David E. Ault

On selecting a measure of labour activity: evidence from registered nurses, 1981 and 1989

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the effects of the selection of measures of labour activity on the conclusions that are derived from the analysis of individual labour supply. The results of the analysis using three commonly specified single measures (Annual Hours Worked, Hours Worked per Week, and Weeks Worked per Year) as the dependent variable in TOBIT equations are compared with those obtained using a PROBIT-2SLS in which the individual labour supply is measured by Hours Worked per Week and Weeks Worked per Year. The RHS variables are those that are used in earlier individual labour supply studies and are the same in all of the models analysed. Among the findings are (1) wage rate effects that are quite strong in single equation models and disappear when a multi-equation approach is used, (2) the effects of children on labour supply is more complex than in indicated in single equation results and (3) duration dependence is much stronger than indicated results using a single measure of indiv...

Writing across the Business Curriculum: An Alternative Means of Developing and Assessing Written Communication Skills.

For three years, the School of Business explored writing across the curriculum (WAC) approaches for developing written communication skills of undergraduate business majors. In selected classes, instructors stressed links between understanding concepts and being able to write clearly about them, improved design of assignments, and improved feedback to students. Instructors participating in this study concluded that a WAC approach improved the quality of student writing and the applications of course concepts. They also concluded that these improvements carried over to subsequent courses. Students reported using more care in revising drafts and more attention overall, to writing in certain settings. Their attention peaked when the instructor emphasized writing. A minority of students maintained, however, that writing should be evaluated only in writing classes taught by English faculty and that evaluation of writing should not be used to determine the grades they receive on assignments or for the course itself.

Problem-Solving Laboratory as a Teaching Device in Economics: Some Tentative Conclusions

developed based on the previously identified variables. Using the method outlined above virtually forces the student to recognize that he is studying a closed interdependent system, a notion which is essential even for a brief introduction to general equilibrium analysis. I have used this procedure with various modifications in principles and intermediate level courses and in a more intensive price theory course required for MBA students. The positive response, particularly of the latter two groups, has led to the preparation of an extensive set of notes at the intermediate level for class distribution organized along the lines suggested in this paper.

Factors affecting levels and growth rates in the wage rates of women: evidence from nursing

Using data from two surveys of nurses (1981 and 1989), the study examines the factors affecting the levels and growth rates in the wage rates paid to women, especially married women, who were licensed as Registered Nurses. Our results indicate that the influence of such household characteristics as marital status, age and number of children, and spouses characteristic, tended to diminish over the 1980s. The evidence further suggests that the penalties for frequent switches in employment state were larger at the end of the decade than at the beginning. Further, wages paid to nurses with baccalaureates were statistically the same as those paid to nurses with lesser formal education. The return to the baccalaureate appears to be in the form of the higher wages and salaries earned by those who obtain post-baccalaureate degrees.

The Role of Economics in Interdisciplinary and Problem-Oriented Programs

Since their creation, universities have offered degree programs designed to provide the student with the skills necessary to enter such professions as medicine, law, business and engineering. The majority of these programs are multi- or interdisciplinary because it is felt that knowledge of the concept and principles of several disciplines is necessary if the student is to develop an adequate framework within which to analyze the problems encountered in these professions. The multi- or interdisciplinary approach has recently been used to develop new curricula for the training of professionals who must deal with socioeconomic problems. Traditional disciplinary programs, especially those in the social sciences, have been criticized as being too narrow to provide an adequate background for the solving of urban and environmental problems. Because such problems have economic aspects, economics has been included in such new interdisciplinary programs as urban studies, environmental science, ethnic studies, behavioral sciences, and black studies. By focusing the curriculum on the problem area, it is felt that the student will develop the problem-solving framework or the tools necessary to analyze and solve complex socioeconomic problems. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of economics as a problem-solving tool in an undergraduate business curriculum. The understanding and use of economics as well as the simple retention of concepts and principles by students participating in an interdisciplinary business curriculum will be compared to the performance in these areas of students who were exposed to economics as a social science in the standard lecture-discussion format. The methodology used in this study is discussed in Part I. The results of multiple-regression analysis of student test scores are summarized in Part II.

The Problem-Solving Laboratory: Reply

The comment by Prof. Mellish and Ms. Bostow performs a useful service by not only clarifying and amplifying certain points raised in our paper, but by also placing our work in perspective. In general, these authors point out that we as teachers must specify the output we are trying to produce before we structure the learning environment and measure student achievement. If we desire students to use economics in analyzing and solving business problems, the students learning experience must stress the analyzing of business problems. In implementing this teaching strategy, the learning environment must be structured so that the reward system, particularly the grading system, acts as an incentive for the student to develop this type of expertise. The problem-solving laboratory, which is the basis for the experimental formats used in this study, is one alternative for improving the business students understanding and use of economics in analyzing and developing a set of alternative solutions to complex business problems. In their discussion, Mellish and Bostow raise some interesting questions: How adaptable is our discipline to the analysis of different types of business and socioeconomic problems? Should our curricula be designed to produce only professional economists? This is a question which only the discipline can answer. Another point, with which we agree, is that a theory of learning is necessary to explain our results and to evaluate all learning experiences. We do know that learning is a function of motivation. If the problem-solving laboratory motivates a student by making his classroom experience more relevant to his future career, one would expect, a priori, that the student learns more than the student who is not so motivated because he does not see any relevance between his classroom experience and the problems he will face when he graduates. We hope to advance a little further along these lines in reporting the results of our three-year study.