education such as foregone earnings and tuition fees, FERTN. …