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This dissertation consists of two essays concerning the determination of wages across areas. The first essay investigates the equilibrium relationship between wages and prices across labor markets. Of central interest is the extent to which workers receive higher wages to compensate for differences in the cost of living. According to the spatial equilibrium hypothesis, the utility of homogenous workers should be equal across labor markets. This implies that controlling for amenity differences across areas, the elasticity between wages and the general price level across areas should equal one, at least under certain conditions. We test this hypothesis and find that the predicted relationship holds when housing prices are measured by rents and the general price level is instrumented to account for measurement error. When housing prices are measured by housing values, however, the wage-price elasticity is significantly less than one, even using instrumental variables. Rents reflect the price paid for housing per unit of time and are arguably the superior measure. Thus, findings in this essay provide support for the full compensation hypothesis. These findings also have important implications for researchers estimating the implicit prices of amenities or ranking the quality of life across areas. The second essay uses a national level dataset and a spatial econometric framework to examine the effects of teacher unions and other school district characteristics on teacher salaries. The results confirm that salaries for both experienced and beginning teachers are positively affected by salaries in nearby districts. Investigations of the determinants of teacher salaries that ignore this spatial relationship are likely to be misspecified. We find that union activity increases salaries for experienced teachers by as much as 16-21 percent but increases salaries for beginning teachers by a considerably smaller amount. This result is consistent with predictions from a median voter model.

On 13 November 1942, Thelma E. Page, a black high school teacher in Dallas, Texas, brought suit against the Dallas Board of Education in order to bring about the equalization of black and white teachers' salaries. This suit was part of a national movement of blacks, under the direction of the NAACP, and was an indirect attack upon segregation. Most of these suits were filed against large city school systems, in the South, in order to effect the greatest possible number of black teachers. This suit was won by the plaintiff and brought about equalization.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is to determine the effect of a recent substantial salary increase upon job satisfaction and job performance of Texas teachers. A comparison was made between the results of an evaluation of performance and measure of job satisfaction found in the 1973 study by McPherson with the same population in 1975.

The purposes of this study were to identify factors commonly used in teacher merit pay plans, to compare perceptions of administrators and teachers concerning these factors, and to determine the elements that should be used in a teacher merit pay plan. A review of the literature was conducted to identify factors commonly used in teacher merit pay plans. A questionnaire was utilized to gather data pertaining to the perceptions of administrators and teachers concerning these factors.

The problem of this study was to determine if educationally, politically, and economically viable alternatives to the single salary schedule for teachers exist in the eight largest school districts in Texas. After a review of the literature, a questionnaire was developed designed to obtain views of superintendents, school board members, randomly selected principals, teachers, and PTA members in the eight school districts on these issues: whether a multi-factor teacher salary schedule should be developed; which factors should be included in such a system; what amount of monetary compensation should be awarded for each factor; and if teacher job performance is a factor, what criteria should be used to evaluate teachers and who would conduct the evaluations. Analyses of the data were conducted according to the following demographic variables: school district; position, sex, and ethnicity of the respondents; whether the respondents owned homes in the school districts; and whether the respondents had children enrolled in the district schools. The results were presented for the respondents as a whole and according to the various demographic variables.

This study analyzed a random sample of thirty-six collective bargaining contracts between teachers and their respective boards of education in Wisconsin, New York, Tennessee, and California. The contracts were studied to assess the effect that collective bargaining has had upon the powers of principals over time. This was done by comparing each contract to a comprehensive list of traditional powers that were available to principals prior to collective bargaining (Pre-Collective Bargaining Power Profile of Principals). This analysis of contracts was a two-phase process. The first step was to identify whether or not the profile statements in the Pre-Collective Bargaining Power Profile were referred to in each contract. The second step was to describe how the presence of references to these statements affected the Power Profile of Principals. The principal's power was reported as being affected in three ways: deleted, constrained, or authorized. The general conclusion of this study was that the effect of teacher collective bargaining upon the powers of principals has been marginal. The data from the analysis of the contracts revealed that the majority (66 percent) of the statements in the Pre-Collective Bargaining Power Profile were not referred to in the collective bargaining contracts. The effects of the references to the statements that were identified were mixed. In the role areas of personnel management, pupil personnel management, and instructional leadership, the negotiation process authorized more power to principals than it deleted. In the role area of business and plant management, the principals' powers were deleted much more than authorized. This was due solely to the inclusion into the contracts of two items (i.e., the power to control building space and the power to control who may and may not enter the building). In the role area of community relations, the frequency of references was so small that the effects upon the power of principals were nonexistent.