Economic Inquiry articles from October 2007

Economic Inquiry archives from October 2007

Reading, writing, and sex: the effect Of losing virginity on academic performance.
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION While much of the policy discussion surrounding efforts to induce teenagers to delay first intercourse tend to focus on the potential health benefits of abstinence, increasing attention has been paid to possible spillover...

The effect of rewards and sanctions in provision of public goods.
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION The experimental literature on voluntary public goods provision shows that groups attain better outcomes than implied by economic models based on individuals maximizing own-monetary earnings. At the same time, however,...

Collusion and overlending.
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION For a long time have Korean companies been engaged in unbridled expansionism financed through loans, inefficient octopus style management, and over and duplicate investment, thus expediting the structural...

Is agency theory self-activating?
October 1, 2007... This article examines the conditions under which the principal-agent model is self-activating/socially causal. We do so by exploring a principal-agent framework that allows for the possibility that rational agents may hold intrinsic preferences...

A human capital model of the effects of ability and family background on optimal schooling levels.
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Human capital investments are of wide ranging interest because they can be used to explain income disparities across people, geography, and time. According to Becker (1962), human capital investments are activities that...

Curbside recycling in the presence of alternatives.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Americans produce about 375 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually, or 1.3 tons per capita. Twenty-five to 30% of this material is recycled (Kaufman et al. 2004). These historically high recycling rates have...

On the long-run effects of fashion.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... "Fashion changes, but, should a fashion last for even a moderate length of time, so strong is the principle of inheritance, that some effect will probably be impressed on the breed." Darwin, C. (1883) "The Variation of Animals and Plants...

Sticky price and sticky information price-setting models: what is the difference?(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Empirical studies suggest that inflation adjusts gradually after a monetary policy shock, with the peak occurring several quarters later. (1) Most theoretical models, however, generate an inflation response that peaks on...

Killing the goose that lays the golden egg: institutional change and economic growth in Hong Kong.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) after its sovereignty reverted to Chinain July 1997. Since then, the Basic Law, which is the SAR's mini-constitution, has functioned as the foundation of "one country,...

Gender differences in the valuation of employer-provided health insurance.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Based on the seminal compensating wage differential work of Rosen (1986), a considerable number of empirical studies have analyzed the effect of employer-provided health insurance on various forms of potential "job lock,"...

Spatial competition and the price of college.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Over the last half century, the U.S. higher educational system has been transformed from a collection of local, independent college fiefdoms into a regionally and nationally integrated market in which universities compete...

Restricted structural change and the unit root hypothesis.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION An important issue in economics involves the long-run response of macroeconomic and financial aggregates to shocks and disturbances. In a classic paper, Nelson and Plosser (1982) argued that, contrary to the traditional...

Strategic decisions on lawyers' compensation in civil disputes.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION A plaintiff and a defendant usually bargain to settle a civil dispute. When they cannot reach a settlement, the case goes to trial. Naturally, through the settlement and trial stages, the litigants behave strategically. A...

Survive then thrive: determinants of success in the economics Ph.D. program.(Author abstract)
October 1, 2007... I. INTRODUCTION Every spring, admission committees review a pile of applications to select candidates for their Ph.D. programs. Beyond normal attrition, Economics departments clearly have a stake in seeing a significant proportion of...

Editor's report: economic inquiry.(Editorial)
October 1, 2007... The 2006 volume of Economic Inquiry consisted of 52 papers in a wide variety of fields. These papers included theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies, and were in fields that ranged from labor and industrial organization to...