THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC OPTIMISM ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTIN FIVE MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Our paper addresses firm size as a driver of systematic credit risk in loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Key contributions are the use of a unique data set of SME lending by over 400 German banks and relating systematic risk to the size dependence of regulatory capital requirements. What sets our sample apart is its comprehensive coverage of the particularly rich and well developed ...

This paper uses insights from behavioral economics to explain a particularly surprising borrowing phenomenon: One in six undergraduate students offered interest-free loans turn them down. Models of impulse control predict that students may optimally reject subsidized loans to avoid excessive consumption during school. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), we investigate st...

Corrected authors’ contributions MN made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafted the manuscript. DA made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data. MC made substantial contributions to the inception of the study, revision of the manuscript, and is ...

Maps are used to track diseases and illustrate the social context of health problems. However, commercial mapping software requires special training. This article illustrates how nonspecialists used Google Earth, a free program, to create community maps. The Bronx, New York, is characterized by high levels of obesity and diabetes. Residents and medical students measured the variety and quality ...

Since the early 1970s, ballot initiatives and court rulings have sought to equalize funding across California schools. Yet 30 years later, variations in funding remain both across and within school districts. Moreover, although “funding per pupil” provides a readily available and understandable measure of school resources within a district, it provides little insight into how individual schools...

Are regulations on the payday loan effective? Do people switch to other forms of expensive credit such as pawnshop loans because of such regulations? In this study, we aim to find the answers to these two questions through exploring state-level variations in regulations on payday loans and other alternative financial services. Using FDIC’s panel survey data and Google Trends data, we find that ...

Student wastage in higher education is a problem of great importance in our society. The time has come to try to start a service to give specialised help for redeployment in continued education or in suitable employment that carries further training prospects. This would be not only a humane social service, but a real component of the educational and economic system. At present, wastage in the ...

Early retirement incentives (ERIs) are increasingly prevalent in education as districts seek to close budget gaps by replacing expensive experienced teachers with lower-cost newer teachers. Combined with the aging of the teacher workforce, these ERIs are likely to change the composition of teachers dramatically in the coming years. We use exogenous variation from an ERI program in Illinois in t...