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作者：Wang, Yang
作者单位：Lafayette College
摘要：We set up a dynamic discrete choice model with subjective expectations data to explain adult smokers' smoking decisions. We find important differences between subjective survival probabilities and those estimated using observed mortality data. Subjectively, individuals attach less weight to their health conditions and smoking choices and more weight to such factors as age, race, and parents' longevity. Moreover, adult smokers are found to care more about their health and to be more forward-loo...
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作者：Figlio, David; Hart, Cassandra M. D.
作者单位：Northwestern University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of California System; University of California Davis
摘要：We use the introduction of a means-tested voucher program in Florida to examine whether increased competitive pressure on public schools affects students' test scores. We find greater score improvements in the wake of the program introduction for students attending schools that faced more competitive private school markets prior to the policy announcement, especially those that faced the greatest financial incentives to retain students. These effects suggest modest benefits for public school s...
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作者：Lucas, Adrienne M.; Mbiti, Isaac M.
作者单位：University of Delaware; Southern Methodist University
摘要：The most desirable Kenyan secondary schools are elite government schools that admit the best students from across the country. We exploit the random variation generated by the centralized school admissions process in a regression discontinuity design to obtain causal estimates of the effects of attending one of these elite public schools on student progression and test scores in secondary school. Despite their reputations, we find little evidence of positive impacts on learning outcomes for st...
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作者：Decarolis, Francesco
作者单位：Boston University
摘要：This paper presents evidence on the perverse trade-off that first price auctions induce between low prices at the awarding stage and poor ex post performance when bids are not binding commitments. By exploiting the different timing with which first price auctions were introduced in Italy to procure public works, this study finds that at least half of the cost savings from lower winning prices are lost because of ex post renegotiation. Screening the lowest price bid for its responsiveness preve...
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作者：Debaere, Peter
摘要：With newly available data, I investigate to what extent countries' international trade exploits the very uneven water resources on a global scale. I find that water is a source of comparative advantage and that relatively water abundant countries export more water-intensive products. Additionally, water contributes significantly less to the pattern of exports than the traditional production factors labor and physical capital. This suggests relatively moderate disruptions to overall trade on a ...
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作者：Gallagher, Justin
作者单位：University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University
摘要：I examine the learning process that economic agents use to update their expectation of an uncertain and infrequently observed event. I use a new nation-wide panel dataset of large regional floods and flood insurance policies to show that insurance take-up spikes the year after a flood and then steadily declines to baseline. Residents in nonflooded communities in the same television media market increase take-up at one-third the rate of flooded communities. I find that insurance take-up is most...
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作者：Carranza, Eliana
作者单位：The World Bank
摘要：Differences in relative female employment by soil texture are used to explain the heterogeneous deficit of female children across districts within India. Soil texture varies exogenously and determines the depth of land tillage. Deep tillage, possible in loamy but not in clayey soil textures, reduces the demand for labor in agricultural tasks traditionally performed by women. Girls have a lower economic value where female labor opportunities are fewer. Consistently, higher relative female emplo...
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作者：Arcidiacono, Peter; Koedel, Cory
作者单位：Duke University; University of Missouri System; University of Missouri Columbia
摘要：Conditional on enrollment, African American students are substantially less likely to graduate from four-year public universities than white students. Using administrative micro-data from Missouri, we decompose the graduation gap into racial differences in four factors: (i) how students sort to universities, (ii) how students sort to initial majors, (iii) high-school quality, and (iv) other preentry skills. Preentry skills explain 65 and 86 percent of the gap for women and men respectively. A ...
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作者：Ost, Ben
作者单位：University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital
摘要：One of the most consistent findings in the literature on teacher quality is that teachers improve with experience, especially in the first several years. This study extends this research by separately identifying the benefits of general teaching experience and specific curriculum familiarity. I find that both specific and general human capital contribute to teacher improvement and that recent specific experience is more valuable than distant specific experience. This paper also contributes to ...
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作者：McKenzie, David; Theoharides, Caroline; Yang, Dean
作者单位：The World Bank; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
摘要：We use an original panel dataset of migrant departures from the Philippines to identify the responsiveness of migrant numbers and wages to GDP shocks in destination countries. We find a large, significant response of migrant numbers to GDP shocks at destination, but no significant wage response. This is consistent with binding minimum wages for migrant labor. This result implies that labor market imperfections that make international migration attractive also make migrant flows more sensitive ...
