Public Policy Officials Research Articles

Changes in food purchase, consumption and handling during COVID-19 pandemic among single person households.

As a new type of consumer subject in the market that was formerly dominated by multiple person families, single households are driving the change in the buying structure. Food purchase activities have undergone significant changes since the outbreak of the COVID-19. The objective of this study was to assess and compare variations in food consumption, purchase and handling during the COVID-19 pandemic between single person households (SPH) and multiple person households. A cross-sectional study conducted among 211 individuals in communities in Harris and Waller Counties, Texas. Sociodemographic, food purchase, food consumption and food handling activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed with a validated COVID-19 Nutrition questionnaire. Non-Hispanic Black participants constituted 42.6%, and 28.4% were Hispanics. Participants were made up of mostly aged 18-24 years (39.3%), 47.9% single household composition, 30.4% in full time employment, and 29.1% partook in food assistance programs. A large proportion of them had never used grocery pickup services, online grocery shopping and a farmers' market. During the COVID-19 pandemic, majority of the participants used more of large supermarkets, restaurant/fast food, and online grocery but food consumption seemed to remain the same for the majority of participants. For beverages, majority of participants consumed more water, less soda, and no alcohol. There was a significant association between single person household and higher restaurant/fast foods purchase. Many of the participants reported weight gain and less physical activity during the pandemic. Restaurant meal purchases was more prevalent in single-person families. The results from the study have the potential to contribute to how public policy officials, food service, and health authorities forecast how different categories of consumers will react in pandemics and may be used to inform area-specific alleviation strategies to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and future events.

Building an island of state capacity: How the UK state implemented the Thames Tideway Tunnel with market-based finance

This article contributes to the literature on state capacity in financialized political economies by studying the market-based investment setting for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.2 billion sewer, built underneath central London to prevent raw sewage from spilling into the River Thames. Most analyses conclude that financial statecraft undermines state capacities, as it empowers finance and exposes states to uncontrollable risks. This article moves beyond these accounts by arguing that public policy officials engage with finance instrumentally, taking on risks to solve the governing challenges they face. It demonstrates that state action can build islands of state capacity with financial statecraft in fragmented policy environments. Based on expert interviews and documentary analysis, the article traces how the UK’s Ministry of the Environment experimented with a policy instrument and used investment capacities from different levels of government, to implement the Thames Tideway Tunnel through institutional equity investment and share risks in the privatized and financialized environmental sector. The paper concludes that under the current conjuncture, financial statecraft will play an important role in addressing the climate crisis. Therefore, further comparative research is required to explore its normative paradox.

Post-truth, conspiracy, and fake news in the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the truth about the virus and its implications were at issue and were the object of a heated debate, nationally and globally. Because of the novelty of that experience, convergent truths emerged in Morocco, exacerbating the uncertainty that was already prevailing. This article examines these convergent truths, their epistemological bases, claims, and resources. This analysis shows the existence of different powers and strategies to which different truths are linked. The creative truth upheld by the existing dominant power, drawing, for legitimacy, on empirical scientific knowledge and claiming control over the situation. The esoteric truth based on conspiracy theories, political conflict, or the religious doctrine of fatalism and popular culture was supported and diffused through social media and gained traction among the public, already distrustful of the dominant narrative and of the scientific expertise. While other forms of truths existed in this post-truth era, this article focuses on these two kinds of truth, and examines how both were constitutive of two antagonistic discourses that used different kinds of propaganda including even fake news or alternative facts to provide (false or emotional) grounds for their claims. The scrutiny of the interactions between these discourses through media texts showed that while the government used propagandistic (pseudo)scientific messages to control the population and reinforce its authority, with little regard for people’s doubts, worries, and fears, the social media users formed different clusters of like-minded people and resisted the dominant narrative taking advantage of the growing distrust of the government among the population and the communication blunders of some public policy officials.

Industrial Environmental Management: Engineering, Science, and Policy. Tapas K.Das, Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2020. 576 pages. $148.00. ISBN: 978‐1‐119‐591561‐6

This practical textbook discusses industrial environmental management in terms of human environmental interactions. It further addresses physical, economic, social, and technological constraints for achieving the goal of sustainable environments. The book addresses progress in life cycle sustainability analysis by applying green engineering principles and zero effect zero defect (i.e., the quality of the products must be very high and there should be no adverse effect on the environment by manufacturing) to minimize wastes and discharges from manufacturing facilities. The expressed goal of the book is to provide a balance between environmental protections while achieving acceptable quality of life. The book has been organized into several major sections covering the following 10 chapters: Chapter 1: Why Industrial Environmental Management? Chapter 2: Genesis of Environmental Problem Worldwide: International Environmental Regulation Chapter 3: Industrial Pollution Sources, Is Characterization, Estimation, and Treatment Chapter 4: Industrial Wastewater, Air Pollution, and Solid and Hazardous Waste: Monitoring, Permitting, Sample Collections and Analyses, QA/QC, Compliance with State Regulations and Federal Standards Chapter 5: Assessment and Management of Health and Environmental Risks: Industrial and Manufacturing Process Safety Chapter 6: Industrial Process Pollution Prevention: Life-Cycle Assessment to Best Available Control Technology Chapter 7: Economics of Manufacturing Pollution Prevention: Toward an Environmentally Sustainable Industrial Economy Chapter 8: Lean Manufacturing: Zero Defect and Zero Effect: Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing Chapter 9: Industrial Waste Minimization Methodology: Industrial Ecology, Eco-Industrial Park and Manufacturing Process Intensification and Integration Chapter 10: Quality Industrial Environmental Management: Sustainable Engineering in Manufacturing There are 10 appendices, covering: Appendix A: Conversion Factors Appendix B: International Environmental Law Appendix C: Air Pollution Emission Factors: Stationary Point and Area Sources Appendix D: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Water Quality Model, Dispersion Model and Permits Appendix E: Industrial Hygiene Outlines Appendix F: Environmental Cost Benefit Appendix G: Resource Recovery: Waste-to-Energy Facility, City of Spokane, Washington, USA Appendix H: The Hanover Principles Appendix I: Environmental Goals and Business Goals Are Not Two Distinct Goal Sets Appendix J: Sample Codes of Ethics and Guidelines This book is intended for use in undergraduate (junior and senior level) and graduate courses. Chapters 1–8 are intended for use in undergraduate courses, while Chapters 9 and 10 are intended for use in graduate curricula. Quantitative tools incorporating sustainability concepts into engineering design are highlighted. For university instructors, the textbook contains problems that can be assigned as homework problems. Also noteworthy is that the references contained in the various chapters are relatively current. This practical textbook can be useful for public policy officials, industrial facility managers, plant operators, manufacturing facility plant engineers, trainers, university researchers, and process engineers. This book is a valuable resource for those readers who do not necessarily have a professional background in environmental management techniques. The textbook is a worthy reference book. Robert W. Peters: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing (original draft), Writing (review & editing). Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Paper Meets Plastic: The Perceived Environmental Friendliness of Product Packaging

Abstract Packaging waste makes up more than 10% of the landfilled waste in the United States. While consumers often want to make environmentally friendly product choices, we find that their perceptions of the environmental friendliness of product packaging may systematically deviate from its objective environmental friendliness. Eight studies (N = 4,103) document the perceived environmental friendliness (PEF) bias whereby consumers judge plastic packaging with additional paper to be more environmentally friendly than identical plastic packaging without the paper. The PEF bias is driven by consumers’ “paper = good, plastic = bad” beliefs and by proportional reasoning, wherein packaging with a greater paper-to-plastic proportion is judged as more environmentally friendly. We further show that the PEF bias impacts consumers’ willingness to pay and product choice. Importantly, this bias can be mitigated by a “minimal packaging sticker” intervention, which increases the environmental friendliness perceptions of plastic-only packaging, rendering plastic-packaged products to be preferable to their plastic-plus-paper-packaged counterparts. This research contributes to the packaging literature in marketing and to research on sustainability while offering practical implications for managers and public policy officials.

Empathy and Narrative: A Discussion of Contemporary Stories from Childcare and Healthcare

In caring professions, such as childcare and healthcare, empathy and narrative underpin important aspects of the emotional work of early childhood educators and nurses (Rogers, Jefferies & Ng, 2022). Unfortunately, they are not given much attention in scholarly articles, but it is important for practitioners to understand them (Barton & Garvis, 2019). This cross-disciplinary paper discusses the virtue of empathy from a philosophical stance, and its relationship to narrative when building shared understandings. There is a sense in which empathy and narrative are interdependent: storytelling helps to cultivate empathy in others, and empathy can be essential if we are to elicit and understand the stories that others have to tell. In fact, when it comes to eliciting and understanding the kinds of stories that are of particular interest for this paper (i.e., the personal stories to be told by young children participating in a research project, and those of patients in a healthcare setting), empathy tends to be especially important. As we argue, these examples drawn from early childhood education and care and healthcare serve to illustrate certain ways in which empathy, storytelling, and the development of shared understandings can be of deep significance; not only for researchers, educators and healthcare professionals, but also for senior administrative and public policy officials.

Nudge versus sludge in gambling warning labels: How the effectiveness of a consumer protection measure can be undermined

Legal gambling is a large industry in many countries. One way some governments try to protect people from losing more than they can afford is by requiring warning labels on gambling machines and their online equivalents. Prominent labels that make the odds of winning clear serve as nudges: They promote a beneficial behavior (such as deciding that the risk of losing money is too high) without interfering with choice (such as by restricting the availability of gambling). However, if gambling operators use labels that are difficult to understand, find, or read, those messages instead hamper decision-making and thus become sludge. In this article, we report on new research into whether gambling labels in the world's largest regulated online gambling market (the United Kingdom) are more consistent with nudge or sludge. We found that gambling operators overwhelmingly used sludge strategies when posting required gambling warning labels: For instance, they framed the message using a confusing format, applied a small font size to the text, and placed the warning on obscure help screens. We therefore propose that public policy officials throughout the world establish requirements for the wording and presentation of gambling warning labels to ensure that gamblers are well-informed about the odds they face.

Challenges of Conducting Value Assessment for Comprehensive Genomic Profiling.

Clinical practice is shifting toward an era of precision medicine. The use of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) in oncology has broad potential as a universal companion diagnostic for targeted therapies which may significantly improve health outcomes while using healthcare resources more efficiently. Given the nature of this technology, assessing the value of CGP presents unique challenges. This paper draws on evidence from the academic and policy literature in oncology, as well as stakeholder interviews (health economists, payers, clinicians, and public policy officials) in countries using incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) as part of health technology assessment (HTA). The degree to which CGP is subject to a value assessment varies significantly across healthcare systems. Current HTA processes focus on evaluating diagnostic testing through co-dependent assessment of diagnostic testing and associated therapeutic interventions. Diagnostic tests with multiple associated therapeutic interventions are rapidly evolving and poorly unsuited to current HTA approaches. Moreover, HTA approaches are limited in their ability to consider broader systemic benefits of the expanded diagnostic capabilities and enhanced opportunities for clinical trial participation offered by CGP. The assessment of the overall value of CGP is limited by the current models of HTA. This paper suggests policy proposals for value assessment and funding reforms to help broaden patient access to CGP. These include investing in genomic testing infrastructure; decoupling the assessment of the value of CGP testing to identifying predetermined therapeutic interventions; tailoring evaluation methodology; and developing approaches to collecting evidence of clinical, healthcare system and societal benefit.

Return to education in Azerbaijan. Does gender matter?

The return to education and the gender wage gap are essential issues in the public policy decision-making. Return to wage from attainment of each additional educational level can be a valuable incentive to stimulate people towards higher levels of schooling. The study investigates the return from a higher level of education to hourly earnings and the gap in “returns” due to gender identity differences in the case of Azerbaijan, a resource-rich developing country. We argue that a return to hourly wage from an additional level of education is positive and moderated by gender identity. Based on a pooled cross-sectional dataset (N=4548, n_male=2617; n_female=1931,〖Mean〗_age=34.18), empirical results support the research hypothesis and display a continuous positive return from education attainment. Simultaneously, a lesser return is identified for females. The gender return gap extends further for post-bachelor degrees. The results of this research can help deliver the message of “to earn more, learn more” at the micro-level and aid public policy officials in designing educational and gender-related policies at the macro level.

The Cannabis and Older Persons Study: Has Science Caught Up With Practice Yet?

Since 2016, the Cannabis and Older Persons Study has examined the increasing use of cannabis among Americans over 60 years old. Our current work dives into particular groups of cannabis users and explores outcomes related to medical conditions and symptoms. This symposium also features a range of methodological approaches from an analysis of the BRFSS caregiving and cannabis modules, a convenience sample of more than 4,000 older cannabis users enrolled in the Illinois Medical Cannabis Program and qualitative interviews conducted with aging veterans. Kanika Arora examines the association between informal caregiving and marijuana use and whether this association varies by age. Julie Bobitt shares findings from 32 interviews with older Veteran cannabis users. Alton Croker examines cannabis use as a complement or alternative to palliative care. HyoJung Kang clusters negative outcomes experienced by older persons who use cannabis. Brian Kaskie compares cannabis use among persons with Multiple Sclerosis (N=135) and persons diagnosed with arthritis (N=582) or cancer (N=622). While we certainly find reason to remain concerned that cannabis use alone and co-occurring use with prescription opioids may contribute to increased rates of substance misuse and other undesirable outcomes among older adults, we find it increasingly difficult to overlook the benefits many persons derive when taking cannabis as a method to manage pain or address other medical conditions. At this point, public policy officials and program administrator should strive to strike a balance between addressing cannabis harms relative to promoting benefits such as opioid reduction and diversion.

Low voice pitch in orally delivered recommendations can increase compliance with hand sanitizer use among young adults

Oral communications delivered in a low voice pitch are more persuasive and perceived as more pleasant and truthful than are communications delivered in a high pitch. The research reported in this article explored whether young adults’ compliance with an orally delivered recommendation to use hand sanitizer, an action thought to limit the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, would increase when the message was delivered in a low versus a high voice pitch. In an experiment involving 478 university students in Australia, a public health announcement delivered in a low voice pitch, compared with one delivered in a high voice pitch, increased participants’ sense of power, which increased their perceived behavioral control over their physical health and, in turn, increased their likelihood of using hand sanitizer. Because voice pitch is an aspect of health communications that can be modified easily at a low cost, the findings suggest a simple approach that public health and policy officials can adopt to improve hand hygiene in a population of people who spend a lot of time in close proximity and who should therefore practice hand hygiene routinely to protect themselves and others from infection.

Street harassment is marketplace discrimination: The impact of street harassment on young female consumers’ marketplace experiences

This study brings street harassment to the retailing and consumer services literature streams. Street harassment describes unwanted interactions in public spaces between strangers or customers and is often motivated by a person’s gender, sexual orientation, or gender expression. To date, marketers have overlooked the occurrence of street harassment in retail establishments and consumer service domains, such as in theaters, public markets, recreational areas, and shopping malls. This work empirically demonstrates the extent to which young women in Nepal experience harassment from men in the marketplace and the various tactics they employ to lessen it. Furthermore, this research exposes the extent to which Nepali men admit to participating in verbal, physical, or visual harassment of women in various retailing and service settings. The article concludes with a discussion of theoretical, managerial, and societal implications and encourages public policy officials to treat street harassment as a criminal offense.

Low voice pitch in orally delivered recommendations can increase compliance with hand sanitizer use among young adults

Oral communications delivered in a low voice pitch are more persuasive and perceived as more pleasant and truthful than are communications delivered in a high pitch. The research reported in this article explored whether young adults’ compliance with an orally delivered recommendation to use hand sanitizer, an action thought to limit the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, would increase when the message was delivered in a low versus a high voice pitch. In an experiment involving 478 university students in Australia, a public health announcement delivered in a low voice pitch, compared with one delivered in a high voice pitch, increased participants’ sense of power, which increased their perceived behavioral control over their physical health and, in turn, increased their likelihood of using hand sanitizer. Because voice pitch is an aspect of health communications that can be modified easily at a low cost, the findings suggest a simple approach that public health and policy officials can adopt to improve hand hygiene in a population of people who spend a lot of time in close proximity and who should therefore practice hand hygiene routinely to protect themselves and others from infection. © 2021 Global Research Online. All rights reserved.

Trends in Physical Fitness Among 12-Year-Old Children in Urban and Rural Areas During the Social Transformation Period in China

AimsTo investigate the 29-year (1985–2014) trends in body dimensions and physical fitness test performances among 12-year-old Chinese children living in urban and rural areas. MethodsThe data were from the findings of seven cross-sectional surveys from the Chinese National Survey on Students’ Constitution and Health. In the seven surveys, there were 34,238; 11,664; 17,485; 18,057; 19,254; 17,962; and 17,906 children, respectively. Anthropometric measurements and physical fitness performances of 12-year-old Chinese children living in rural and urban areas were analyzed. Polynomial models were used to analyze trends in test performances. Analysis of variance was used to assess the urban–rural differentials. ResultsThe height and weight of both urban and rural children substantially increased from 1985 to 2014. Urban children were taller and heavier than rural children. A slight narrowing of the urban–rural differential in height was observed. The disparity in weight increased from 1985 to 2000 and decreased thereafter. Urban children performed better in most of the physical fitness tests examined, such as standing long jump, 50-m run, and sit-ups. The urban–rural disparity decreased from 1985 to 2014 in 50-m run, standing long jump, and sit-up score; the largest difference in 10 × 50 m run and pull-up score was observed in 2000 and 2005, respectively. ConclusionsThere was a general decline in physical fitness in both urban and rural children after 2000. Urgent, targeted actions need to be taken by public health policy officials and parents to maintain or improve the physical fitness of children.

GLOBALLY MOBILE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INDUSTRY (HEI) WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION INDUSTRY?

ABSTRACT From the earliest history of the civilized world, one the key engines for growth in an economy has been education of human beings. As the knowledge-based economies evolved, public policy officials around the world recognized a need to educate and train enormous number of students by offering the students opportunities to earn degrees offered by institutes of higher education. Welcome to the new world order, where nation states recognize institutes of higher education as a source of competitive advantage. Today, the phenomena of the internationalization of higher education, and student enrollment in study abroad programs to earn academic degrees, is receiving considerable attention from student, higher education administrators and policy makers alike. Taking a cue from public policies, institutes of higher education, including colleges and universities venture abroad to attract international students as well as send students abroad to prepare them for globally integrated workplace. As institutes of higher education expand the geographic scope of their operations, students from other societies and languages, take advantage of studying abroad to enhance their cultural and personal experience, while improving their employability in the globalized sectors of the labor market. Recognizing the intensity of international student mobility flows globally, the author focuses on number of students entering the United States to pursue higher education. Additionally, the author discusses the impact of a broader political climate and impending immigration policy in the United States on globally mobile (international) students and the institutions of higher education. Keywords internationalization, higher education, immigration, tourism, Travel ban

Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions

AbstractIn the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movements, police conduct has been increasingly scrutinized by the public, especially the use of excessive force, fatal shootings of unarmed civilians, and sexual harassment scandals within policing organizations. Through a review of the policing literature and data collected in a Canadian policing organization, we highlight how masculinity contest culture is related to police misconduct. All four masculinity contest culture dimensions can be observed in policing including: (1) “show no weakness,” (2) “strength and stamina,” (3) “put work first,” and (4) “dog‐eat‐dog.” Masculinity contest cultures lead to negative outcomes for both individual officers (e.g., harassment, discrimination, stress), policing organizations (e.g., lawsuits, turnover), and communities (e.g., officers’ use of excessive force). Training interventions are often suggested to prevent or remedy the negative effects of masculinity contest cultures in policing organizations. However, a review of the training literature suggests that training interventions are unlikely to be effective in contexts where organizational norms are at odds with the training content. Our analysis of police data, along with the literature review, conclude with a paradox—the very organizations that need training interventions the most (e.g., policing organizations that often promote and tolerate sexual harassment) are the least likely to benefit from those interventions. To address this paradox, we invoke the theory of social interactionism and reconceptualize training as an organizational sensegiving mechanism. This theoretical foundation offers new directions for future research on training in masculinity contest cultures and insights for practicing police administrators and public policy officials.

Establishing an Agricultural Summit

The rapidly growing population in Skagit County, Washington, has placed a threat on agriculture, and agricultural stakeholders were in need of an open discussion with public policy officials. In response to this need, we at Washington State University Skagit County Extension organized the first Skagit Ag Summit in 2016. As a result, stakeholders and public policy officials were able to meet to discuss their differing opinions. According to 2016 and 2017 Skagit Ag Summit surveys, a vast majority of attendants desired that we continue to host the event annually. We provide a description of our process and other useful information and encourage other university Extension offices in similar circumstances to host agricultural summits.

Implications of Diffusion of Innovations Theory for a Culturally Sensitive Multi-sectoral Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention

The present research uses a collective case study analysis to compare the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS public policy and culturally sensitive communication campaigns in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The first author conducted in-depth interviews with public policy officials to obtain unique insights into policy decisions in each country. Using the theory of diffusion of innovations to guide our analysis, three major concepts emerged as contributing to an effective campaign: Coordination of the dissemination of information with the social system, the time necessary for preventive messages to lead to the adoption of new practices, and the cultural compatibility and sensitivity of those messages. Unlike studies that rely on secondary research, this study contributes the perspective of policy makers to our understanding of public policy, the role of cultural sensitivity in health communication campaigns, and the organizational networks required for an effective multi-sectoral approach.

A real child in a virtual world

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether children’s online play and participation in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviours. This exploratory study also examines the influence of age-related differences in children’s social and consumer development vs adults and gender on this. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted using two focus groups and ten in-depth interviews with 20 French children between the ages of eight and 12 years. Findings Results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPG communities is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour through the purchase of virtual tools and accessories by all children using virtual in-game money. But these motivations are very gender specific due to the overarching importance of gender-specific motivations for achievement. Boys engage in virtual retail shopping because they need in-game progress and power gains, while girls engage in virtual retail shopping because they need social status enhancement. Research limitations/implications Research should be conducted on children in different age groups. All aspects of the process and consequences of children’s participation in online gaming communities should be examined more comprehensively. Quantitative research is required. Results may also vary with country and cultural context. Practical implications First, children between eight and 12 years of age are active consumers (influencers and buyers) for all companies. MMORPGs provide the perfect setting for better understanding of children’s motivations and behaviour regarding virtual retail shopping because they provide virtual in-game money for different achievements that children use to engage in such behaviour. Second, MMORPG companies can benefit by taking into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when designing the games. Social implications First, the risks of playing computer games for children in terms of playing violent games and leading a virtual life must be considered and studied carefully by public policy officials. Second, public policy officials that look into online gaming should take into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when monitoring online games. These are issues that are not only developing children’s abilities as social actors but may well be promoting excessive materialism aided by the formation of online peer groups. Originality/value This is the first study on children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs in the consumer context and will help us to understand children’s mind-set and motivations for retail activities in this unique retail setting. The study results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour that are very gender specific unlike adults.

The Heterogeneous Non-resident Student Body: Measuring the Effect of Out-Of-State Students’ Home-State Wealth on Tuition and Fee Price Variations

More than 40 years of research has found a positive relationship between increases in the proportion of non-resident students enrolling in an institution and increases in the tuition prices this institution charges to these same students. Notably, this line of research has consistently treated this non-resident student body as if they constitute a homogeneous group in terms of their socioeconomic well-being, when in reality these students come from states with differing levels of socioeconomic prosperity. Notably, given that tuition and fee charges to non-resident students are market-based, institutions charge what out-of-state students are willing to pay. Under this rationale, it follows that the wealthier the student body of an institution is, the more institutions will be able to charge them in terms of tuition and fees for their education. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it offers a method to measure the level of wealth of the non-resident student body enrolling at an institution considering the level of wealth of these students’ home states, therefore creating a measure of heterogeneity of the non-resident student body. The second purpose is to evaluate whether this measure of heterogeneity is associated with larger increases in the net tuition and fee prices charged to these students compared to the increases related to the homogeneous structure that ignores these students’ home-state wealth. This twofold purpose was addressed utilizing a dataset built from regional, state, and institutional information of 1743 public and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions across the contiguous United States. Since all the outcome variables were found to be spatially dependent, spatial econometrics techniques were employed for model estimation. Results corroborated that treating non-resident students as a homogeneous structure rendered downwardly biased estimates of institutions’ abilities and/or decisions to set higher or lower tuition and fee prices compared to the estimates obtained using the heterogeneous structure. Considering current general disinvestment of states in higher education, the analysis of factors driving non-resident tuition and fee price-setting has become especially relevant for public policy officials and decision-makers at both the institution- and state-levels. Accordingly, this study examines a critical issue in the finance of higher education—the setting of institutional tuition and fees for non-resident students.