Robert Costrell, Author at Show-Me Institute https://showmeinstitute.org Where Liberty Comes First Fri, 01 May 2026 15:10:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.3 https://showmeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/show-me-icon-150x150.png Robert Costrell, Author at Show-Me Institute https://showmeinstitute.org 32 32 Teacher Pension Enhancement In Missouri: 1975 To The Present https://showmeinstitute.org/publication/accountability/teacher-pension-enhancement-in-missouri-1975-to-the-present/ Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:00:00 +0000 http://showmeinstitute.local/publications/teacher-pension-enhancement-in-missouri-1975-to-the-present/ This paper examines the history of benefit enhancements in Missouri’s main teacher pension plan from 1975 to the present. The key organizing principle of this analysis is pension wealth, a […]

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This paper examines the history of benefit enhancements in Missouri’s main teacher pension plan from 1975 to the present. The key organizing principle of this analysis is pension wealth, a standard measure, well established in the economics literature, which reflects both the size of an individual’s annual pension as well as the number of years over which it is collected. Missouri repeatedly and considerably enhanced its pension benefit formula from 1975 to 2001, resulting in large increases in pension wealth, particularly for those retiring in their 50s with 25-30 years of service. Although many states have reduced benefits in recent years, especially for new teachers, this has not been the case in Missouri. Indeed, two enhancements that were scheduled to expire in 2013 were extended or made permanent.

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]]> What Do Cost Functions Tell Us About the Cost of an Adequate Education? https://showmeinstitute.org/publication/school-choice/what-do-cost-functions-tell-us-about-the-cost-of-an-adequate-education/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:00:00 +0000 http://showmeinstitute.local/publications/what-do-cost-functions-tell-us-about-the-cost-of-an-adequate-education/ Econometric cost functions have begun to appear in education adequacy cases with greater frequency. Cost functions are superficially attractive because they give the impression of objectivity, holding out the promise […]

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]]> Econometric cost functions have begun to appear in education adequacy cases with greater frequency. Cost functions are superficially attractive because they give the impression of objectivity, holding out the promise of scientifically estimating the cost of achieving specified levels of performance from actual data on spending. By contrast, the opinions of educators form the basis of the most common approach to estimating the cost of adequacy, the professional judgment method. The problem is that education cost functions do not in fact tell us the cost of achieving any specified level of performance. Instead, they provide estimates of average spending for districts of given characteristics and current performance. It is a huge and unwarranted stretch to go from this interpretation of regression results to the claim that they provide estimates of the minimum cost of achieving current performance levels, and it is even more problematic to extrapolate the cost of achieving at higher levels. In this article we review the cost-function technique and provide evidence that draws into question the usefulness of the cost-function approach for estimating the cost of an adequate education.

 

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