In-State versus Out-of-State Students: The Divergence of Interest between Public Universities and State Governments

This paper examines the divergence of interest between universities and state governments concerning standards for admitting in-state versus out-of-state students. We find that public universities set lower minimum admissions standards for in-state than out-of-state applicants, presumably in response to state pressure; while private universities treat both groups equally. However, we also find that favoring in-state applicants goes against states’ long-term financial interest. This is because marginal out-of-state students pay higher tuition than marginal in-state students, pay more in future state taxes, and are equally influenced in whether they locate in the state after graduation by attending public university there

The Changing Composition of American-Citizen PhDs

We describe patterns in the composition of American-citizen doctorate recipients from the early 1960s to 2000. The propensity of bachelor’s degree recipients to earn PhDs varied widely during the 1960s and 1970s, especially for men, but has been relatively constant since the early 1980s. PhD propensity varies widely across students from different types of BA institutions, with higher propensities among those attending research universities and selective liberal-arts colleges. The share of PhDs awarded to women increased dramatically over the past 40 years and was driven largely by increases in the number of women earning BAs

The Impact of Labor Demand on Time to the Doctorate

The goal of this paper is to estimate the impact of labor demand for new PhD recipients on time to the doctorate. Empirical investigation of this relationship in previous research was hampered by the difficulty of measuring labor demand. I construct a measure of labor demand based on the annual number of job listings from 1975 to 2005 in seven fields in the humanities and social sciences. My empirical strategy relates variation over time in the number of job listings within a field to the timing of completion using student-level data on all doctorates awarded in these fields by U.S. universities. Estimates indicate that the number of job listings is not correlated with the probability of completion and expected time to degree. This finding implies that cyclical variation in labor demand is not responsible for changes in time to degree within fields

Occupation-Specific Human Capital and Local Labor Markets

Most skills acquired through on-the-job training may be specific to an occupation and therefore transferable to some but not all firms. This paper explores the relationship between the size of the local market for an occupation-specific skill and job-training outcomes. The Stevens (1994) model of training predicts that as market size increases, job turnover increases and training becomes more general. I test these predictions using data on blue-collar workers and variation in market size across U.S. metropolitan areas. The empirical results support the theoretical predictions and the impacts are most relevant at low levels of market size.on-the-job training, occupation, human capital, local labor markets, market size

Declining PhD Attainment of Graduates of Selective Private Academic Institutions

[Excerpt] On average, the typical American citizen who received a PhD during the last 40 years did so approximately 9 years after she received her bachelor’s degree. Thus, if we divide the number of American citizens receiving PhDs in a year by the number of American citizens receiving bachelor’s degrees 9 years earlier, we obtain an estimate of the fraction of American citizen college graduates in the earlier year who ultimately receive PhDs. This fraction rose from .042 for 1954 bachelor’s recipients (1963 PhDs) to about .07 for 1962 bachelor’s recipients (1971 PhDs). The fraction then plummeted over the next decade falling to .026 for 1973 bachelor’s recipients (1982 PhDs) and has been relatively stable, fluctuating between .025 and .028, since then. Of course changes in the probability that bachelor’s recipients go on to receive PhDs nationwide are influenced by many changing demographic trends including changes in high school graduation rates, changes in college enrollment rates of high school graduates, changes in college graduation rates for college enrollees, changes in the distribution of undergraduate majors, and changes in the academic backgrounds of college students. In this paper we focus on a more homogenous set of 31 highly selective private colleges and universities. The academic aptitudes and preparations of students attending these institutions are among the highest in the nation and make this group’s students’ behavior of special interest

Prevalence of HPV Infection in Racial-Ethnic Subgroups of Head and Neck Cancer Patients

The landscape of HPV infection in racial/ethnic subgroups of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients has not been evaluated carefully. In this study, a meta-analysis examined the prevalence of HPV in HNC patients of African ancestry. Additionally, a pooled analysis of subject-level data was also performed to investigate HPV prevalence and patterns of p16 (CDNK2A) expression amongst different racial groups. Eighteen publications (N = 798 Black HNC patients) were examined in the meta-analysis, and the pooled analysis included 29 datasets comprised of 3,129 HNC patients of diverse racial/ethnic background. The meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of HPV16 was higher among Blacks with oropharyngeal cancer than Blacks with non-oropharyngeal cancer. However, there was great heterogeneity observed among studies (Q test P<0.0001). In the pooled analysis, after adjusting for each study, year of diagnosis, age, gender and smoking status, the prevalence of HPV16/18 in oropharyngeal cancer patients was highest in Whites (61.1%), followed by 58.0% in Blacks and 25.2% in Asians (P<0.0001). There was no statistically significant difference in HPV16/18 prevalence in non-oropharyngeal cancer by race (P=0.682). With regard to the pattern of HPV16/18 status and p16 expression, White patients had the highest proportion of HPV16/18+/p16+ oropharyngeal cancer (52.3%), while Asians and Blacks had significantly lower proportions (23.0% and 22.6%, respectively) [P <0.0001]. Our findings suggest that the pattern of HPV16/18 status and p16 expression in oropharyngeal cancer appears to differ by race and this may contribute to survival disparities

Prevalence of HPV infection in racial–ethnic subgroups of head and neck cancer patients

The landscape of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in racial/ethnic subgroups of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients has not been evaluated carefully. In this study, a meta-analysis examined the prevalence of HPV in HNC patients of African ancestry. Additionally, a pooled analysis of subject-level data was also performed to investigate HPV prevalence and patterns of p16 (CDNK2A) expression amongst different racial groups. Eighteen publications (N=798 Black HNC patients) were examined in the meta-analysis, and the pooled analysis included 29 datasets comprised of 3129 HNC patients of diverse racial/ethnic background. The meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of HPV16 was higher among Blacks with oropharyngeal cancer than Blacks with non-oropharyngeal cancer. However, there was great heterogeneity observed among studies (Q test P<0.0001). In the pooled analysis, after adjusting for each study, year of diagnosis, age, gender and smoking status, the prevalence of HPV16,18 in oropharyngeal cancer patients was highest in Whites (61.1%), followed by 58.0% in Blacks and 25.2% in Asians (P<0.0001). There was no statistically significant difference in HPV16,18 prevalence in non-oropharyngeal cancer by race (P=0.682). With regard to the pattern of HPV16,18 status and p16 expression, White patients had the highest proportion of HPV16,18+/p16+ oropharyngeal cancer (52.3%), while Asians and Blacks had significantly lower proportions (23.0 and 22.6%, respectively) [P<0.0001]. Our findings suggest that the pattern of HPV16,18 status and p16 expression in oropharyngeal cancer appears to differ by race and this may contribute to survival disparities