Back to An Overview of Higher Education in KentuckyBy Amy L. Watts
From Education and the Common Good
pp. 9-26, published 2001
If at the end of [Kentucky’s 20-year commitment to reforming postsecondary education] what we’ve done is build institutions of higher learning, but 25 percent of Kentucky’s children still live in poverty and a million people still are challenged as to reading and writing, if at the end of 20 years we haven’t changed the conditions within which women, men and their children live in this state, we shall have failed.
—Gordon Davies
President
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
The slogan "Education Pays" resonates with many since the monetary rewards associated with higher levels of education are generally well-known. What is perhaps less well-known, but no less important, are the rewards that accrue to all of society as a state’s overall education level rises. These benefits include, but are not limited to, decreased reliance on public assistance, increased tax revenues, lower demands on the criminal justice system, greater civic participation, better health status through improved lifestyle choices, improved parenting skills, increased entrepreneurial activity, and increased access to and use of computers and the Internet.(1) After a brief discussion of the traditional measure of benefits associated with more schooling—earnings this section focuses on some social benefits associated with educational attainment beyond the secondary level. Or, more precisely, we focus on social benefits of education we might expect as more Kentuckians move from a high school diploma to a four-year college degree or higher.
Research confirms what common sense suggests: higher education generally leads to higher earnings. Formal acknowledgement of the close relationship between education and income occurred in the early 1960s in the work of Schultz, Becker and Mincer.(2) Becker defined investments in human capital as those that increase an individual’s skills and competencies. Education was identified as a type of in-vestment in human capital from which positive returns are expected. Since the book’s publication, the relationship between earnings and education has been studied extensively. In a meta-analysis of 43 studies of this type, Leslie and Brinkman estimate the mean rate of return to completing an undergraduate education at approximately 12.4 percent.(3) This estimate is typical of most studies and represents the returns to higher education in the form of higher earnings. Studies acknowledging the wider array of higher education’s benefits claim that these estimates considerably underestimate the true returns and that the actual rate is quite possibly twice the standard estimate.(4)
A 1993 study by Berger and Black of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Business and Economic Research observes, “The most enduring economic impact of the universities is the increased earning power that students take with them into the job market.”(5) The study shows that the effect continues throughout a student’s adult life and also aids in economic development by providing new businesses with a skilled labor force. Berger and Black use a variation of Mincer’s earning function and Kentucky-specific data to estimate the long-run, income-related re-turns from Kentucky’s higher education system. Their analysis adjusts estimates to account for mitigating factors such as migratory patterns, type of degree earned, life expectancy differences between men and women, and productivity growth, to provide a more accurate overview of postsecondary education’s returns to Kentucky.(6)
Similar to national-level studies, the results of this state-level analysis reveal substantial increases in earnings for increasingly higher levels of education. Figure 2 shows the increase in earnings for Kentucky men and women at higher levels of postsecondary educational attainment compared with high school graduation.(7) This figure shows that a Kentucky man with a bachelor’s degree will earn, on average over his lifetime, approximately $357,000 more than a high school-educated Kentucky man. Women graduates from four-year institutions in Kentucky can expect to earn over their lifetimes approximately $158,000 more than their high school counterparts.(8)
These results help illustrate how an individual may benefit privately from more schooling through an associated increase in earnings. Recent studies have identified other avenues through which education may benefit an individual and the society in which he or she lives.(9) The remainder of this section explores a select few of these effects for the Commonwealth, known here as the “social benefits of education.”
Given the state’s substantial financial investment in postsecondary education, it seems only natural to ask what the state’s taxpayers receive in direct return for their investment. Two recent studies focus on a wide array of public assistance programs and taxes affected by education at the national level.(10) The models used in these analyses estimate the relationship between education and the use of public assistance programs. The results associate decreased reliance on public assistance programs and more tax revenue with more schooling, including the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher.
A substantial increase in income tax payments is seen over a person’s lifetime as a result of increasing educational attainment from a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree or higher. Income and tax data were used in a regression analysis to estimate the relationship between education and tax payments in Kentucky.(11) This increase occurs for both federal and state taxes. Figure 2 shows the present value of expected lifetime federal and state tax payments by education level for the typical Kentuckian, regardless of gender.
State government alone could expect an increase in income tax revenue of approximately $22,947 over the lifetime of an individual with at least a bachelor’s degree compared with a high school graduate. And the increase in federal income tax revenue associated with this educational increase is over three times the amount gained at the state level.(12) As tax revenues increase, the quality of government services will also likely increase. Thus, benefits accrue to society in the form of access to improved government services.
We also find an associated decrease in reliance on public assistance programs as education level rises, thus improving the capacity of the public sector to serve. As participation in these programs declines with an increase in education, public re-sources are freed that can be returned to the taxpayer or used in other areas that contribute to the public good. A variety of programs combine federal and state funds to provide public support for the needy. They include programs such as Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), food stamps, free and reduced school lunch programs, housing subsidies, and many more. Here we examine the relationship between educational attainment and two widely known public assistance programs, welfare and food stamps.
Kentucky’s principal public assistance or welfare program is the Transitional Assistance Program or K-TAP. The proportion of Kentuckians served by this program is relatively small, representing less than 1 percent of the state’s total population, with approximately 34,200 cases in 2000. The average monthly grant per case is about $249. The number of recipients of food stamps in Kentucky is larger, at around 167,311, with an average monthly benefit of $168 per recipient.(13)
The combined expected annual K-TAP and food stamp savings to Kentucky by increasing education from a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree or higher is approximately $1,736 for a woman and $1,586 for a man (see Figure 3). These results show the expected value of participation in both programs by education level for men and women age 30.(14) Expected values take into account the probability that a person uses the program based on a regression analysis controlling for age, gender, education, race or ethnicity and the location of residence. The average monthly payment is constant for all persons; therefore, the variation in expected annual payments is due solely to the differences in the probability of participation. Women are more likely to participate in these programs, and this appears in the relatively lower expected yearly benefits received by men.
Theoretically, public financial support programs such as welfare and food stamps provide temporary "safety nets" to those in need. The goal is to reduce the number of persons who rely on these types of programs and enable them to become self-sufficient. These results indicate that higher education serves as a potential corridor to decreasing reliance on public financial assistance. Moreover, the decrease in expected annual payments is considerably greater for the move from a high school graduate to a graduate of a four-year college compared with some college experience or a two-year degree.
Crime imposes a variety of costs on society. These costs can be seen directly through the public sector’s expenditures on prisons, and indirectly through the cost of private deterrence. Many of these costs are difficult to quantify, but one study estimates the national cost of crime to exceed $1 trillion.(15)
Approximately 15,200 adults were in state correctional facilities in Kentucky in 2000, at an average annual cost of $19,820 per prisoner. Any savings in this hefty annual price tag of approximately $301 million to the Commonwealth would be desirable.(16) Evidence shows a significant negative relationship between crime rates and education: the more educated a populace, the lower its crime rate.(17) Less criminal activity leads to lower demands on the criminal justice system, including public funds spent on prosecution, punishment and probation. However, a possible drawback is as the population becomes more educated, crimes could become more sophisticated, such as computer hacking. These types of crimes are generally more expensive than petty theft or other similar crimes conducted on a smaller scale. While the criminal justice system is comprised of many sectors, we analyze only one sector of the criminal justice system in Kentucky—prisoners of state correctional facilities. The decline in expected costs of incarceration associated with increases in educational attainment are used to estimate the possible societal gains attributed to crime reduction.
The expected cost of imprisonment for a typical Kentuckian is equal to the average per-person cost of the criminal justice system times the likelihood of incarceration based on gender, age and educational attainment level.(18) Analytical results reveal a relatively youthful incarcerated population, as expected costs decline with age. There is also a considerable difference between the expected annual costs of the two genders. The maximum expected annual costs range from $1,401 for a 27-year-old male to $84 for a 26-year-old female, both with less than a high school diploma.(19) These results are similar to other studies that find a higher propensity of men to engage in felonious criminal activity than women.
Figure 4 shows that the bulk of savings associated with increased education occurs for the educational increase from a high school dropout to a high school graduate. Nonetheless, Figure 5 also shows that over the lifetime of a typical Kentucky man, considerable gains of approximately $2,367 are still to be expected by increasing educational attainment from a high school diploma to a four-year degree. The Kentucky Department of Corrections projects the inmate population to increase to about 19,000 persons by 2006, attributable mostly to an increase in the number of male prisoners. In aggregate, the potential savings to our criminal justice system associated with higher levels of education could add up quickly, given this projection.(20)
Higher education may have a positive effect in yet another area—that of civil society. Robert Putnam, a noted researcher in the study of civil society, asserts that "dozens of studies [confirm] that education [is] by far the single best predictor of engagement in civil life."(21) Civil society has been referred to as a third sector of society in that it has neither political nor private commercial associations.(22) Civil society encompasses those facets of community involvement and organization that help strengthen social cohesion. As opposed to "social capital," which refers to attitudes people have towards one another and their communities, civil society refers to the actions taken in expression of those attitudes.
This report is concerned with the ways in which such actions as volunteerism, charitable giving, and community organization and leadership are influenced by more education. In particular, an increase in schooling from the secondary level to the postsecondary four-year degree level is associated with a hypothesized rise in participation in these areas. These results are particularly timely, given a recent report identifying a national downward trend in volunteerism. While the situation has not reached crisis status yet, the report claims that charities are finding it more difficult to recruit volunteers than just a few years ago.(23)
The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center (KLTPRC) has been tracking the health of civil society in Kentucky for several years. Each year the Center asks questions regarding community involvement and leadership activities via the semiannual Kentucky survey which is conducted by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center (UKSRC). We estimate the relationship between education and the probability a person has ever participated in a group to solve a problem in his or her community, was the leader of that group, or participated in a leadership development program.
Our results indicate that college-educated persons have a higher propensity for participating in community organizations and for taking a leadership role in those activities (see Figure 5).(24) The effect of higher education on leadership is particularly strong. The probability of being the leader of a community group or participating in a leadership program more than doubles in both cases as education increases from the level of a high school diploma to that of a four-year postsecondary degree or higher.
Figure 5: Predicted Probabilities of Civil Society Participation by Education, 2000
The Center also asks respondents about their charitable giving and volunteer activities. When asked if a donation to a charitable or nonprofit organization had been made in the last year, the percentage of respondents answering “yes” increased from 85 percent for high school graduates to approximately 93 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. These estimates reflect the association between education and charitable giving while controlling for income, age, gender, race and whether the person lives in a rural or urban area.(25)
Using these same data, we also find a relationship between education and the number of hours volunteered in a month. Figure 6 presents the results of a two-part model estimating expected volunteer hours, which is comprised of both the probability of volunteering and the length of time spent volunteering.(26) The model predicts an increase in the number of hours volunteered as the average Kentuckian increases schooling from a high-school diploma to a four-year degree or higher, while controlling for other important factors. Using the average wage for Kentucky, this increase is valued at approximately $425 annually for the average Kentuckian.(27) The present value of expected annual volunteer hours over the lifetime of a woman with a bachelor’s degree or higher is approximately $41,280 and $39,435 for a man.
Figure 6: Expected Annual Value of and Number of Volunteer Hours by Education, Kentucky, 2000
Another closely related aspect of civil society is political participation, the cornerstone of a well-functioning democracy. While our forefathers may have endowed our democratic society with the right to vote and choose our leaders, exercise of this liberty has waned in recent years. This apathy is evidenced by low voter turnout. Turnout of the voting-age population to presidential elections has hovered around 50 percent since 1968, when a 61 percent turnout was recorded. Even with seemingly record numbers of voters flocking to the polls in the 2000 presidential elections, the actual proportion of the nation’s voting-age population that voted was still just 51 percent.(28)
Evidence has shown that as persons become more educated, especially at the postsecondary level, their interest and participation in political matters increases. Thomas Jefferson once noted that “readily available education” is an essential part of a democratic society. Voters must be educated to make informed decisions regarding the choice of their leaders. Education possibly has a dual role in sustaining democracy. On the one hand, it is an essential element in empowering voters to make wise decisions. On the other hand, it may also serve to remedy declining participation rates.
On all of its semiannual Kentucky surveys, the UKSRC asks respondents if they are registered to vote.(29) The number of persons replying “yes” to this question was relatively high on the fall 2000 survey. Of the 758 respondents, 589 or 78 percent answered that they were registered to vote. While this is a substantial pro-portion of the respondents, education remained a significant predictor of voter registration. Figure 7 presents the results of a regression model estimating the relationship between educational status and probability of voter registration. Education at all levels significantly increases the probability that a person will be registered to vote. Interestingly, this effect diminishes somewhat at the bachelor’s degree or higher level, however only slightly.
Figure 7: Probability of Being Registered to Vote by Education, Kentucky, 2000
Tobacco use is the second leading cause of death in the United States and the number one preventable cause of death. The leading causes of smoking-related deaths are lung cancer and ischemic heart disease. Lost productivity and the health care costs of treating the array of illnesses linked to smoking are just two of the ways that smoking can impose economic costs on society.
The potential cost burden of smoking, data suggest, is particularly high for Kentucky. After holding the number one rank for the highest percentage of adult smokers in the nation since 1995, Kentucky fell to number two behind Nevada in 1999.(30) However, the percentage of adults in Kentucky who smoke was still 29.7 percent, or almost a third of the adult population.(31) While it is promising that we are reducing our adult population of smokers, Kentucky has remained number one in youth smoking, a reliable predictor of adult smoking rates.
These two factors—relatively high smoking rates and the resultant poor public health—can severely strain Kentucky’s health care resources and impose high costs to its economy and population in general. In 1993, the estimated smoking-attributable expenditures on health in Kentucky were $1 billion annually.(32) A large proportion of these expenditures came from public sources, with the tax burden of smoking estimated to be approximately $520 million annually and Medicaid expenditures attributable to smoking estimated at approximately $200 million annually.(33)
The College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky asked Kentucky residents about their smoking habits in the UKSRC Kentucky Spring 2000 Survey.(34) More specifically, they asked survey respondents “Have you smoked in the last 30 days?” Figure 8 presents the sample estimates and model predictions of the probability of answering “yes” by educational attainment level. Controlling for other factors associated with the decision to smoke, such as gender, age, income, location of residence in a rural or urban area, race or ethnicity, educational attainment remains significantly related to the probability of smoking. An increase from a high school education only to a bachelor’s degree or higher reduced the probability of whether sample participants had smoked in the last 30 days from about 34 percent to about 20 percent. As this probability declines for more people, so too will smoking-related health problems and the accompanying costs of their treatment. Productivity losses will also decline with reductions in smoking, as fewer people experience smoking-related health problems, and businesses absorb fewer related costs for health care, lost workdays, and other associated costs.(35)
Figure 8: Sample and Model Estimates of the Probability of Smoking by Education, Kentucky, 2000
While the purpose of this report is to value the social benefits of education, many outcomes associated with higher levels of education are difficult to value monetarily. Although explicit market values do not exist for these education-related outcomes, society’s members may still value them. This section looks at some of the ways increasingly higher educational attainment levels lead to better family outcomes, higher levels of entrepreneurial activity, and greater access to and use of technology. In turn, each of these outcomes has enduring and widespread benefits.
The Council on Postsecondary Education in Kentucky envisions good parents as one of the associated outcomes of improved educational status. One of the ways parents can enrich their children’s lives is by reading to them regularly. Research has shown that reading to children is the most important thing a parent can do to prepare a child for future academic success.(36) For example, one study found that those children who were read to once a day or more at the age of two or three performed much better in kindergarten at the ages of four and five than those who had been read to only a few times a week or less. Children who were read to on a daily basis or more were 1.6 times and 2.3 times more likely to be rated at the top of their class in learning and communication skills, respectively, than those who were not.(37)
The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center asked parents on the UKSRC Kentucky spring polls of 1998 and 2000 how often they read to their children, age eight years and younger.(38) Using pooled data from these two surveys, probit regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of parents’ education on the likelihood and frequency of reading to their young children. Our models did not find a significant relationship between parents’ schooling and the likelihood of reading to their children, since the majority of parents with children under eight years of age said they read to their children. Only 18 persons out of 379 responded that they did not read to their young children. However, higher education has a significant and substantial effect on the frequency of reading to children. Figure 9 presents the probit model results of the relationship between parental education and the probability of reading every day to one’s young children. The predicted probability of reading to one’s children on a daily basis jumps from 62 percent at the high school-only level to 87 percent for those with a four-year degree or higher.
Policies encouraging entrepreneurial activity benefit the Commonwealth in a variety of ways. Research shows, for example, that entrepreneurial development holds the possibility of many short- and long-term benefits, including high-value jobs, greater equity in job opportunities, innovation, diversity of an economic base, wealth generation, and radiating economic and social entrepreneurship.(39)
Our results show that increases in education are associated with increases in entrepreneurial activity (see Figure 10). In the spring of 2000, the Center asked a sample of Kentuckians responding to the UKSRC semiannual poll if they had ever started a business. A probit model was used to estimate the relationship between education and the probability of starting a business.(40) While the probability increases with postsecondary educational attainment, this effect diminishes at the baccalaureate level.
Figure 10: Probability of Starting a Business by Education, Kentucky, 2000
This finding is interesting in that it underscores the importance of education past the high school level, even in the form of some college experience, a two-year, or a technical degree. The potential lack of choices in the job market for those with lower levels of education—especially in depressed economic times—could be a possible explanation for this result. Those with fewer career choices may be forced to tap into their latent entrepreneurial skills as a means of procuring employment.
Research shows that because information technology permeates so many aspects of our lives, access to and use of it appear to be increasingly important for becoming politically informed, socially integrated, and economically successful in the Information Age. We know, for example, that individuals who use computers are better informed about political, community, and social issues than those who do not use computer-based communications.(41) Research has also shown that the emergence of electronic networks, such as the Internet, facilitates the crumbling of “status-based social structures” and thus benefits the politically or economically disadvantaged. (42) Moreover, ample evidence suggests that access to computers and information networks has broad economic benefits for workers. Our estimates indicate that workers in businesses who use computers earn 10 percent to 20 percent more than workers in comparable businesses who do not.(43)
Clearly, access to and use of information technology are vitally important. Indeed, RAND researchers suggest, “there [are] reasons to view economic and social stratification of computer and network use differently from the socioeconomic stratification that characterizes the consumption of other goods and services.”(44) Because those who use the technology are, by definition, better informed, “different levels of access to computer-based communication technology, then, may further stratify individuals and create information have-nots alongside the information elite.”(45) And this stratification is likely to become more problematic as public and private institutions increasingly disseminate information electronically.
Access to computers and the Internet, the very tools that promise to be “the greatest equalizers our society has ever known,”(46) skew along the lines of education. Figure 11 presents the results of a model estimating the probability of computer access and Internet use. It shows the likelihood of embracing the tools of the Information Age increases as educational attainment increases from high school to a bachelor’s degree.(47)
Figure 11: Probability of Access to Home Computer and Internet Use by Education, Kentucky, 1998
Art, as those who aspire to it and who are inspired by it will attest, ennobles us. It elevates our spirits, expands our compassion and enriches our lives. Moreover, some research suggests that art and music may aid the learning process. Thus, the opportunity for exposure to and participation in the arts and humanities enables learning and development and enriches society.
We find a significant and consistent rise in cultural activity as education increases—for all levels. The Center asked Kentuckians in the fall of 2000 whether they had visited a museum, festival, arts performance, or historical site in their county in the previous year. Figure 12 shows the results of the model analyzing the relationship between education and the likelihood of answering “yes” to this question. The probability that a person was culturally active within their own county in the past year increases from just over half to approximately 74 percent as education increases from the high school level to a bachelor’s degree or higher. This effect is consistent for all levels of education—including some college education or a two-year postsecondary degree.
These results provide only a glimpse of some of the many potential benefits that result from increasing the education of Kentucky citizens.(48) Nevertheless, they do suggest that the benefits are far-reaching and substantial. In the next section we examine the “cost” of going to college in order to compare it with these estimated benefits.
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Higher Education in Kentucky
For the purposes of this report, “social benefits of education” will refer to these “less well-known” benefits. For more information on this definition, see the Glossary. Return to text.
Schultz, Mincer, Becker. Return to text.
Leslie and Brinkman 47. A meta-analysis is a study of studies. The reported value is the mean of the 43 different rates of return estimates in each of the studies included in their analysis. Return to text.
R.H. Haveman and B. L. Wolf, "Schooling and Economic Well-Being: The Role of Nonmarket Effects," Journal of Human Resources, 19.3 (1984): 377-407; Becker (1975): 117-120. Return to text.
Mark C. Berger and Dan A. Black, "The Long-Run Economic Impact of Kentucky Public Institutions of Higher Education," Department of Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 1993. Return to text.
For more information on data and methodology, see Berger and Black, 1993. Return to text.
The authors attribute the wide discrepancy in earnings between men and women to "lower probabilities of working at given age levels and lower earnings if they do work" and "occupational choices and wage differences within given occupations." While the results indicate men with a master’s degree earn less than men with a baccalaureate degree, they attribute this in part to a field-of-study effect. Individuals may be more likely to get a master’s degree in relatively low-paying fields such as education and liberal arts. Return to text.
These figures represent present values discounted at a rate of 3.05 percent. Return to text.
Behrman and Stacey, eds.; Barbara Wolfe and Samuel Zuvekas, "Nonmarket Outcomes of Schooling," International Journal of Educational Research, 27.6 (1997): 491-501; Walter W. McMahon, "Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of the Social Benefits of Lifelong Learning," Education Economics 6.3 (1998): 309-346. Return to text.
Richard A. Krop, The Social Returns to Increased Investment in Education: Measuring the Effect of Education on the Cost of Social Programs, (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Graduate School, 1998); Georges Vernez, Richard A. Krop and C. Peter Rydell, Closing the Education Gap: Benefits and Costs, (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999). Return to text.
For more information on data and methodology, see Appendix B. Return to text.
Per capita federal spending in Kentucky was $6,111 in fiscal year 1999, compared with per capita federal taxes from Kentucky of $4,516 for the same year. This resulted in a per capita surplus of $1,595 in the state’s balance of payments. Therefore, all of Kentucky’s federal income tax payments were included in the final cost-benefit analysis following this section. For more information on these estimates, refer to Herman B. Leonard and Jay H. Walder, The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1999 (Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University: 2000). Return to text.
Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children, Commonwealth of Kentucky, "Statewide Summary," June 2000. Return to text.
This is the average age of a typical welfare recipient in Kentucky, according to William Hoyt, "Welfare Reform in Kentucky: Has ‘Welfare as We Know It’ Changed?" 1997 Kentucky Annual Economic Report, (Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research, 1997). Return to text.
David A. Anderson, "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, XLII.2 (1999): 611-642. Return to text.
Kentucky Department of Corrections, Current Extract File, December 2000. Return to text.
Ann Dryden Witte, "Crime" in Social Benefits of Higher Education, Jere Behrman and Nevzer Stacey, eds.: 219-245. Return to text.
The average cost per person is constant, regardless of age, sex or education level. Therefore, the variation in expected costs depends solely on the variation in the likelihood of incarceration given these demographic characteristics. See Appendix C for more details on data and methodology. Return to text.
The exceptionally low value for women is due to the relatively low probability that a woman will be incarcerated in a state prison. This yearly estimate is an expected value of the yearly cost of incarceration which is approximately $19,820 on average multiplied by the probability that a 26-year-old female will be incarcerated. This likelihood is approximately 0.43 percent—less than half of 1 percent. Return to text.
Kentucky Department of Corrections (KDC), data accessed online at their website: www.cor.state.ky.us/corrections_slideshow.htm on February 22, 2001. Projections are based on the results of a statistical simulation model called "Prophet," developed in 1982 by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and adopted by the KDC in 1992. Return to text.
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 18. Return to text.
Peter Schirmer, Ryan Atkinson, Jeff Carroll and Michal Smith-Mello, Civil Society in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, 1998). Return to text.
Peter Smith, "Volunteers scarce, some charities find," Courier-Journal, 5 Nov. 2000. Return to text.
For more information on data and methodology see Appendix A. Return to text.
See Appendix A. Return to text.
See Appendix A. Return to text.
The average wage is estimated to be $13.24 per hour in 2000 dollars. This was estimated as a weighted average of hourly wages by industry sector using data in the "1999 State Occupational Wage and Employment Estimates" from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and adjusted to 2000 values using the Consumer Price Index. Return to text.
Federal Election Commission. Data drawn from Congressional Research Service reports, Election Data Services Inc., and State Election Offices. Return to text.
For more information on data and methodology, see Appendix A. Return to text.
Monica Richardson, "Bet You Didn’t Know Nevada’s Smokers Now Lead Ky," Lexington Herald-Leader, 18.305 (2000): A1. Return to text.
Leonard S. Miller, Xiulan Zhang, Dorothy P. Rice, and Wendy Max, "State Estimates of Total Medical Expenditures Attributable to Cigarette Smoking, 1993," Public Health Reports, 113 (1998): 447-458. Return to text.
Miller et al. Return to text.
For more information on data and methodology, see Appendix A. Return to text.
However, as health improves and people begin to live longer, costs associated with the elderly may increase overall. This is one of the "downfalls" of improved population health that researchers have begun to acknowledge in recent years. Return to text.
Veda Pendleton-McClain and Steven A. Stahl, "Standing in the Gap: Parents Reading with Children," Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference (New Orleans, LA: November 29-December 2, 1995); Jo Weinberger, "A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Early Literacy Experiences at Home and Later Literacy Development at Home and School," Journal of Research in Reading, 19.1 (1996): 14-24. Return to text.
"From Home to School: How Canadian Children Cope," Oct. 1999, 12 March 2001, www.ladderstolearning.com/resource.htm. Return to text.
For a more detailed description of the data, methodology and parameter estimates, see Appendix A. Return to text.
Michael T. Childress, Michal Smith-Mello, and Peter Schirmer, Entrepreneurs and Small Business—Kentucky’s Neglected Natural Resource (Frankfort, KY: The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, 1998). Return to text.
For more details on data, methodology and the parameter estimates, see Appendix A. Return to text.
Robert H. Anderson, Tora K. Bikson, Sally Ann Law, and Bridger M. Mitchell, Universal Access to E-Mail: Feasibility and Societal Implications (Santa Monica: RAND, 1995) 14. Return to text.
Anderson, Bikson, Law, and Mitchell 17. Return to text.
Childress, Smith-Mello, and Schirmer 62. Return to text.
Anderson, Bikson, Law, and Mitchell 15. Return to text.
Anderson, Bikson, Law, and Mitchell. Return to text.
Michal Smith-Mello, Michael Childress, Amy Watts, and John Watkins, Challenges for the New Century (Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, 2000). Return to text.
In keeping with other published research by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center on the digital divide, this measures the effect of a bachelor’s degree only. Higher degrees are not included in this category for this model. For more information on the data and methodology used in the creation of this graph see the Appendices of Challenges for the New Century. Return to text.
An array of other benefits in the areas of health and criminal justice were not examined in this report. In addition, environmental awareness and attitudes toward preservation have also been shown to increase with more schooling. For examples of these and other social benefits of education not included in this analysis see: Jere R. Behrman and Nevzer Stacey, eds., The Social Benefits of Education (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1997). Evidence of decreased reliance on other public programs in addition to the ones shown here is provided by Krop, 1998, and Vernez, Krop and Rydell, 1999. Return to text.