This study examines the Canadian provincial government expenditures for post-secondary education and develops and estimates a model that describes factors influencing the expenditures. A historical background to the expenditures is followed by a descriptive analysis of the expenditures. Ultimately, a theoretical model is constructed and estimated for the ten provinces for 1977 to 1991. Government funding for post-secondary education is provided by both the federal and provincial governments. A history of government funding is presented with an emphasis on the withdrawal of the federal government from direct financing and the ensuing decline of its influence on the provincial government expenditure decisions. An extensive description and analysis of the provincial government expenditures are presented. The expenditures are examined relative to economic and demographic variables. A number of broad trends and notable exceptions are described. A theoretical model is developed on the basis of utility maximization by the provincial governments. The reduced form of the model describes provincial expenditures for post-secondary education as a linear function of a series of economic, financial, price, demographic and political variables. The successful estimation of the model establishes it as a useful construct for describing the determinants of the provincial expenditures. The estimated determinants of expenditures describe an important role for the state of the provincial economy, a minor role for the price variables, a mixed role for the federal grants, a negligible role for the demographic variables, an innocuous role for the other government expenditures and no role for the political variables. The study concludes that post-secondary education is a low priority expenditure for the governments, the structure of the federal grants is generally unfavorable to post-secondary education, and other government expenditures are not competitive substitutes for post-secondary education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/187164 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Elliott, James Frederick. |
| Contributors | Leslie, Larry L., Slaughter, Sheila, Herber, Bernard |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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