U.S. state higher education appropriations: Assessing the relationships between agency politicization, centralization, and volatility

Abstract

Research into state appropriations across the United States frequently examines the influence of socio-demographic characteristics and political characteristics on particular levels of funding. We extend this literature to examine the year-to-year volatility of funding in order to test hypotheses surrounding the interlocks among multiple actors in the political stage. Our findings suggest that, when state higher education leaders are politically close to governors and have no formal budgetary power they capture more revenue volatility.