| Description |
The relation between inputs into a production process and the quantity of output obtained is called the production function. Economic and business literature is replete with studies, both theoretical and empirical, of production function analysis. The bulk of this research concerns business and industry and how a given set of selected inputs can obtain maximum output (or revenue) at the lowest possible cost. The most commonly measured inputs into the production process include capital and labor, while the most commonly observed outputs include total quantity of some product produced and total revenue. Education is one of the most important industries in the United States on the basis of both the significance of the product produced and the quantity of government expenditure allocated to its production. It is therefore interesting to observe, that relatively few studies have been conducted on production functions in relation to the inputs and outputs of education. The reason for this can be quite easily explained. Unlike the manufacture of computer chips, the measurement of both the inputs and outputs of education are extremely difficult to measure. Whereas the manufacture of a computer chip requires a given amount of silicon, copper, etc. and very measurable costs of production, education on the other hand includes such nebulous inputs and outputs as quality of faculty, size of library, studentfaculty ratios, knowledge obtained by students, and future student successes. These are not only difficult to measure, but difficult to quantify as well. For this reason most of the work in the field of educational production functions is in educational psychology, sociology, education; not in economics. This paper will discuss the production function process as it relates to education and will present a specific model in analyzing (on a theoretical basis) the distance learning program at the University of Utah. The analysis will attempt, as much as possible, to stay within the field of economics using research in other fields to support its conclusions. An overview of the significant literature in the field will also be presented. The emphasis of the paper will be higher education, since the study of distance learning will be concerned with post secondary schooling. |
