Vinod B. Agarwal

Tourist Spending and Race of Visitors

This article investigates racial differences in the spending patterns of tourists. The article develops a deterministic model to explain expenditures by tourists who stay overnight at a destination. The model is then applied to survey data of tourist expenditures collected from overnight visitors to Virginia Beach during the summer of 1997. The study finds that ceteris paribus overnight visitors spend about the same regardless of their race, while the most important determinant of tourist spending is visitor income. The findings hold whether total party expenditures, party expenditures per day, or expenditures per person per day are examined.

Foreign Demand for United States Higher Education: A Study of Developing Countries in the Eastern Hemisphere

Foreign student enrollments in the United States have increased rapidly over the past 25 years. The total number increased from 36,494 in 1954 to 336,990 in 1982. While foreign students still represent less than 2% of all higher education enrollments in the United States, this proportion is likely to grow over the next decade as enrollments of American citizens decline. One consequence of the growth to date has been that many colleges and universities depend on foreign students for an important part of their tuition revenue or enrollment-determined budget, and this dependence is also likely to grow over the next decade. Another important consequence of larger flows of foreign students is an increase in immigration to the United States of skilled labor as students adjust their visa status to immigrant. The growing influence of foreign students as consumers of U.S. higher education services underscores the importance of better understanding the nature of this phenomenon. This paper sets forth a model of foreign demand for U.S. higher education and estimates that model for several countries using time-series data for 1954-73. The only countries selected for study are lowor middle-income Eastern Hemisphere nations. These countries were chosen in part because they had the highest rates of enrollment growth in the United States. In addition, these countries were treated similarly by U.S. immigration legislation and were treated differently from Western Hemisphere and Western European countries. In what follows, the theory of student demand for U.S. higher

Migration of professional manpower to the United States.

The results of an investigation of the immigration of professionals to the United States are presented. The data concern a sample of professionals from 17 developing and developed countries who were immigrants in 1969. Both direct and indirect immigration are considered, and special attention is paid to the constraints on professional immigration and the adjustment of status imposed by immigration policies. The results suggest that the relative wage rate is more strongly related to the brain drain than is relative income and that more restrictive policies concerning labor certification would probably prove effective in reducing the student brain drain in the short term.

United States immigration policy and indirect immigration of professionals

Abstract Professionals migrate to the U.S. from other countries through both direct and indirect channels. The indirect channel, which entails entering the U.S. as a foreign student or visitor and subsequently adjusting visa status to immigrant, has assumed increasing importance over time. The number of adjustments of status can be expected to further increase in the future as the eligible pool, comprised mainly of foreign students, continues to expand. The ratio of adjustments to the eligible pool is also influenced by U.S. immigration policy, which originates in administrative regulations as well as legislative action. U.S. immigration policy affects the ease of immigration and thus the ratio of adjustments to the eligible pool. Variations in immigration policy across countries and over time are found to have statistically significant impacts on this ratio.

The Effects of Assumption Financing Across Housing Price Categories

This study employs a standard housing valuation model to analyze the capitalization of below-market financing across housing price categories. The study also investigates the effect of secondary financing on housing prices and the effect of the expected holding period on discount capitalization. Using a randomly selected sample of 1981-82 housing transactions the study finds: the discount associated with below-market financing is inversely related to the absolute level of housing prices; secondary financing bears no systematic relationship to housing values; and discount capitalization is inversely related to the expected holding period. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Permanent Labor Certifications for Alien Professionals, 1975–1982

This article deals with the effect of the Eilberg Act and the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act on labor certification of alien professionals. They are found to have enhanced the importance, to alien professionals seeking labor certification, of residing inside the U.S. at the time of application. Further, the legislation has had a dramatic effect on labor certifications for medical professionals.

The Eilberg Act, new seed immigration, and professional labor markets

Abstract Foreign born professionals, especially those educated or trained in the U.S., have been a significant source of professional manpower to U.S. labor markets. The Eilberg Act has affected the conditions for immigration of aliens in professions. Over time, even in expanding labor markets, the Act could diminish opportunities for such individuals. In addition, in declining labor markets, the Act is expected to provide a cushion for domestic workers by reducing job opportunities for aliens.

Price controls, price dispersion and the supply of refined petroleum products

Abstract This paper analyses the petroleum industry price and allocation controls which dominated US energy policy during the 1970s. It is emphasized that since controls on refined products tied maximum prices to costs of production, the market effects of this regulatory system were quite unusual. The paper shows that controls induced firms to price refined products below marginal costs. In addition, the regulations tended to increase the degree of dispersion in prices charged by firms in the industry. Finally, in the context of multiple product analysis, it is shown that the presence of effective ceiling prices for any of the products reduced the prices of all products below marginal costs.

An analysis of Smith Travel Research occupancy estimates: a case study of Virginia Beach Hotels

Abstract Smith Travel Researchs estimates of lodging occupancy in Virginia Beach have improved over time, most likely because its sampling accuracy has increased.

Tourism and advertising: Evidence from Virginia beach

In recent years, the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been spending more than two million dollars per year to promote tourism for the city. However, very little is known about the effects of such advertising on overnight visitors. On the basis of a survey of 1,200 overnight visitors during the summer of 1991, this study estimates the effect on tourism and the subsequent fiscal effect of tourism advertising expenditures. The study also calculates a rate of return from advertising from the perspective of a governmental revenue maximization objective function. This paper develops a travel cost model of the impact of advertising on overnight visitation to the city. The model provides, ceteris paribus, that advertising expenditures of 2.4 million dollars in 1991 resulted in an estimated 600,000 additional visitors. The paper concludes that if the Citys objective is to maximize public profit, then it should expand its advertising budget.