Helicopter Parents and Landing Pad Kids: Intense Parental Support of Grown Children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92448/1/j.1741-3737.2012.00987.x.pd

A characterization of <i>p</i>-automatic sequences as columns of linear cellular automata

We show that a sequence over a finite field Fq of characteristic p is p-automatic if and only if it occurs as a column of the spacetime diagram, with eventually periodic initial conditions, of a linear cellular automaton with memory over Fq. As a consequence, the subshift generated by a length-p substitution can be realized as a topological factor of a linear cellular automaton

Does Banning Affirmative Action Affect Racial SAT Score Gaps? An Empirical Analysis

This paper conducts an empirical analysis of SAT scores to determine if banning affirmative action has any significant impact on the SAT scores of college bound minority high school students. A rational high school student should alter the amount of time spent studying during high school if any policy affects the marginal return to that activity. Thus, a natural question to ask is whether banning affirmative action affects minoritiesÕ SAT scores differently than it affects nonÐminoritiesÕ SAT scores. My analysis centers on the recent elimination of affirmative action in California and Texas. Using SAT data obtained from The College Board, I compare the changes of the test score gap between minorities and nonÐminorities over time in the treatment states, relative to a set of control group states.public policy, education, discrimination, affirmative action

Affirmative Action, Incentives and the Black-White Test Score Gap

This paper develops a theoretical model of college admissions to study the effects of affirmative action policies on the high school achievement of college bound students. The innovation is to include endogenous human capital decisions in the model. When colleges switch admissions policies, they implicitly alter the likelihood of acceptance earned by a given human capital investment. Thus, human capital investments are sensitive to changes in admissions policies. The main results are that banning affirmative action increases the black-white test score gap and decreases college enrollment and social welfare of the minority group.Affirmative Action, Discrimination, Public Policy, Education, Asymmetric Information

The Informational Value of Affirmative Action in College Admissions

This article develops a theoretical model of college admissions to investigate the effects of banning affirmative action admissions policies on the efficiency of the admissions process. Previous work in this area has shown that prohibiting affirmative action causes inefficiency when college quality is an increasing function of diversity. This article identifies an additional reason why colleges and universities use racial preferences in admissions, setting aside explicit demands for diversity. In the theoretical model, the racial identity of the applicants is relevant information for making inferences about an applicant's true academic ability. Preventing admissions officers from using this information results in inefficient selection of applicants, even if diversity does not explicitly enter the objective of the university. Thus, affirmative action is justified solely on informational grounds.

Maastricht: New and Old Rules *

Abstract Thanks to the Maastricht Treaty and similar arrangements, central banks nowadays enjoy considerable independence. This is generally believed to be the result of relatively recent debates, which led to the conclusion that sheltering monetary authorities from the pressures of fiscal policymakers is a prerequisite for monetary stability. However, in history this point has in fact been a recurrent tenet. We start with David Ricardo&apos;s arguments in favour of central bank independence and against monetisation of public deficits. After WWI, the latter issue was at the heart of the 1920 International Financial Conference of the League of Nations, which fostered and guided the establishment of many new central banks, and shaped various policymaking arrangements of today&apos;s monetary authorities. JEL Codes: B12, B22, E42, E58, E61