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作者：Oettinger, GS
作者单位：University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
摘要：This paper analyzes both theoretically and empirically how an absolute grading standard that allows only a small number of distinct grades affects student course performance outcomes. The clearest prediction of the model is that course performance of grade-motivated students will tend to be clustered slightly above the boundaries that separate grades, as long as the variance of the random component of performance is not too large. A more tenuous prediction is that the proximity of a grade-moti...
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作者：Alberini, A; Austin, D
作者单位：University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Resources for the Future
摘要：Proponents of environmental policies based on liability assert that strict liability imposed on polluters induces firms to handle hazardous wastes properly. We examine unintended pollution releases, relating them to the liability imposed on polluters by state mini-Superfund laws. We find that strict liability reduces the frequency and severity of pollution releases, but that its effects vary with firm-size. Smaller firms are associated with more pollution releases in states with strict liabili...
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作者：Cook, D
作者单位：Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
摘要：Proxies that measure the effect of World War H on a country's capital stock are used as instruments for estimating standard cross-country growth regressions. The war's destruction should offer a natural experiment that allows us to consistently estimate the speed at which productivity growth converges to its long-run path. This paper presents evidence that convergence rates are approximately 4% to 6% per annum, substantially larger than conventional wisdom.
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作者：Hanushek, EA; Kain, JF; Rivkin, SG
作者单位：Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; Amherst College
摘要：Most discussion of special education has centered on the costs of providing mandated programs for children with disabilities and not on their effectiveness. As in many other policy areas, inferring program effectiveness is difficult because students not in special education do not provide a good comparison group. By following students who move in and out of targeted programs, however, we are able to identify program effectiveness from changes over time in individual performance. We find that t...
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作者：Brunner, AD
作者单位：International Monetary Fund
摘要：This paper examines the historical effects of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle on world prices and economic activity. The primary focus is on world real non-oil primary commodity prices, although the effects on G-7 consumer price inflation and GDP growth are also considered. This paper has several distinct advantages over previous studies. First, several econometric models are estimated using fairly broad measures of prices and economic activity. Second, the models include continu...
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作者：Balke, NS; Wohar, ME
作者单位：Southern Methodist University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Dallas; University of Nebraska System
摘要：Previous analyses have concluded that expectations of future excess stock returns rather than future real dividend growth or real interest rates are responsible for most of the volatility in stock prices. In this paper, we employ a state-space model to model the dynamics of the log price-dividend ratio along with long-term and short-term interest rates, real dividend growth, and inflation. The advantage of the state-space approach is that we can parsimoniously model the low-frequency movements...
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作者：Nelson, JP
作者单位：Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park
摘要：This study evaluates the roles of ideology, constituency, and political party for roll-call voting in the U.S. Senate on a broad set of environmental issues. The study estimates a model of political support using voting scores from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) for the period 1988-1998, including observations on 91 senators for 130 roll-call votes. The study decomposes the scale-adjusted scores into relative weights due to the general electorate, the senator's support constituency, p...
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作者：Harbaugh, WT; Levinson, A; Wilson, DM
作者单位：University of Oregon; National Bureau of Economic Research; Georgetown University
摘要：This paper uses an updated and revised panel data set on ambient air pollution in cities worldwide to examine the robustness of the evidence for the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between national income and pollution. We test the sensitivity of the pollution-income relationship to functional forms, to additional. covariates, and to changes in the nations, cities, and years sampled. We find that the results are highly sensitive to these changes, and conclude that there is littl...
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作者：McMillen, DP; McDonald, JF
作者单位：University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital
摘要：The introduction of a new zoning ordinance to Chicago in 1923 offers a natural experiment that allows us to determine the effects of zoning on relative land-value growth rates. Policymakers claimed at the time that land-use zoning would raise aggregate land values by reducing negative externalities associated with mixed land use. After controlling for initial land use and the endogeneity of zoning decisions, we find that residential zoning led to higher land value growth rates than commercial ...
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作者：Blau, DM; Mocan, HN
作者单位：University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Denver; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：We use data from a sample of child care centers to estimate the relationships between cost and child care quality, and between revenue and quality. We use a measure of child care quality, designed by developmental psychologists, that is positively associated with child development. Taking the estimated cost-quality and revenue-quality relationships as given, we estimate the objective functions of firms and compute the quality supply function. The results indicate that the supply of quality is ...
