Reexamining the Empirical Evidence for an Environmental Kuznets Curve

This paper uses an updated and revised panel data set on ambient air pollution in cities world-wide 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. We conclude that there is little empirical support for an inverted-U-shaped relationship between several important air pollutants and national income in these data.

Lithofacies analysis of the Roubidoux Formation, south central Missouri

Lithologic and thickness data of the Lower Ordovician rocks of the Roubidoux Formation, south central Missouri, were interpreted from sample logs. Maps included are based on structure, thickness and lateral and vertical lithologic variability. Sand distribution in the Roubidoux is represented by a sand percentage map, a sand isolith map, and a tripartite sand distribution map. The Roubidoux Formation consists of a sequence of dolomite, sandy dolomite, sand and chert. It is believed that the Roubidoux was deposited on a stable marine platform receiving a supply of elastics from the north and northeast. The sands were deposited by longshore or coastal currents paralleling the Roubidoux strandline in Kansas. Sand transport was greatly affected by the velocities of surface currents and water depth. Most sand accumulated along low water shoals. The sand probably settled as broad linear ridges that underwent erosion concurrently with the deposition of these ridges, transporting the ridge sands into the lows between ridges, giving the sands a sheet-like character. Most sand is concentrated in the eastern half of the mapped area, where it is distributed throughout the formation, whereas sands in the west are concentrated in the upper third. Detailed correlations are limited by the lack of drillholes in the region. Also, the partial or complete removal of the formation in outcrop, and the partial or complete removal of carbonate as a by-product of dissolution processes falls short providing a satisfactory data base --Abstract, pages ii-iii

The Menstrual Cycle and Performance Feedback Alter Gender Differences in Competitive Choices

Economic experiments have shown that in mixed gender groups women are more reluctant than men to choose tournaments when given the choice between piece rate and winner-take-all tournament style compensation. These gender difference experiments have all relied on a framework where subjects were not informed of their abilities relative to potential competitors. We replicate these findings with math and word tasks, and then show that feedback about relative performance moves high ability females towards more competitive compensation schemes, moves low ability men towards less competitive schemes such as piece rate and group pay, and removes the average gender difference in compensation choices. We also examine between and within-subjects differences in choices for females across the menstrual cycle. We find women's relative reluctance to choose tournaments comes mostly from women in the low hormone phase of their menstrual cycle. Women in the high hormone phase are substantially more willing to compete than women in the low phase, though still somewhat less willing to compete than men. There are no significant differences between the choices of any of these groups after they receive relative performance feedback.competition, tournaments, gender, hormones, menstruation, feedback

Theft and Deterrence

We report results from economic experiments of decisions that are best described as petty larceny, with high school and college students who can anonymously steal real money from each other. Our design allows exogenous variation in the rewards of crime, and the penalty and probability of detection. We find that the probability of stealing is increasing in the amount of money that can be stolen, and that it is decreasing in the probability of getting caught and in the penalty for getting caught. Furthermore, the impact of the certainty of getting caught is larger when the penalty is bigger, and the impact of the penalty is bigger when the probability of getting caught is larger.crime, punishment, incentives, deterrence, juvenile, arrest, risk, larceny

An Experimental Test of Criminal Behavior Among Juveniles and Young Adults

We report results from economic experiments that provide a direct test of the hypothesis that criminal behavior responds rationally to changes in the possible rewards and in the probability and severity of punishment. The experiments involve decisions that are best described as petty larceny, and are done using high school and college students who can anonymously take real money from each other. We find that decisions about whether and how much to steal are, in general, rational and responsive to the variations in tradeoffs, and sometimes, though not always, to the overall availability of criminal opportunities.

The Ursinus Weekly, March 16, 1936

Lettermen elect court, mat heads • Alumni to honor Dr. James Anders • May 2 scheduled for open house • Ursinus director, 60, succumbs after illness • Directors will hear reports on March 26 • Social security topic closes forum season • Junior play tryouts to be held tonight • Debaters face busy week; engage two opponents • May queen\u27s court chosen by coeds of four classes • S. Halberstadt wins Lantern familiar essay contest prize • Castle Moro orchestra plays to 85 couples at soph hop • Beta Sigma Lambda is second winner in inter-fraternity scholastic race • Copper film to be shown • Ursinus coed debaters meet three opponents on road trip • Pennhurst supt. describes feeble-minded inmates • 65 students see Hedgerow players in Twelfth night • Political science students shy from radical beliefs • Registrar Sheeder attends Norristown college night • Coed basketeers lose final game to Beaver • Battery candidates report for practice • Derr Hall collegians win two extra-mural contests • Sixteen are awarded letters, certificates in winter sports • Varsity clubmen to hold annual banquet March 31 • Y\u27s to study cooperatives • 1937 basketball - wrestling captains • Y.W. to hold poetry hourhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1955/thumbnail.jp

Children's Altruism in Public Good and Dictator Experiments

We examine the development of altruistic and free-riding behavior in 6-12-year-old children. We find that the level of altruistic behavior in children is similar to that of adults but that repetition has a different effect. Younger children's contributions tend to increase in later rounds of the experiments, whereas the contributions of older children, like those of adults, tend to decline. Group attachment is associated with higher contributions. Contributions in a subsequent dictator experiment are correlated with first-roundn contributions in the public good experiment, but are not strongly correlated with last-round contributions.

Evidence on the Efficacy of School-Based Incentives for Healthy Living

We analyze the effects of a school-based incentive program on children's exercise habits. The program offers children an opportunity to win prizes if they walk or bike to school during prize periods. We use daily child-level data and individual fixed effects models to measure the impact of the prizes by comparing behavior during prize periods with behavior during non-prize periods. Variation in the timing of prize periods across different schools allows us to estimate models with calendardate fixed effects to control for day-specific attributes, such as weather and proximity to holidays. On average, we find that being in a prize period increases riding behavior by sixteen percent, a large impact given that the prize value is just six cents per participating student. We also find that winning a prize lottery has a positive impact on ridership over subsequent weeks; consider heterogeneity across prize type, gender, age, and calendar month; and explore differential effects on the intensive versus extensive margins.health; exercise; children; school; incentives; active commuting