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Explaining estimated economies of scale and scope in higher education: A meta-regression analysis

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  • Liang-Cheng Zhang
  • Andrew C Worthington

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching, research and other services and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of the economies of scale and scope in higher education given the mixed findings, largely because of significant institutional and other differences across studies. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across more than 40 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and elsewhere since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form and allowances for managerial efficiency have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key discriminating factors appear to be when the analysis was conducted, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development.
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  • Liang-Cheng Zhang & Andrew C Worthington, 2016. "Explaining estimated economies of scale and scope in higher education: A meta-regression analysis," Discussion Papers in Economics economics:201604, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:gri:epaper:economics:201604
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    3. John J. Cheslock & Ozan Jaquette, 2022. "Concentrated or Fragmented? The U.S. Market for Online Higher Education," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(1), pages 33-59, February.
    4. Badiee, Aghdas & Moshtari, Mohammad & Berenguer, Gemma, 2024. "A systematic review of operations research and management science modeling techniques in the study of higher education institutions," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Ann M. Gansemer‐Topf & Peter F. Orazem & Darin R. Wohlgemuth, 2021. "Do liberal arts colleges maximize profit?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 274-294, July.
    6. Yong-Ming He & Yu-Long Pei & Bin Ran & Jia Kang & Yu-Ting Song, 2020. "Analysis on the Higher Education Sustainability in China Based on the Comparison between Universities in China and America," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Tommaso Agasisti & Alice Bertoletti & Giacomo Pignataro, 2021. "Economies of scale and scope of universities – towards bigger size and specialization?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 405-416.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economies of scale; economies of scope; meta-regression analysis; higher education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D29 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Other
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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