American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Front Matter i viii http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.i 10.1257/app.4.1.i American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession PhilipOreopoulosU Toronto Tillvon WachterColumbia U AndrewHeiszStatistics Canada 1 29 This paper analyzes the magnitude and sources of long-term earnings declines associated with graduating from college during a recession. Using a large longitudinal university-employer-employee dataset, we find that the cost of recessions for new graduates is substantial and unequal. Unlucky graduates suffer persistent earnings declines lasting ten years. They start to work for lower paying employers, and then partly recover through a gradual process of mobility toward better firms. We document that more advantaged graduates suffer less from graduating in recessions because they switch to better firms quickly, while earnings of less advantaged graduates can be permanently affected by cyclical downgrading. (JEL E32, I23, J22, J23, J31) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.1 10.1257/app.4.1.1 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Partisan Grading TaliaBarCornell U AsafZussmanHebrew U Jerusalem 30 48 We study grading outcomes associated with professors in an elite university in the United States who were identified--using voter registration records from the county where the university is located--as either Republicans or Democrats. The evidence suggests that student grades are linked to the political orientation of professors. Relative to their Democratic colleagues, Republican professors are associated with a less egalitarian distribution of grades and with lower grades awarded to black students relative to whites. (JEL D72, I23, J15) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.30 10.1257/app.4.1.30 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0306_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article An Empirical Investigation of the Option Value of College Enrollment Kevin M.StangeU MI 49 84 This paper quantifies the option value arising from sequential schooling decisions made in the presence of uncertainty and learning about academic ability. College attendance has option value since enrolled students have the option, but not obligation, to continue in school after learning their aptitude and tastes. I estimate that option value accounts for 14 percent of the total value of the opportunity to attend college for the average high school graduate and is greatest for moderate-aptitude students. Students' ability to make decisions sequentially in response to new information increases welfare and also makes educational outcomes less polarized by background. (JEL D83, I23) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.49 10.1257/app.4.1.49 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0313_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2010-0313_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article School Desegregation and Urban Change: Evidence from City Boundaries Leah PlattBoustanUCLA 85 108 I examine changes in the city-suburban housing price gap in metropolitan areas with and without court-ordered desegregation plans over the 1970s, narrowing my comparison to housing units on opposite sides of district boundaries. Desegregation of public schools in central cities reduced the demand for urban residence, leading urban housing prices and rents to decline by 6 percent relative to neighboring suburbs. Aversion to integration was due both to changes in peer composition and to student reassignment to nonneighborhood schools. The associated reduction in the urban tax base imposed a fiscal externality on remaining urban residents. (JEL H75, I21, I28, J15, R23, R31) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.85 10.1257/app.4.1.85 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0330_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article When the Saints Go Marching Out: Long-Term Outcomes for Student Evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita BruceSacerdoteDartmouth College 109 35 I examine long-term academic performance and college going for students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Students who are forced to switch schools due to the hurricanes experience sharp declines in test scores in the first year following the hurricanes. However, by the third and fourth years after the disaster, evacuees displaced from Orleans Parish see a 0.18 standard deviation improvement in scores. Gains are concentrated among students initially in the lowest quintiles of the test score distribution. Katrina evacuees do not show gains in college going relative to earlier cohorts from their same pre-hurricane high schools. (JEL I20, Q54, R23). http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.109 10.1257/app.4.1.109 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0262_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Sorting in Experiments with Application to Social Preferences Edward P.LazearStanford U UlrikeMalmendierU CA, Berkeley Roberto A.WeberU Zurich 136 63 Individuals sort into and out of economic environments based on their preferences and in response to relative prices. We demonstrate the importance of such sorting for the measurement of social preferences, using two laboratory experiments. First, allowing subjects to avoid environments in which sharing is possible significantly reduces sharing. This reveals the existence of a type of individual who shares reluctantly, preferring to avoid the opportunity to share. Second, after subsidizing the sharing environment, the aggregate amount shared increases, but less is shared, on average, by those who enter. Thus, subsidies intended to induce more sharing have weak effects since they attract those who share the least. (JEL C91, D12, D64) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.136 10.1257/app.4.1.136 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2011-0021_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2011-0021_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Investing Cash Transfers to Raise Long-Term Living Standards Paul J.GertlerU CA, Berkeley Sebastian W.MartinezInter-American Bank, Washington, DC MartaRubio-CodinaInstitute for Fiscal Studies, London 164 92 Using data from a randomized experiment, we find that poor rural Mexican households invested part of their cash transfers from the Oportunidades program in productive assets, increasing agricultural income by almost 10 percent after 18 months of benefits. We estimate that for each peso transferred, households consume 74 cents and invest the rest, permanently increasing long-term consumption by about 1.6 cents. Results suggest that cash transfers can achieve long-term increases in consumption through investment in productive activities, thereby permitting beneficiary households to attain higher living standards that are sustained even after transitioning off the program. (JEL D14, H23, I38, O12) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.164 10.1257/app.4.1.164 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0343_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2010-0343_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Do Expert Reviews Affect the Demand for Wine? RichardFribergStockholm School of Economics ErikGronqvistInstitute for Labor Market Policy Evaluation, Uppsala U 193 211 We examine the demand for wines in Sweden using five years of weekly data on sales, advertising, and expert reviews. The effect of a favorable review peaks in the week after publication with an increase in demand of 6 percent, and the effect remains significant for more than 20 weeks. We find small demand-enhancing effects of neutral reviews and no evidence of important negative effects from unfavorable reviews. Restrictions on the state-owned monopoly retailer and the exogenous timing of a subset of the reviews support a causal interpretation of the effects of reviews on demand. (JEL D12, L66, L81, M31, M37) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.193 10.1257/app.4.1.193 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0143_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2010-0143_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Are Female Leaders Good for Education? Evidence from India IrmaClots-FiguerasU Carlos III de Madrid 212 44 This paper shows that the gender of politicians affects the educational levels of individuals who grow up in the districts where these politicians are elected. A unique dataset collected on politicians in India is matched with individual data by cohort and district of residence. The political data allow the identification of close elections between women and men, which yield quasi-experimental election outcomes used to estimate the causal effect of the gender of politicians. Increasing female political representation increases the probability that an individual will attain primary education in urban areas, but not in rural areas, and not in the sample as a whole. (JEL D72, I20, J16, 015, 017) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.212 10.1257/app.4.1.212 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0016_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2009-0016_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 4 1 January 2012 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=4&issue=1 Journal Article Enhancing Cognitive Functioning: Medium-Term Effects of a Health and Family Planning Program in Matlab TaniaBarhamU CO 245 73 It is believed that early life circumstances are crucial to success later in life. Yet causal evidence that the impacts of early childhood health interventions continue into late childhood and adolescence is sparse. This paper exploits a quasi-random placement of the Matlab Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Program in Bangladesh to determine whether children eligible for child health interventions in early childhood had better cognitive functioning at ages 8-14. I find a program effect of 0.39 standard deviations on cognitive functioning and similar effects for height and educational attainment (JEL I15, I18, J13, J18, O15). http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.1.245 10.1257/app.4.1.245 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2010-0170_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2010-0170_app.pdf