Efficiency wage models explain unemployment as a manifestation of the unavoidable incompleteness of the employment contract. In hiring workers, firms use education as a screen to determine the quantity and quality of the effort that a worker might exert in performing his or her duties. This generates a hierarchy of workers. (KDP)

This paper provides a concise overview and critique of the proceedings of the 1992 annual conference of the American Education Finance. Issues addressed include new finance mechanisms for educational provision, spatial inequities, the funding of special needs education and the impact of expenditures on pupil performance. (Author)

The measurement of the performance of schools is complicated by the need to adjust for differences in input mixes. Schools may have a differential effect on the performance of different types of pupils. Rather than a single performance indicator, a system of indicators is needed. Characteristics of a good indicator system are identified. (KDP)

Management of personnel in the field of education has been largely piecemeal, and the absence of a coherent approach to recruitment, training, remuneration, and promotion policies has exacerbated problems of local shortages and surpluses in specific subject areas. It is argued that, where a large and highly trained workforce--such as teachers--is…

The United Kingdom has a low, but rising, rate of postcompulsory participation in education. Reasons for this are suggested. Although market-led vocational training has provided for expansion, the current system lacks coherence. The paper concludes with some suggestions for reform. (Author/KDP)

This paper examines the demand for teachers in the United Kingdom and establishes the factors which determine teacher shortages. Policy options aimed at alleviating these shortages are suggested. (Author)

Reasons underlying a low demand for vocational skills in United Kingdom industry, relative to major competitors, are investigated. Low demand leads to a low supply of skilled labor, since the rates of return to vocational training are unattractive to potential trainees. Suggestions for reform are made. (Author)

Over the last 30 years there has been a massive expansion of the British higher education system. The removal of supply constraints on the provision of higher education, accompanied by a broadening of the constituency of higher education has allowed a larger pool of ability to benefit from schooling at tertiary level. (Author)

Analyzes the roles of state, enterprises, and individuals regarding financing of education and training services during the economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe. The state is presently unable to mobilize adequate resources to preserve the quality of existing educational systems and adapt them to market economy realities. A new…

Statistical analyses of class size influences on student achievement generally lack a solid theoretical foundation. This paper uses the assumptions and methods of economic theory to study "rational" teacher behavior and prove that increasing class size reduces student achievement. Although the suggested model is elementary and simplified, it lays…

Employs a sample of 140 graduates from 2 subject areas (economics and accounting/management science) at Southampton University (England) to investigate the university's degree classification system using various statistical analysis techniques. Since students perform best in core subjects, those with little variety in degree courses have…

Uses findings from two Greek labor market surveys to decompose the gross male/female earnings differential into productivity-enhancing attributes and labor market discrimination components. Documents changes in the discrimination-over-time component and compares results with earlier studies. Gender productivity differences are minimal. Despite…

Addresses critical and extensively debated human resource issues involved with Hungary's transition to a market economy. Summarizes key problems, including educational system rigidity versus labor market flexibility and lack of feedback between growing unemployment and school system transformation. Highlights some proposed solutions consistent…

Discusses ways to involve parents in a system to measure school quality. Develops a school quality index based on a characteristics approach, rather than market segmentation. The method emphasizes how the "best" school may not be the most popular, since school quality must be isolated from the "price" of attending. A…

Educational cost-benefit analysis, as practiced in both industrialized and developing nations, has been much criticized. Manpower planning, the principal alternative, has received even harsher criticism. The two approaches should be combined in empirically based projects that study recent graduates and chart their subsequent employment progress.…