Robert P. Strauss

Some new evidence on teacher and student competencies

Abstract This paper reports statistical analysis of the determinants of average student performance on standardized examinations, and also the determinants of the extent to which students fail such examinations. Unlike most other cross-sectional studies of performance among school districts within one state, this study uses the quality of teachers, as measured by standardized test scores, as a determinant of performance. Perhaps the most striking empirical result of the study is the finding that a 1% increase in teacher quality, as measured by standardized test scores, is accompanied by a 5% decline in the rate of failure of students on standardized competency examinations. The corresponding impact on average or mean achievement of teacher quality is. by contrast, quite modest: 0.5%–0.8% per 1% improvement in teacher quality.

Children as Income-Producing Assets: The Case of Teen Illegitimacy and Government Transfers

This paper develops a classical model of the teen fertility decision in the presence of public income transfers. The theoretical model predicts that welfare payments will encourage fertility, holding constant other economic opportunities, and that better economic opportunities will discourage fertility. Considering the possible simultaneity of illegitimacy rates and benefit levels, due to the collective choice process, the authors confirm the theoretical models predictions with state-level data from 1980 through 1990. The authors find that including fixed effects in the regression to control for unobserved differences between states does not sufficiently control for endogeneity. After controlling for endogeneity, real welfare benefits are strongly and robustly related to teen illegitimacy. The point estimates of the elasticity with respect to changes in the illegitimacy rate are around +1.3 for White teens and +2.1 for Black teens. Real wages for women with a high school education or less are negatively related to teen illegitimacy for White teens, with an elasticity of around -0.4. Finally, male wages appear to have little effect on the illegitimacy rate for White teens but appear negatively correlated with the illegitimacy rate for Black teens in some model specifications.

The Effects of Defined Benefit Pension Incentives and Working Conditions on Teacher Retirement Decisions

The retirement behavior of Pennsylvania public school teachers in 199798 and 199899, a period when state early retirement incentives were temporarily increased, is modeled using a choice framework that emphasizes both pecuniary and nonpecuniary factors of the retirement decision under a defined benefit retirement plan. We find each to have large and statistically significant effects on the decision to retire. The present value of inflation-adjusted pension benefits of a public defined benefit plan is found to be an important and sizable determinant of retirement. A

State and federal tax equity: Estimates before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986

1,000 (or .4 percent) increase in the real present value of pension benefits is estimated to increase the probability of retirement for female teachers by .02 to .08 percentage points; this implies an elasticity of retirement for female teachers with respect to the present value of real pensions of between 2.0 to 3.5. These estimated defined benefit pension elasticities for female teachers are higher than for male teachers, whose comparable retirement elasticity was 1.9 to 2.5. A

Should Sales Taxes Be Imposed on E-Commerce?

1,000 increase in current salary is found to reduce themean probability of retirement by .1 percentage points, implying an elasticity of 1.4. Thus, substantial salary increases systematically reduce the probability of older teachers retiring.

Improving Access to Science and Math Education in Western Pennsylvania

The progressivity and equity of both state and federal individual income taxes, as well as the combined system of both taxes, are examined before and after the federal Tax Reform Act of 1986 using a variety of measures applied to federal Statistics of Income individual income tax data; state taxes are calculated using TAXSIM. Our findings are as follows: First, in both 1985 and 1987, state personal income taxes were generally less progressive and more horizontally equitable than the federal system. Second, in moving from 1985 to 1987, state personal income tax systems generally displayed decreased progressivity and horizontal inequity. The combination of the two systems displayed generally lower progressivity and horizontal equity scores when we compare 1987 to 1985. Last, the after-tax income distribution became more unequal when we compared 1987 to 1985.

A comparative application of data envelopment analysis and translog methods: an illustrative study of hospital production

We study the impact of E-commerce across state lines in the U.S. on tax revenue, public good provision, and real income. In particular, in light of the unenforceable nature of interstate taxation, we evaluate the potential gains from coordinating sales and income state taxes among sovereign jurisdictions. We find that the revenue at risk is small and that the welfare gains or losses of any countervailing policy measures, in particular those associated with the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), are even smaller.

A comparative application of DEA and translog methods: An illustrative study of hospital production

Seven out of every 10 American jobs are expected to be related to technologies using advanced computers and electronics, requiring workers with strong math and science skills. However, school systems in several regions in the US that have suffered economic and demographic declines are having problems maintaining and improving math and science education. We conducted a study and engendered cooperation between school districts to improve student access to math and science courses in one such region. We first examined the math and science curricula, predicted enrollment rates, forecasted teacher availability, and analyzed access characteristics for a set of school districts in Western Pennsylvania known as the Mon Valley Education Consortium. We then proposed strategies for cooperation between the school districts that included moving students to multiple centers for advanced math and science courses, moving teachers between schools, and using an area vo-tech school as a math and science center. As a result of the study a pilot project was implemented signaling the beginning of regional cooperation in the area.