The Effects of Inflation on and in Higher Education

Abstract

Discussions of the effects of inflation typically see a large number of victims and a small number of single-minded groups who specifically seek to be inflation's beneficiaries. It is possible, however, to redefine the effects of inflation in terms other than those we frequently identify as zero-sum games. While a more subtle analysis of inflation's effects could be applied to a variety of sectors with equally illuminating results, an examination of the higher education sector is especially revealing and suggestive: such an exercise not only helps one avoid pitfalls in zero-sum game thinking, it also directs our attention to some causes of inflation that are overlooked, even in increasingly useful discussions these days of the role of declining productivity in the American economy.