What Every Economist Should Know about the Evaluation of Teaching: A Review of the Literature

Decades of research consistently show that student evaluations offer limited information on the effectiveness of teaching in economics. Such methods are at best valid for a relatively small set of factors that correlate with "good instruction." Even though some evidence exists that student evaluations are positively correlated with learning, it is clear that strong biases exist. Even though these limitations are well established in the literature and widely believed among faculty, the implementation of alternative or complimentary forms of assessment is notably lacking. The purpose of this paper is to review the current methods used to assess teaching. In the process, the paper proposes a research agenda for economists that aim to assess the reliability and validity of alternative processes such as peer review of teaching. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for departments of economics that are serious about enhancing both formative as well as summative assessments of teaching.Teaching, Peer review of teaching, Student evaluation of teaching

Discouraging Workers: Estimating the Impacts of Macroeconomic Shocks on the Search Intensity of the Unemployed

Discouraged and marginally attached workers have received increased attention from policy makers over the past several years. Theoretically, periods of recessions and high unemployment should directly influence individualÕs decisions whether or not to search for employment, creating more discouraged workers. Since 2003, there have been a number of large macroeconomic shocks (e.g. housing bubble, credit crunch, mass layoffs, etc.) which should affect job search intensity. To date, the relative magnitude of these shocks on the search intensity of the unemployed (but currently undiscouraged workers) has not been established in the literature. Using daily time use dairies from the American Time Use Survey 2003-2009 allow us to proxy search intensity directly by aggregating time spent in minutes on several job search activities: time spent sending out resumes, contacting employers, interviewing, reading ads on the internet and so forth. Results from Tobit estimation indicate the existence of significant negative wealth effects on search intensity through changes in the stock market and housing values that help explain the apparent acyclicality of search intensity observed in the data.search intensity, macroeconomic shocks, discouraged workers, business cycles

Not driving alone: Commuting in the Twenty-first century

This paper investigates recent commuting trends in American workers. Unlike most studies of commuting that rely on Census data, this study utilizes the unique American Time Use Survey to detail the complex commuting patterns of modern-day workers. The data confirm what has been suspected, that incidence of driving alone has decreased substantially in recent years while carpooling has rebounded. The results from the multi-nominal logistic estimation of workers' commuting choices yield support for both the traditional economic determinants as well as for the newer, socio-economic factors. In addition to the cost savings, many commuters appear to value the social aspect of carpooling. Surprisingly, there is little evidence that the need for autonomy plays much of a factor in explaining workerÕs choice of the journey to work. The estimated short-run elasticity of carpooling with respect to real gas prices appears to be quite high and largely accounts for the significant decline in the incidence of driving alone.Ride sharing, carpooling, commuting, gasoline process, social capital

Resolving the Paradox of Social Standards and Export Competitiveness

Over the last decade there has been increasing international pressure on countries to raise social standards (i.e., production standards based on environmental and labor conditions). Currently, the World Trade Organization does not allow countries to impose minimum standards on imports based on environmental or labor standards because it is assumed to undermine competition. There is no consensus in the empirical literature, however, to support this claim. In fact, the evidence suggests that while stronger environmental standards hurt competitiveness, stronger labor standards do the opposite. This paper offers one possible explanation for this paradox. In a simple model of incomplete information, externally-imposed standards may either increase or decrease the competitiveness of infant firms from developing countries depending on the degree of complementarity between the standard and the production of high-quality goods.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: The effect of time spent grooming on wages

It is well understood that personal grooming provides an important source of communication about individuals, their values and personalities. From an economic point of view, grooming is a non-market activity. The standard view is that time spent in non-market activities is counterproductive as it reduces work effort and job commitment. But grooming is different. There is reason to believe that certain productive personality traits may be inferred on the basis of personal grooming. Using data from the American Time Use survey, we investigate whether workers who spend more time grooming earn higher wages. The evidence shows that while higher levels of grooming time increases wages for men, there is no significant effect on women’s wages. We also find evidence that the returns to grooming are even larger for minority males.

Measuring the Impact of Microfinance on Child Health Outcomes in Indonesia

Microfinance has become a staple of modern development policy as a means to facilitate anything from gender equality to growth. It can facilitate the sharing of health-related information among parents, promote the bargaining power of women in the household, aid in the development of important health-related infrastructure, and help households smooth consumption in the wake of unexpected economic shocks. Using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (1993-2000), we find that the presence of microfinance institutions in communities significantly improves the health of children.Microfinance, child health, nutrition, Indonesia

The Macroeconomic Consequences of Financing Health Insurance

Employer-financed health insurance systems, like that used in the United States, distort firms' labor demand and adversely affect the economy. Since such costs vary with employment rather than hours worked, firms have an incentive to increase output by increasing worker hours rather than employment. Given that the returns to employment exceed the returns to hours worked, this results in lower levels of employment and output. In this paper we construct a heterogeneous agent general equilibrium model where individuals differ with respect to their productivity and employment opportunities. Calibrating the model to the U.S. economy, we generate steady state results for several alternative models for financing health insurance: one in which health insurance is financed primarily through employer contributions that vary with employment; a second where insurance is funded through a non-distortionary, lump-sum tax; and a third where insurance is funded by a payroll tax. We measure the effects of each of the alternatives on output, employment, hours worked and inequality.

Creating Quality Undergraduate Research Programs in Economics: How, when, where (and why)

While undergraduate research (UR) has been growing across the academy for decades, economics has been relatively slow to adopt it as pedagogy. We argue for the development of comprehensive UR programs that not only require capstone research experiences, but integrate the development of foundational research skills throughout the curriculum. Fundamentally, there is a hierarchy whereby students learn basic research skills in lower-level courses, develop ability integrating content knowledge and research skills in upper-levels, and produce independent or collaborative research projects in later semesters. Successful UR programs depend on understanding this developmental model, integrating it into the curriculum, and taking advantage of resources to support it. To facilitate such improvements, we make six recommendations for departments to consider when building or strengthening their UR environment.undergraduate research, senior thesis, honors thesis, service learning, active learningQuality UGR

Ytterbium-Doped Apatite-Structure Crystals: A New Class Of Laser Materials

A new class of Yb-lasers is summarized in this article. The apatite family of crystals, based on the hexagonal structure of the mineral fluorapatite, has been found to impose favorable spectroscopic and laser properties on the Yb3+ activator ion. Crystals of Yb-doped Ca5(PO4)3F, Sr5(PO4)3F, CaxSr5-x(PO4)3F, and Sr5(VO4)3F have been grown and investigated. Several useful laser crystals have been identified which offer a variety of fundamental laser parameters for designing diode-pumped systems. In general, this class of materials is characterized by high emission cross sections (3.6-13.1 X 10(-20) cm2), useful emission lifetimes (0.59-1.26 ms), a strong pump band (sigma(abs)=2.0-10.0 X 10(-20) cm2), and pump and extraction wavelengths near 900 and 1045 nm, respectively. Efficient lasing has been demonstrated for several of the members of this class of materials, and high optical quality crystals have been grown by the Czochralski method. A summary of the laser parameters and a discussion of the Yb:apatite class of lasers is presented