Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research

摘要

It has been said that Hollywood loves movies about making movies. For a similar reason, academics love to read about academia; we love to understand our profession, why it works and, too often, doesn't. Miguel Urquiola's (2020) book should therefore find a wide audience among academics, especially those who want to understand the success of US higher education. Urquiola's book is motivated by a seeming paradox: the United States produces students that are in the middle of the pack in terms of test scores, yet maintains a comfortable lead over the rest of the world in the production of academic research. Urquiola argues that these two outcomes can occur simultaneously because of the United States' uniquely free-market higher-education system. "Free-market" here means that universities operate with a large amount of autonomy and have relative freedom of entry and scope. The United States produces remarkable research and middling educational outcomes because that is what the consumers, students and their families, want and are willing to pay for. Urquiola persuasively illustrates this argument through a rich history of US higher education.