New Research Shows Economic Value of Investing in Public Higher Education

PHENOM joined the Massachusetts Society of Professors in the State House release of an important new research study: Economic Impact of Investment in Public Higher Education in Massachusetts:: Short-Run Employment Stimulus, Long-Run Public Returns, by Michael Ash, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at UMass Amherst and Shantel Palacio of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst.

[Photo shows Rep. Sannicandro, House Chair of the Higher Education Committee discussing the report with Professor Ash.]

After Prof. Ash and Ms. Palacio discussed the report’s key findings, PHENOM Board members Ryan Manita and Stasha Lampert joined the Legislature’s Higher Education Committee Chairs Rep. Tom Sannicandro and Sen. Michael Moore, and Massachusetts Teachers Association President Paul Toner in commenting on the report and its implications.

The study quantitatively and rigorously demonstrates how increasing public funding of public higher education in Massachusetts will create an immediate increase in the number of jobs in the state, more than alternative uses of the same funds will create; continue to improve employment in the long run through the increased tax revenue that results from more and better employment; lead to a long-term reduction in spending for welfare and other social programs; and create broader social and economic benefits, including greater access to high quality public higher education.