The Economics of Online Postsecondary Education: MOOCs, Nonselective Education, and Highly Selective Education
I consider how online postsecondary education, including massive open online courses (MOOCs), might fit into economically sustainable models of postsecondary education. I contrast nonselective postsecondary education (NSPE)in which institutions sell fairly standardized educational services in return for up-front payments and highly selective postsecondary education (HSPE) in which institutions invest in students in return for repayments much later in life. The analysis suggests that MOOCs will be financially sustainable substitutes for some NSPE, but there are risks even in these situations. The analysis suggests that MOOCs will be financially sustainable substitutes for only a small share of HSPE and are likely to collapse the economic model that allows HSPE institutions to invest in advanced education and research. I outline a non-MOOC model of online education that may allow HSPE institutions both to sustain their distinctive activities and to reach a larger number of students.
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
| Length: | |
| Date of creation: | Jan 2014 |
| Date of revision: | |
| Publication status: | published as Caroline M. Hoxby, 2014. "The Economics of Online Postsecondary Education: MOOCs, Nonselective Education, and Highly Selective Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 528-33, May. |
| Handle: | RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19816 |
| Note: | ED LS PE |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: Phone: 617-868-3900 Web page: http://www.nber.org Email: More information through EDIRC
|
References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Caroline M. Hoxby, 2012.
"Endowment Management Based on a Positive Model of the University,"
NBER Working Papers
18626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Caroline M. Hoxby, 2013. "Endowment Management Based on a Positive Model of the University," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 15-41 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Melitz, Marc J., 2005.
"When and how should infant industries be protected?,"
Journal of International Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 177-196, May.
- Melitz, Marc, 2005. "When and How Should Infant Industries Be Protected?," Scholarly Articles 3228378, Harvard University Department of Economics.
- Kim, E. Han & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2009.
"Are elite universities losing their competitive edge?,"
Journal of Financial Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 353-381, September.
- Han Kim, E & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2006. "Are Elite Universities Losing their Competitive Edge?," CEPR Discussion Papers 5700, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- E. Han Kim & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Are Elite Universities Losing Their Competitive Edge?," NBER Working Papers 12245, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Jonathan Meer & Harvey S. Rosen, 2012.
"Does Generosity Beget Generosity? Alumni Giving and Undergraduate Financial Aid,"
NBER Working Papers
17861, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Meer, Jonathan & Rosen, Harvey S., 2012. "Does generosity beget generosity? Alumni giving and undergraduate financial aid," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 890-907.
- Grossman, Gene M & Horn, Henrik, 1988.
"Infant-Industry Protection Reconsidered: The Case of Informational Barriers to Entry,"
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 767-87, November.
- Gene M. Grossman & Henrik Horn, 1987. "Infant-Industry Protection Reconsidered: The Case of Informational Barriers to Entry," NBER Working Papers 2159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Clotfelter, C. T., 2003. "Alumni giving to elite private colleges and universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 109-120, April.
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19816. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ()
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.