State aid programs for equalizing spending across local school districts: does the structure of the program matter, or only it’s size?

This paper provides interesting insights into an important causal mechanism underlying Murray, Evans and Schwab’s (Am. Econ. Rev. 88(4):789–812, 1998) finding that court mandated reforms result in less inequality in spending per pupil levels across rich and poor school districts within a state. Treating the choice of an education program’s structure as endogenous, following the analysis of Leyden (Public Finance/Finances Publiques 47:229–247, 1992; Public Choice 115(1–2):83–107, 2003), yields empirical results suggesting that court mandated reforms increase the likelihood that a program’s structure will include a price effect and that the inclusion of a price effect in turn results in a decrease in spending inequality.     

Social Science and the Public Interest

Social Science and the Public Interest

Social Science and the Public Interest September/October 2010     

Capitalization and Depreciation of Infrastructure by State and Local Governmental Entities

Proposals for capitalizing and depreciating infrastructure foreshadow a significant change in financial reporting for state and local entities. Justifications for present practices are examined. Costs and benefits of proposed changes are reviewed. Alternative practices are described.     

Design of optimal policies: A variable structure control approach

This paper introduces methods of variable structure control (VSC) theory to economists. The VSC design is based on closed loop optimal control solutions. It is shown that VSC can yield stable solutions in the presence of parameter errors whereas conventional closed loop optimal control solutions become unstable. The methodology is applied to a simple economic model.     

Sex and ethnic differences in past aggressive behaviors

To investigate gender and ethnic differences in experiences of violence, 415 Black and White males and females were asked about some of their aggressive behaviors in the past. In their most aggressive encounters, males were more likely than females to have received and instigated physical violence and females to have experienced violence in a sexual context; same-sex aggression was more common than cross-sex violence. More males than females had urged or screamed at others to be more aggressive, with males more likely to incite other males and females to urge other females to be aggressive. Males were more likely than females to have last been angry with a male, and a number of sex differences were found in the behaviors exhibited when last angry. Although positive consequences of aggression did not differ significantly by sex, females were more likely to have experienced negative interpersonal effects of behaving aggressively and males to have suffered physical harm or legal troubles. Relatively few differences between Black and White subjects were found, but Black males were more likely than Whites to keep their anger to themselves and to get the target in trouble; White males were more likely to yell at the target and tell the target of their anger. White females were more likely than Blacks to get the target in trouble. In general, the results are consistent with sex role stereotypes and suggest that the experiences of aggression and responses to anger may be substantially different for males and females.