Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data

This paper presents summary statistics on the occupations of taxpayers in the top percentile of the national income distribution and fractiles thereof, as well as the patterns of real income growth between 1979 and 2005 for top earners in each occupation, based on information reported on U.S. individual income tax returns. The data demonstrate that executives, managers, supervisors, and financial professionals account for about 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent of income earners in recent years, and can account for 70 percent of the increase in the share of national income going to the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution between 1979 and 2005. During 1979-2005 there was substantial heterogeneity in growth rates of income for top earners across occupations, and significant divergence in incomes within occupations among people in the top 1 percent. We consider the implications for various competing explanations for the substantial changes in income inequality that have occurred in the U.S. in recent times. We then use panel data on U.S. tax returns spanning the years 1987 through 2005, to estimate the elasticity of gross income with respect to net-of-tax share (that is, one minus the marginal tax rate). Information on occupation allows us to control for other influences on income in a flexible way using interactions among occupation, position in the income distribution, stock prices, housing prices, and the business cycle. We also allow for income shifting across years in response to anticipated tax changes, for the long-run effect of a tax reform to differ from the short-run effects, for heterogeneous mean-reversion across incomes, and for heterogeneous elasticities across income classes. In a specification that does all this, we estimate a significant elasticity of 0.7 among taxpayers in the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution. Outside of the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution, we find no conclusive evidence of a positive elasticity of income with respect to net-of-tax shares. We find that the estimate for the top 0.1 percent is not robust to controlling for a spline in lagged income that is very flexible at the upper reaches of the income distribution, suggesting that the method used to allow for income dynamics is very important. Allowing for income shifting across years in response to anticipated tax changes has important consequences for the estimates.income distribution, behavioral response to taxation

Are Unicorns Extinct in the Modern World?: Directing Tennessee Williams\u27 The Glass Menagerie in 2017

What follows is a description of my process directing The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I’ve made an effort to track the journey I undertook starting from my earliest encounter with the play and the selection of the story as a thesis project. This document contains my initial script analysis, notes from design meeting collaborations, casting decisions, general research approaches, the rehearsal process, performance insights, and evaluations after completion. This document will also provide, intermittently, additional reflections on my critical attitudes towards this play and production, as well as self-assessments related to notable lessons, successes, failures, and discoveries pertinent to my field of study: the art of directing. Moreover, selected entries from my personal journal which was maintained for eight months during this creative process will provide supplemental material for further reading at the conclusion

Evidence for the reliability and validity, and some support for the practical utility of the two-factor Consideration of Future Consequences Scale-14

Researchers have proposed 1-factor, 2-factor, and bifactor solutions to the 12-item Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFCS-12). In order to overcome some measurement problems and to create a robust and conceptually useful two-factor scale the CFCS-12 was recently modified to include two new items and to become the CFCS-14. Using a University sample, we tested four competing models for the CFCS-14: (a) a 12-item unidimensional model, (b) a model fitted for two uncorrelated factors (CFC-Immediate and CFC-Future), (c) a model fitted for two correlated factors (CFC-I and CFC-F), and (d) a bifactor model. Results suggested that the addition of the two new items has strengthened the viability of a two factor solution of the CFCS-14. Results of linear regression models suggest that the CFC-F factor is redundant. Further studies using alcohol and mental health indicators are required to test this redundancy

The rhetoric of nonfiction: An examination of Sebastian Junger\u27s The perfect storm

The thesis begins with a brief description and analysis of various genres Junger blends in his text. What follows is a look at the challenges of interpretation in historical writing and theoretical framing of the genre distinctions regarding new journalism and nonfiction narrative

2012-2013 Collaborative Spotlight

Past Collaborative Spotlight Concerts 2011 - Duo Pianists Leonard and Shen 2012 - The American Brass Quintethttps://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_otherseasonalconcerts/1018/thumbnail.jp

2011-2012 Lynn Philharmonia Season Program

Philharmonia No. 1 October 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM and October 2, 2011 at 4:00 PM Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 ( Jupiter ) / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- Symphony No. 1 in D Major ( Titan ) / Gustav Mahler Philharmonia No. 2 November 5, 2011 at 7:30 PM and November 6, 2011 at 4:00 PM Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor Symphony No. 6 in F Major, op. 68 ( Patroral ) / Ludwig van Beethoven -- Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67 / Ludwig van Beethoven Philharmonia No. 3 2011 Concerto Competition Winners Program Booklet Lynn University Wind Ensemble Tasty Suites January 14, 2012 at 7:30 PM Kenneth Amis, music director and conductor First Suite in E-flat for Military Band, op. 28a / Gustav Holst -- Suite in B-flat Major, op. 4 / Richard Strauss -- The Good Soldier Schweik Suite, op. 22 / Robert Kurka -- Lincolnshire Posy / Percy Grainger Philharmonia No. 4 January 28, 2012 at 7:30 PM and January 29, 2012 at 4:00 PM Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor ; Jon Manasse, clarinet Short Ride in a Fast Machine / John Adams -- Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- Symphony No. 1 / John Corigliano Philharmonia No. 5 February 18, 2012 at 7:30 PM and February 19, 2012 at 4:00 PM John Nelson, guest conductor ; Carol Cole, violin ; David Cole, cello ; Jon Robertson, piano Overture to Les francs-juges / Hector Berlioz -- Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C Major, op. 56 / Ludwig van Beethoven -- Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, op. 70 / Antonín Dvořák Philharmonia No. 6 March 24, 2012 at 7:30 PM and March 25, 2012 at 4:00 PM Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor ; Gregory Miller, french horn Blue Cathedral / Jennifer Higdon -- Horn Concerto No. 1, TrV 117 / Richard Strauss -- Divertimento / Leonard Bernstein -- Pini di Roma (The Pines of Rome) / Ottorino Respighihttps://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_philharmonia/1020/thumbnail.jp

Can you identify violent extremists using a screening checklist and open-source intelligence alone?

Checklist-based screening instruments have a role in the assessment of mentally disordered and criminal offenders, but their value for screening for vulnerability to violent extremism remains moot. This study examined the effectiveness of using the Identifying Vulnerable People (IVP) guidance to identify serious violence in persons convicted or killed in the process of committing a violent-extremist offense using open-source intelligence (i.e., publicly available archival material). Of 182 specific participants identified, specific offense data was available for 157 individuals. Blind kappas for individual items of the 16-item IVP guidance ranged from 0.67 to 1.00. IVP guidance was more reliable when applied to conventional terrorist groups, but missing information significantly reduced reliability. Weighting items thought more central to violent extremism (death rhetoric, extremist group membership, contact with recruiters, advanced paramilitary training, overseas combat) did not improve reliability or prediction. Although the total unweighted IVP score predicted some acts of violence, test effectiveness statistics suggested IVP guidance was most effective as a negative predictor of grave outcomes, and best applicable to conventional ideological violent extremists who came to this position through typical “terrorist” trajec- tories. Results suggest the IVP guidance has potential value as an initial screening tool, but must be applied appropriately to persons of interest, is strongly dependent on the integrity and completeness of information, and does not supercede human-led risk assessment of the case and acute risk states