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Dennis Patrick Leyden, Ph. D.
Associate Professor of Economics

Research

International Migration

My interest in international migration comes from my interest in the current wave of immigration to the US as well as from my identification as a 2nd/3rd generation American with ancestors from Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Romania (some of whom entered the US illegally). This is a new area of interest, and I have just begun to review scholarly work.

Funding of Public Education

My work on the funding of public education focuses on the struggle to provide equitable and effective public education to children regardless of whether they live in wealthy or poor school districts. Because of a 1973 ruling by the US Supreme (San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez), this is legally a state, and not a federal, issue. Inspired by California's and Connecticut's experiences in the 1970s and 1980s, I have examined the motivations of state legislators designing public education funding structures when confronted by state supreme court rulings mandating greater equity. I have also analyzed the funding and policies of Mississipi's university structure under a mandate by the US Supreme Court (US v. Fordice, 1992) to redress a failure to fully dismantle its segretated university system. See:

• Adequacy, Accountability, and the Future of Public Education Funding. New York: Springer, 2005.
• "A Case in Applied Spatial Voting Theory: The Ayers Case and Legislative Constraints on Judicial Intervention in the University System of Mississippi/USA," Public Finance/Finances Publiques, 1998/2003, 53(3-4): 355-384.

R&D Policy

I have also worked on R&D policy, a particularly enjoyable area because of the chance to work with colleagues. Early on, this work focused on the benefit of federal government involvement in the R&D process. However, in recent years, this work has shifted to research park policy. Recent work includes:

• “To Admit or Not to Admit: The Question of Research Park Size.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 2008, 17(4/5) . Co-authored with Steven K. Layson and John Neufeld.
• “A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Decision to Locate on a University Research Park.” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2008, 55(1): 23-8. Co-authored with Albert N. Link and Donald S. Siegel.
• “Transmission of Risk-Averse Behavior in Small Firms.” Small Business Economics, 2004, 23(3): 255-9. Coauthored with Albert N. Link.

Page updated: 09-Aug-2008

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