Race, Redlining, and Automobile Insurance Prices

Following Becker\u27s (1993) suggestion that tests for discrimination should attempt to infer whether profits differ for products sold to minorities and nonminorities, this article tests the hypothesis that racial discrimination affects market prices of auto insurance in Missouri. Compared with tests for discrimination in lending markets, our results are less susceptible to bias from omitted variables.Controlling for available demographic and coverage- related factors, we do not find that loss ratios at the zip-code level are negatively related to percent minority population. This finding is inconsistent with the hypothesis that racial discrimination increases premiums relative to expected claim costs for minorities

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Efficient evaluation of the Fourier Transform over products of Slater-type orbitals on different centers

Using the shift-operator technique, a compact formula for the Fourier transform of a product of two Slater-type orbitals located on different atomic centers is derived. The result is valid for arbitrary quantum numbers and was found to be numerically stable for a wide range of geometrical parameters and momenta. Details of the implementation are presented together with benchmark data for representative integrals. We also discuss the assets and drawbacks of alternative algorithms available and analyze the numerical efficiency of the new scheme.Comment: Revised versio

The PBGC's flat fee schedule, moral hazard, and promised pension benefits

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) initially insured private pension benefits in exchange for a premium that was not risk sensitive. This paper derives conditions under which a moral hazard problem caused promised pension benefits to increase. The hypotheses are tested using data on individual pension contracts from the pre- and post-PBGC periods.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28689/1/0000508.pd

A new type of charged defect in amorphous chalcogenides

We report on density-functional-based tight-binding (DFTB) simulations of a series of amorphous arsenic sulfide models. In addition to the charged coordination defects previously proposed to exist in chalcogenide glasses, a novel defect pair, [As4]--[S3]+, consisting of a four-fold coordinated arsenic site in a seesaw configuration and a three-fold coordinated sulfur site in a planar trigonal configuration, was found in several models. The valence-alternation pairs S3+-S1- are converted into [As4]--[S3]+ pairs under HOMO-to-LUMO electronic excitation. This structural transformation is accompanied by a decrease in the size of the HOMO-LUMO band gap, which suggests that such transformations could contribute to photo-darkening in these materials.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Influence of copper on the electronic properties of amorphous chalcogenides

We have studied the influence of alloying copper with amorphous arsenic sulfide on the electronic properties of this material. In our computer-generated models, copper is found in two-fold near-linear and four-fold square-planar configurations, which apparently correspond to Cu(I) and Cu(II) oxidation states. The number of overcoordinated atoms, both arsenic and sulfur, grows with increasing concentration of copper. Overcoordinated sulfur is found in trigonal planar configuration, and overcoordinated (four-fold) arsenic is in tetrahedral configuration. Addition of copper suppresses the localization of lone-pair electrons on chalcogen atoms, and localized states at the top of the valence band are due to Cu 3d orbitals. Evidently, these additional Cu states, which are positioned at the same energies as the states due to ([As4]-)-([S_3]+) pairs, are responsible for masking photodarkening in Cu chalcogenides

“We Just Don’t Have the Possibility Yet”: U.S. Latina/o Narratives on Study Abroad

Whether indirectly from governmental and non-governmental organizations or directly from higher education institutions, students receive messages that they should study abroad. Studying in a foreign country is considered essential if students are to be marketable to future employers and prepared to lead the U.S. into a new era. Despite the presence of such messages, the understanding of what it means to be absent from the undergraduate student population willing and able to study in a foreign country is severely limited. Importantly, what are the perceptions and experiences of students who repeatedly hear the value of study abroad and who, at the same time, are not willing and/or able to participate? The purpose of this critical qualitative study was to seek answers to this question by exploring the perceptions and experiences of a population that continues to experience low rates of study abroad participation: Latina/o undergraduate students