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Another reason to cheer for local U

19 August 2016

Most of the work on the value of college has focused on whether the return is worth the student's considerable investment. (Thus far, the yeas still have it.) But more and more research lately has asked whether colleges and universities, by their very existence, add value to society. It now seems clear that the answer is yes. They add value, and the value they add is quantifiable. That is the conclusion of a working paper released this week. The assessment, by Anna Valero and John Van Reenen of the London School of Economics, used a dataset of 15,000 universities in 1,500 regions across 78 countries to study what they call ''the university effect.''

This article was published online by Bloomberg View on August 19, 2016
Link to article here

Related article
Growth multiplier: how university expansion increases national income, Anna Valero and John Van Reenen, LSE British Politics and Policy blog, March 24, 2016

Related publications
The Economic Impact of Universities: Evidence from Across the Globe, Anna Valero and John Van Reenen, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No.1444, August 2016

Related links
Anna Valero webpage
John Van Reenen webpage
Growth Programme webpage

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