SEX DISCRIMINATION AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN FACULTY SALARIES

A counterfactual model is used to determine if sex discrimination in salaries existed at Illinois State University. The analysis makes use of detailed peer evaluations of each faculty members's productivity in scholarly productivity, teaching, and service. The model is extended to examine the effects of Affirmative Action salary increments given female faculty members. Evidence of sex discrimination in salaries against female faculty is found. The Affirmative Action salary program erased this discrimination and introduced statistically significant discrimination against male faculty.     

SPECULATIVE INTENSITY AND SPOT AND FUTURES PRICE VARIABILITY

This paper develops a simultaneous stochastic rational-expectations model of futures- and spot-price determination. Using the model, we find that increases in what we term speculative intensity increase spot-price variability arising from storage-cost shocks, but decrease spot-price variability arising from demand shocks. In contrast, increases in speculative intensity unambiguously decrease futures-price variability, regardless of the underlying source of disturbances. We are able to develop these comparative-static results because the model has a unique equilibrium.     

RISING R&D INTENSITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Over the past decades, private R&D spending in the United States and other developed countries has been growing faster than gross domestic product. At the same time, the growth rates of per-capita and aggregate output have been rather stable, possibly declining slightly. This article proposes a growth model that can account for the observed phenomenon by explicitly describing competition among technological leaders and followers in individual markets in a way that is consistent with existing studies on firms' motivation to invest in R&D. The model shows the possibility that the unsustainable trend of rising R&D intensity persists for a very long time. (JEL O3, O4, L1)     

CAREER DECISIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL WORK FACULTY: A GENDER COMPARISON

This study uses quantitative and qualitative findings from a mail and online questionnaire to examine the experiences and perspectives of 76 doctoral-degreed social work faculty about the factors that affected their career decisions. The authors discuss similarities and differences between women and men in job-related decision making. Respondent perceptions of gender-related barriers and organizational supports when working toward career goals are presented and implications for social work education programs are explored.     

EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT INFORMATION DIFFUSION AND PRODUCT QUALITY

In a monopoly market for an experience good the diffusion of product-quality information may depend on whether or not the information is favorable. To capture this asymmetry, our model uses as its information source a quality survey which suffers from response bias. Consumers may attempt to adjust for bias, but are not required to do so correctly. As a result, quality under perfect information need not be, and usually will not be, higher than quality under imperfect information. In addition, the externality exerted by informed consumers on uninformed consumers may not be the traditional beneficial externality. (JEL L15)     

ACADEMIC UNIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: IMPACTS ON FACULTY SALARY, COMPENSATION AND PROMOTIONS

This paper provides an empirical evaluation of collective bargaining's impacts on salary, compensation (salary plus fringe benefits) and promotion for faculty at unionized four-year colleges and universities during the 1970's. The results suggest that there have been no general economic gains associated with the adoption of collective bargaining by college and university faculty.     

INFRASTRUCTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN THE NETWORKED UNIVERSITY

Many people believe that information technology will bring massive structural changes to the university. This paper draws on concepts from both computer science and social theory to explore what these structural changes might be like. The point of departure is the observation that the interaction between information technology and market economics creates incentives to standardize the world. Standardization can be a force for good or evil, depending on how it is done, and this paper develops normative ideas about the relation between the forces of standardization and the places in which university teaching is done. Information technology allows these places to be more diverse than in the past, and a good rule of thumb is that the places in which learning occurs should be analogous in their structure and workings to the places in which the learned knowledge will be used. Universities can support this increased diversity of learning places with appropriate structural reforms, including decentralized governance and explicit attention to certain aspects of the university organization, such as media services and the career centre, that, historically, have been marginalized.     

MONEY AND PRODUCT QUALITY UNDER ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION

This article examines the effects of money on product quality, as well as the price pattern of heterogeneous quality goods, in a search‐theoretical monetary model with divisible money and divisible commodities. We establish the existence and uniqueness/multiplicity of monetary equilibrium in several different cases. The steady‐state equilibrium of our model displays several properties that are absent or distinct from those of previous studies. In particular, we find that under egalitarian bargaining, the Friedman rule cannot achieve socially efficient allocation due to asymmetric information. We find that the price of informed high‐quality goods is higher than the price of uninformed quality goods. We also find that an increase in inflation can improve product quality. (JEL E40)     

ADVERTISING AND PRODUCT QUALITY IN POSTED-OFFER EXPERIMENTS

Sellers selected both price and quality but buyers had limited information about those choices in the experiments reported here. Market efficiency was high under full information with truthful advertising of prices and qualities, but was much lower with no advertising of price or quality. Efficiency did not improve when sellers were permitted to advertise price, but not quality, and in half of these experiments "lemons" outcomes occurred. Although the range of outcomes is great, it cannot be claimed that price advertising improves efficiency when quality is unknown.     

UNIVERSITY COMPETITION,GRADING STANDARDS,AND GRADE INFLATION

We develop a model of strategic grade determination by universities distinguished by their distributions of student academic abilities. Universities choose grading standards to maximize the total wages of graduates, taking into account how the grading standards affect firms' productivity assessment and job placement. We identify conditions under which better universities set lower grading standards, exploiting the fact that firms cannot distinguish between “good” and “bad”“A’'s. In contrast, a social planner sets stricter standards at better universities. We show how increases in skilled jobs drive grade inflation, and determine when grading standards fall faster at better schools. (JEL I21)     

INFORMATION AND THE PROVISION OF QUALITY DIFFERENTIATED PRODUCTS

Governments often enact information provision policies to overcome asymmetric information of product qualities. We show that increasing awareness among consumers of the quality of a good can (but will not always) encourage firms to produce goods with higher levels of quality. Even if product qualities increase, social welfare may fall as information provision results in too much product differentiation. We show that the effectiveness of emission taxes and output subsidies are affected by the level of consumer knowledge of product quality, and we identify conditions under which information provision is welfare enhancing relative to these price instruments. ( JEL L1 5, Q58)     

OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING DECISION AND CAPITAL INTENSITY: FIRM‐LEVEL RELATIONSHIPS

In offshore sourcing, a firm chooses outsourcing to independent suppliers or in‐sourcing from own foreign direct investment (FDI) subsidiaries. Based on the firm‐level data on offshore make‐or‐buy decision covering all manufacturing industries, this paper compares averages, documents inter‐firm distributions, and estimates multinomial logit models of the firm's sourcing mode choice. As predicted by previous theoretical models, this paper directly confirms at the firm level that outsourcing firms tend to be substantially labor‐intensive compared with firms in‐sourcing from the same region, even after the firm's R&D intensity, firm size, or industry is controlled for. (JEL F23, L23, L24, L14)     

REPUTATION AND EARNINGS: THE ROLES OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY IN ACADEME

We examine the determinants of professional reputation. Does quantity of exposures raise reputation independent of quality? Does quality of the most important exposure have extra effects on reputation? In a very large sample of academic economists, there is little evidence that a scholar's most influential work provides any extra enhancement of reputation. Quality rankings matter more than absolute quality. Quantity has a zero or even negative effect on proxies for reputation. Data on salaries, however, show positive effects of quantity independent of quality. We test explanations for the differences between the determinants of reputation and salary. (JEL L14, J31)     

FREE PRODUCT TRIALS: DISCLOSING QUALITY AND MATCH VALUE

A prepurchase trial allows a consumer to learn both a product's quality and how well it matches her idiosyncratic taste. By offering a trial, the marginal seller thus shifts up demand by increasing perceived quality and rotates demand by revealing match. In contrast to classic results,a trial is offered only when quality is sufficiently high, and sometimes not at all. Fewer trials are offered when match is more important and when there are fewer gains from trade. “Cooling off” rules allowing free returns are effectively mandatory trials, benefiting consumers but decreasing welfare when there are sufficient gains from trade. (JEL D18, L15, L5)     

TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY: A SOBER VIEW

Technology has had considerable impact on education and the university, but the Internet - today's newest technology - will not lead to the death of the university. While there is clearly a role for virtual education over the Internet, the conventional university will survive since students are well served by a real, physical, educational experience.     

PERCEIVED RECEPTIVITY OF SOCIOLOGY FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION TOWARD MINORITIES OF RACE,RELIGION, AND SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS (2008 MSSA PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS)

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether sociologists in particular and institutions in general are perceived to make life easier for people who are different in terms of sexual orientation, race/ethnic identity, or religious affiliations by being more accepting and supportive. A sample of 74 heads of sociology departments was surveyed. T-tests were used to determine the level of support among departments and institutions. Results indicate that sociology department chairs in public colleges, those in nonreligious programs, and those in larger institutions were generally more supportive of minorities than those in private, religious, and/or smaller institutions.