Richard M. Alston

I Thought I Got an A! Overconfidence Across the Economics Curriculum

Students often exhibit overconfident grade expectations and tend to overestimate the actual course grade at the completion of a course. Current theories of student motivation suggest such overconfidence may lead students to study less than if they had accurate grade perceptions. The authors report the findings of a survey of students enrolled in economics and quantitative courses at a large public university. They analyze the difference between a students expected and actual grade and how teacher pedagogies can influence student overconfidence. They find male students and those with lower GPAs exhibit greater overconfidence. Students in lower division classes have a greater tendency to be overconfident than do those in upper division classes. The findings also indicate that grading practices influence overconfidence.

Effect of Graduate-Program Rank on Success in the Job Market

Previous research suggests that the ranking of graduate programs plays an important role in the initial job-market success of economics graduates. In surveys done by Carson and Navarro (1988) and Stock, Alston, and Milkman (2000), economics departments reported that school affiliation was at least as important as prior teaching experience when it came to determining which applicants would be scheduled for initial job interviews. In terms of job-market results, Barbezat (1992) and McMillen and Singell (1994) found that candidates from top-ranked programs were more likely to find employment at both another top-ranked academic program and in the nonacademic sector. We investigated job-market results for candidates from different ranked graduate programs using data from a recent survey of job candidates in economics. We followed the basic method used in other studies of the effects of college quality on labor market results (e.g., Brewer, Eide, and Ehrenberg 1996). Specifically, controlling for differences in the demographics, pregraduate school characteristics, and graduate school experiences of candidates, we estimated the effect of program rank on three basic results in the labor market: the number of interviews obtained, whether the candidate received at least one job offer, and, for those who found employment, annual salary. In January 1997, we mailed a survey to 897 job candidates participating in the economics job market in 1995-96.1 We obtained the list of candidates from the packets of curriculum vitas sent from Ph.D.-granting economics departments to Kansas State University, Weber State University, and Murray State University

The academic labor market for economists: 1995–96

This paper provides a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the job market for economists using new survey data on job search and employment experiences for a recent cohort of market participants. Several empirical facts are established about the labor market for economists based on separate surveys of job market applicants and chairs of programs advertising job openings in economics. In addition to providing descriptive statistics, this paper examines methods to reduce the costs of job search and recruiting and describes how market outcomes differ by department rank. Such information is of interest to current and future market participants, to advisors of job candidates, and to search committees.

Implementing the voluntary contribution game: A field experiment

Abstract Recent laboratory experiments, together with anecdotal evidence, suggests that it is possible to design fund raising experiments that can overcome well-known problems with the private provision of public goods. This paper reports on an attempt to fund a lobbyist for higher education through voluntary contributions. The experiment suggests that laboratory conditions are difficult to match in natural settings and raises some fundamental questions about the applicability of the voluntary contribution mechanism.

Graphing the Model or Modeling the Graph? Not-So-Subtle Problems in Linear IS-LM Analysis

Using IS and LM curves to illustrate the problem, the authors show how the curves drawn in the textbooks often have theoretical implications inconsistent with the analysis presented.