Mary O. Borg

Personality Type and Student Performance in Upper-Level Economics Courses: The Importance of Race and Gender.

Abstract The authors demonstrate that personality type is an important explanatory variable in student performance in economics courses at the upper level, just as it was at the principles level. Similar to the results for principles students, they find that introverted students make better grades in their upper-level economics classes than identical students who are extroverts. They also find that students with SJ temperaments make significantly better grades in upper-level economics than identical students with SP temperaments. They find that certain personality types combine with certain race and gender effects to produce students who outperform other students. Adding a different dimension to the literature on minority educational attainment, their results suggest that African Americans do not perform more poorly than nonblacks in economics. They perform as well as ordinary students of any race, they are just less likely to be “star performers”.

The Case of Effort Variables in Student Performance

Studies of the effect of study time on test scores have generally shown an insignificant or negative relationship. However, this study suggests that the effects are different for students with different ability levels. By failing to test separately by ability, previous studies cancelled out the significant effects of study time.

The economic consequences of state lotteries

Preface State Lotteries: Past and Present Who Bears the Burden of State Lotteries? Lottery Tax Efficiency Lottery Taxes and Other Tax Revenue Where Are Lottery Dollars Coming From? A Comparison of Consumer Expenditures Before and After the Lottery Conclusions, Policy Recommendations, and Further Research Appendix Bibliography Index

The Income-Fertility Relationship: Effect of the Net Price of a Child

This article examines the relationship between income and completed family size in empirical fertility models. The relationship, which is hypothesized to be positive, often is negative in empirical studies. This perverse result is thought to occur because of the many correlations between income and other factors that affect fertility. In this research, these other factors—such as the net price of a child, the opportunity cost of the wife’s time, and supply factors—are statistically controlled, and the income effect is positive and significant. When the net price of a child is not controlled, however, the income effect becomes negative and significant.

Separating the Decisions of Lottery Expenditures and Participation: a Truncated Tobit Approach

This study uses a sample of lottery players from three states to estimate the probability of lottery play and expenditures on lottery products using a different methodology than is used in previous studies. The authors reject the parameter restrictions implied by the standard Tobit and estimate the decisions of whether. to purchase lottery products and how much players spend using a probit and truncated Tobit, respectively. Overall, an interesting demographic profile of the players, which was not apparent from the results obtained by estimating the standard Tobit, emerged as a result of separating the decisions. The more general model provides new information for lottery administrators interested in designing programs that specifi cally increase market share versus programs that increase spending for those who already play regularly. This study calculates the expected value of lottery expendi tures to estimate the tax incidence associated with different lottery products. Pre vious studies calculating lottery tax regressivity have used an incorrect formula for the expected value of lottery expenditures. The authors find that the taxes on all lottery games are regressive, with instant games having the greatest regressivity

The Cross Effects of Lottery Taxes On Alternative State Tax Revenue

This article both theoretically and empirically identifies sizable cross effects of lottery taxes on other sources of state tax revenue. Specifically, those states without income taxes and those with high sales and excise tax rates may lose as much as 23 cents in alternative state revenue for every dollar of lottery revenue they collect. Even though this extreme still implies that the state receives 77 cents more tax revenue than before the lottery was imposed, those states that earmark their lottery dollars likely see significant reductions in their nonlottery revenue sources that need to be accounted for in their budgets. Otherwise, a bonanza in one area of the budget causes a sizable and likely unexpected shortfall elsewhere.

Plenty of Children Left Behind High-Stakes Testing and Graduation Rates in Duval County, Florida

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is a high-stakes test that public school students must pass to be eligible for graduation from high school. Previous research suggests that high-stakes tests have a differential effect on students by race and ethnicity. This study finds that in one Florida school district African American and Hispanic students coming from poorer, less educated, or higher mobility households are less likely to meet graduation requirements than their higher socioeconomic, White, suburban counterparts. African American students and students from the lowest income households are also the most likely to encounter a negative graduation effect because the passing score on the FCAT rises each year. School characteristics also affect the probability of student success. High schools that hire more teachers with advanced degrees or offer a magnet program have better student FCAT scores. This results in higher probabilities that all categories of students will meet graduation requirements.

The success of mergers in the 1920s : A stock market appraisal of the second merger wave

Abstract This paper examines the impact on acquiring firm shareholder wealth of mergers during the oligopoly merger wave of the 1920s. These acquisitions were relatively unregulated; the Securities and Exchange Commission did not exist and antitrust laws were only loosely enforced. Although the lack of financial market controls and the possibility of monopoly gains should have permitted acquiring companies to capture large take-over profits, stock price data on 134 firms indicate only modest success. The average profitability of an acquisition in the 1920s does not differ from the profitability resulting from mergers in the 1960s and 1970s, despite vast differences in the economic environments.

SOME FUTURES ARE BRIGHTER THAN OTHERS: THE NET BENEFITS RECEIVED BY FLORIDA BRIGHT FUTURES SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Using a choice-based sample of households in Florida, the authors provide new empirical evidence on the budgetary incidence of lottery-funded merit scholarships. Specifically, they estimate the benefits received from the Florida Bright Futures (FBF) scholarship and the lottery taxes paid for three typical households in Florida. They find that high socioeconomic (SES) households receive a net program benefit of almost

Gaming tax incidence for three groups of Las Vegas gamblers

2,200, whereas low SES households incur a net programloss of almost