"No One Asked Me": Latinos' Experiences With Massachusetts Health Care Reform

Presents lessons from low-income Latinos' experience of the 2006 Massachusetts healthcare reform, with a focus on their understanding of the individual mandate, the role of community groups in the enrollment process, and the affordability of coverage

Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan

In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of seconddecile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles -- fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority "mismatch" hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s.Affirmative Action, Top 10% Plan, College Quality, Freshmen Retention, College Graduation

Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan

In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of second-decile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles: fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority "mismatch" hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s.freshmen retention, college quality, Top 10% Plan, affirmative action, college graduation

Ranking Up by Moving Out: The Effect of the Texas Top 10% Plan on Property Values

Texas engaged in a large-scale policy experiment when it instituted the Top 10% Plan. This policy guarantees automatic admission to their state university of choice for all high school seniors who graduate in the top decile of their high school class. We find evidence that households reacted strategically to this policy by moving to neighborhoods with lower-performing schools, increasing both property values and the number of housing units in those areas. These effects are concentrated among schools that were very low-performing before the change in policy; property values and the number of housing units did not change discontinuously for previously high-performing school districts. We also find evidence that these strategic reactions were influenced by the number of local schooling options available: areas that had fewer school choices showed no reaction to the Top 10% Plan.property values, college choice, affirmative action, Top 10% Plan

The Nature of the Peculiar Virgo Cluster Galaxies NGC 4064 and NGC 4424

We present a detailed study of the peculiar HI-deficient Virgo cluster spiral galaxies NGC 4064 and NGC 4424, using $^{12}$CO 1-0 interferometry, optical imaging and integral-field spectroscopic observations, in order to learn what type of environmental interactions have afected these galaxies. Optical imaging reveals that NGC 4424 has a strongly disturbed stellar disk, with banana-shaped isophotes and shells. NGC 4064, which lies in the cluster outskirts, possesses a relatively undisturbed outer stellar disk and a central bar. In both galaxies H-alpha emission is confined to the central kiloparsec. CO observations reveal bilobal molecular gas morphologies, with H-alpha emission peaking inside the CO lobes, implying a time sequence in the star formation process.Gas kinematics reveals strong bar-like non-circular motions in the molecular gas in both galaxies, suggesting that the material is radially infalling. In NGC 4064 the stellar kinematics reveal strong bar-like non-circular motions in the central 1 kpc. On the other hand, NGC 4424 has extremely modest stellar rotation velocities (Vmax ~ 30 km s-1), and stars are supported by random motions as far out as we can measure it. The observations suggest that the peculiarities of NGC 4424 are the result of an intermediate-mass merger plus ram pressure stripping. In the case of NGC 4064, the evidence suggests an already stripped "truncated/normal" galaxy that recently suffered a minor merger or tidal interaction with another galaxy. We propose that galaxies with "truncated/compact" H-alpha morphologies such as these are the result of the independent effects of ram pressure stripping, which removes gas from the outer disk, and gravitational interactions such as mergers, which heat stellar disks, drive gas to the central kpc and increase the central mass concentrations.Comment: 42 pages, 21 figure

The Role of Specific Subjects in Education Production Functions: Evidence from Morning Classes in Chicago Public High Schools

Absences in Chicago Public High Schools are 3-7 days per year higher in first period than at other times of the day. This study exploits this empirical regularity and the essentially random variation between students in the ordering of classes over the day to measure how the returns to classroom learning vary by course subject, and how much attendance in one class spills over into learning in other subjects. We find that having a class in first period reduces grades in that course and has little effect on long-term grades or grades in related subjects. We also find moderately-sized negative effects of having a class in first period on test scores in that subject and in related subjects, particularly for math classes.education production, subject-specific, math, English, morning classes, first period, course schedule, quasi-experimental, attendance, absenteeism, Chicago, high school