Does competition improve public school efficiency: a spatial analysis

Proponents of educational reform often call for policies to increase competition between schools. It is argued that market forces naturally lead to greater efficiencies, including improved student learning, when schools face competition. In many parts of the country, public schools experience significant competition from private schools; however, the literature is not clear as to whether public versus private competition generates significant improvements in technical efficiency. A major hurdle for researchers examining this issue is determining a workable definition of competition by which they can measure the degree of competition within local markets. I address this challenge by developing a School Competition Index (SCI) for Mississippi through implementation of several Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. The SCI reveals the degree of competition for each public school based on their spatial location relative to peer private schools operating within their service area. GIS is a unique way to measure the degree of competition among public schools and private schools. Including components of market structure is not sufficient to measure the effects of competition in a market; market characteristics, which vary between locations, are also important. Market characteristics such as, religiosity, school location, and social capital are used in this dissertation as exogenous variables. Two stage stochastic frontier analysis and single equation stochastic frontier analysis are both employed to evaluate school efficiency. This dissertation finds that higher degrees of competition from private schools significantly increase public elementary school efficiency, as measured by the proficiency rates in different examinations. At the same time, competition from private schools does not improve public high schools efficiency. The results suggest that a rural-urban student academic achievement gap persists, and that community social capital stock is also important to some extent. Regardless of model or estimation procedure, students’ race and socio-economic status significantly reduce public school efficiency. It is anticipated that the current results will inform policymakers regarding the viability of competition-based reforms after considering all these factors

Determinants of Young Adult Poverty: A ZIP Code Level Analysis

The war on poverty started in America in the early 1960s, and the poverty rate of 22.4 percent in the year 1959 decreased to 11.1 percent in 1973. Regrettably, this war did not last long enough, as poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent in 1993. In the year 2000 the US poverty rate declined, but always stayed above 11.1 percent. Kentucky also did not achieve success in this poverty war, and it resulted in growing numbers of poor people. Analysis of poverty has always aroused the interest of economists, sociologists and policy makers. Goal of this paper is to intricate appropriate strategies and invent effective prevention efforts to eradicate the young adult poverty. Estimation of Gini coefficients for various age groups indicates that the young adult population of Kentucky is at risk. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors of young adult poverty, employing ZIP Code data in Kentucky. Data analysis reveals that rural young adults are more vulnerable than urban young adults in Kentucky. Some significant factors such as; male and female educational level, presence of minorities and type of employment are the primary determinants of poverty for this age group. Analysis of outcomes leaves suggestions for the policy makers to exterminate young adult poverty from Kentucky

Determinants of Youth Poverty: A Zip Code Analysis

Estimation of Gini coefficients for various age groups indicates that Kentucky youth population is at risk. The paper determines the factors affecting youth poverty, employing Zip Code data. Analysis of outcomes provides suggestions for the policymakers to limit youth poverty in Kentucky.youth, poverty, Zip Code, gini coefficient, lorenz curve, logit model, Food Security and Poverty, I32, I39, R11,

Overcoming the Downsides of Personal Internet and Cell Phone Use in the Workplace: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis

The now taken-for-granted introduction of internet usage into the workplace changed the dynamics of work, productivity, and management, and this is now further complicated by the ubiquitous availability of personal cell phones, going beyond company supplied and (partially) controlled computers with internet connections. This paper studies the connection between internet and cell phone usage by employees and firm productivity. Using primary data collected via a self-reported survey, we conduct an empirical analysis utilizing information based on firm and industry characteristics. Results indicate that the level of non-work-related internet and cell phone usage is significantly associated with firm productivity. Some of the negative aspects of internet availability can be mitigated by internet governance policies and systems to monitor the internet usage of employees. This paper offers suggestions so that firms are able to maintain the positive aspects of employee personal and business internet/cell usage while mitigating other more negative aspects including productivity losses

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Women's Entrepreneurship

Women entrepreneurs around the world have increasingly contributed to innovation, employment, and wealth creation (Brush & Cooper, 2012; Brush, de Bruin, & Welter, 2009). Studies suggest that foreign direct investment can be an important determinant of entrepreneurship in general. However, the link between foreign ventures and women entrepreneurs remains under-researched. Therefore, we suggest that the presence of foreign ventures affects women's entrepreneurship. We develop and test our model on cross-sectional data encompassing 36 countries in 2006. The results show that foreign direct investment and women's entrepreneurship have an inverted u-shaped relationship. Implications for further research and public policy are discussed

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Distance From Campus And Gpa Of Commuter Students

A variety of factors influence a student’s ability to succeed in college and complete a degree program. Students who live on-campus, at least during their freshman year, have been shown to be more likely to complete their degrees than are students who live off-campus. Students who are commuters may have more demands on their time and may have fewer opportunities to develop a strong commitment to their studies and to their university. It may be hypothesized that students who live farther away from a campus may find it more difficult to attend classes and to complete outside tasks required by their classes. In an initial test of this hypothesis, an examination of the relationship between a commuter student’s distance from campus and his/her overall grade point average is assessed. Results do not support this hypothesis. Possible reasons for this finding and directions for future research are discussed.

Corporate Governance Provisions, Family Involvement, and Firm Performance in Publicly Traded Family Firms

This study examines the moderation effects of corporate governance provisions on the link between family involvement (i.e., family ownership and family management) in publicly-traded firms and firm performance by drawing upon agency theory, with a focus on principal-principal agency issues, and the extant family governance literature. We develop and test the hypotheses on 386 of the S&P 500 firms longitudinally. Findings support the hypotheses suggesting the moderation effects of the use of provisions (a) protecting controlling owners in terms of their sustainability of controlling status, and (b) protecting management legally on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance. We also found support for the moderation effects of provisions (c) protecting controlling owners in terms of their voting rights, (d) protecting noncontrolling owners, and (e) protecting management monetarily on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance. By this, our study provides empirical support for the principal-principal agency perspective on the corporate governance in publicly-traded family firms. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for both the corporate governance literature, as well as for the theory of the family firm. Our study also offers insights to policy directed toward monitoring the actions of large shareholders such as family and enhancing the overall shareholder value in publicly-traded family firms

Determinants of Youth Poverty: A Zip Code Analysis

Estimation of Gini coefficients for various age groups indicates that Kentucky youth population is at risk. The paper determines the factors affecting youth poverty, employing Zip Code data. Analysis of outcomes provides suggestions for the policymakers to limit youth poverty in Kentucky

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The “war on poverty ” started in America in the early 1960s, and the poverty rate of 22.4 percent in the year 1959 decreased to 11.1 percent in 1973. Regrettably, this war did not last long enough, as poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent in 1993. In the year 2000 the US poverty rate declined, but always stayed above 11.1 percent. Kentucky also did not achieve success in this poverty war, and it resulted in growing numbers of poor people. Analysis of poverty has always aroused the interest of economists, sociologists and policy makers. Goal of this paper is to intricate appropriate strategies and invent effective prevention efforts to eradicate the young adult poverty. Estimation of Gini coefficients for various age groups indicates that the young adult population of Kentucky is at risk. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors of young adult poverty, employing ZIP Code data in Kentucky. Data analysis reveals that rural young adults are more vulnerable than urban young adults in Kentucky. Some significant factors such as; male and female educational level, presence of minorities and type of employment are the primary determinants of poverty for this age group. Analysis of outcomes leaves suggestions for the policy makers to exterminate young adult poverty from Kentucky