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Since their inception in 1992, the number of charter schools has grown to more than 6,800 nationally, serving nearly three million students. Various studies have examined charter schools' impacts on test scores, and a few have begun to examine longer-term outcomes including graduation and college attendance. This paper is the first to estimate charter schools' effects on earnings in adulthood, alongside effects on educational attainment. Using data from Florida, we first confirm previous research (Booker et al., ) that students attending charter high schools are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college. We then examine two longer-term outcomes not previously studied in research on charter schools-college persistence and earnings. We find that students attending charter high schools are more likely to persist in college, and that in their mid-20s they experience higher earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I use a rich longitudinal database from Florida to compare the characteristics of alternatively certified teachers with their traditionally prepared colleagues. I analyze the relative effectiveness of teachers who enter the profession through different pathways by estimating value-added models of student achievement. In general, alternatively certified teachers have stronger preservice qualifications than graduates of traditional university-based teacher preparation programs do, with the least restrictive alternative route attracting the most qualified prospective teachers. Teachers who enter through the path requiring no coursework have a substantially larger effect on student achievement. In contrast, the alternative pathway that requires substantial occupation-specific human capital investment yields teachers who are less effective than either traditional-route teachers or teachers who entered the profession through other alternative pathways. These results suggest that any benefits from preservice training are overwhelmed by the adverse selection into programs that require nontransferable human capital investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which uses matched panel data to estimate peer effects in academic achievement of students across the elementary, middle, and high school levels of schooling in the U.S. The authors note that their findings suggest that the distribution of student ability may influence teaching strategies in ways that benefit some students. They state that the findings constitute an important development in education.

The article provides information on a research regarding the effectiveness of teachers, certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), on student achievement in Florida. According to the database used to determine the relationship between NBPTS certification and the impact of teachers on student test scores, it is found that the certification provides a positive signal of a teacher's contribution to student achievement only in a few isolated cases. The research has reinforced the evidence that the process of becoming NBPTS certified does not increase teacher productivity.

Analyzes factors that affect the hiring of female officers by municipal police departments in the United States. Roles of affirmative action litigation, female political representation and unions in the hiring of females; Data and model specification; Findings that hiring of female recruits is negatively related to the proportion of males already employed in the department and that male-dominated departments are more likely to employ fitness exams for recruits.

Analyzes two competing explanations for the ownership of ancillary facilities by referring physicians in the United States. Indirect demand inducement and quality assurance; Criticisms on increased health care cost by physician's promotion of the utilization of ancillary services; Economic rationale for joint-ventures.

Assesses the exclusive-territory controversy by examining the effects of Indiana's 1979 ban on the grant of exclusive territories to beer wholesalers. Welfare effects of vertically imposed exclusive territories; Antitrust policies; Use of time-series data for 1948-1990; Reduction of beer consumption in the state.

The relationship between state-imposed advertising restrictions and state-level market concentration in the malt beverage industry is examined. We find that the presence of proscriptions on price advertising significantly increases market concentration at the state level, both absolutely and relative to a measure of national concentration. The evidence also indicates that banning local non-price advertising in addition to price advertising yields no marginal significant change in either measure of state-level concentration. Analysis of individual brewers' market shares suggests that large national brewers gain at the expense of smaller brewers when price advertising is restricted.

Municipal zoning regulations are the most important way in which local governments affect housing markets. Numerous studies have been undertaken to analyze the impact of zoning on housing and land prices, on population density, and on welfare. However, despite the volume of previous research, there is little agreement on the effects of zoning or how to properly analyze those effects. Several papers have reviewed the empirical literature on zoning. This review focuses on the theory of zoning, specifically on how zoning is modeled, especially whether zoning is embedded in an urban model, and the implications derived from these models for the impact of zoning on welfare and housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of exclusive territories were estimated by measuring the effect that both privately arranged and state-mandated territories have on the price and output/consumption of beer in the U.S. The findings indicate that mandated exclusive territories, by encouraging dealer promotional efforts, significantly increased demand. The grant of mandated territories also entails reduced intraband competition and greater dealer costs, which raise wholesale price and reduce retail supply. The net effect is that mandated exclusive territories yield higher consumer prices but no significant change in total output.

Exclusive dealing contracts in the U.S. constrain a seller to marketing the goods of only a single supplier. Recent articles by Marvel and Grossman and Hart have offered new and divergent theories of exclusive dealing arrangements, particularly with respect to the choice between direct writers and independent agents in the insurance industry. We do not argue with the validity of either Marvel's or Grossman and Hart's theories. We propose, however, that there is an additional rationale for the use of exclusive dealing contracts. Our explanation is based on minimizing agent effort and is more in line with the traditional view of exclusive dealing as a tool to encourage undiffused effort on the part of the agent.