Jonathan Sandy

Examining the achievement test score gap between urban and suburban students.

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience for Youth (1997 cohort) are used to examine the urban school achievement gap. Specifically, we use the Blinder–Oaxaca technique to decompose differences in Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery scores for students who attended urban and suburban schools. We find that approximately 75% of the gap in this achievement measure is explained by the high concentration of disadvantaged students in urban schools. Broken down further, 36% of the gap can be attributed to differences in family background. The lower income of urban families alone explains 25% of the gap. Differences in measures of school quality, such as small classes, large schools, and private school attendance, explain very little of the gap. While current policy focuses on schools and school reform, our results are a reminder that meaningful efforts to improve performance in urban schools must address socioeconomic conditions in urban areas.

Marital status, children and women's labor market choices

Abstract This article provides a test of the human capital prediction that women with more labor force intermittence hold occupations characterized by lower earnings penalties for intermittence. By using marital and family status as proxies of labor market commitment we find that, on average, married women with and without children spend more time out of the labor force than never-married, childless women. Results from earnings regressions fail to indicate that the occupations they hold are characterized by significantly lower penalties for time not working. However, results from a probit model indicate that a womans marital status, the presence of children, and the level of the husbands education significantly affect the probability of working. The results reported here suggest that human capital theory explains a womans decision to work, but does not necessarily explain her occupational choice.

Evaluating the public support for educational vouchers: A case study

Abstract This paper examines several factors that affect the support for educational vouchers. A theory of the choice of public or private schools and a discussion of rational voting behavior indicate the types of people who would most likely support a voucher. Survey data on a voucher proposal (Proposal H) that appeared on the November 1978 ballot in Michigan provide a test of the theory. The results of a binary logit model indicate that income and public school quality are inversely related to the support for the voucher. Other findings indicate that the probability of favoring the voucher increases among blacks, Catholics, families with children enrolled in private schools and those who anticipated a decrease in taxes. The probability of favoring the voucher decreases among employees of the public school system, those who perceived a tax increase and those who believed the voucher would reduce local public school expenditures.

Valuing housing stock diversity

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the roles that different measures of housing stock and socio‐economic diversity have on the value of residential homes in San Diego, California.Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs a hedonic pricing model to estimate the effects of different measures of diversity on housing prices based on a sample of approximately 6,500 houses in San Diego County, California. The measures of diversity can be classified broadly as either socio‐economic diversity (racial and ethnic diversity, variation in income, education, age, etc.) or diversity in housing stock (variability in housing and lot size, the age of structures, the mix or single family and multiple family, etc.).Findings – The results suggest that home prices increase with greater diversity in the size of homes in a neighborhood, but tend to decrease with higher levels of diversity in the age of homes. In addition, there is evidence that smaller than average houses on smaller than average lots command a premium...