An Introduction to Economics and the Economics of Education

Abstract

This book is about economics as applied to the educational process. A number of economic aspects to education are obvious; the parent or student must meet tuition bills and expenses for books like this one. University officials are constantly grappling with the problem of rising operating costs and keeping their dormitories filled. Voters are understandably concerned about the burden education imposes on the public purse. However, economics has far more applications to education than may be commonly thought. In fact, economic considerations are embedded in the learning process itself, a process which begins in the crib and extends into the classrooms and the reserve reading room of the library. The very fact that you are reading this book is in itself an economic phenomenon. How much you learn from it depends heavily upon economic factors which are affecting both reader and author.