How well does competitive theory explain the outcome in experimental markets? The authors examined the results of a large number of classroom trading experiments that used a pit-trading design found in Experiments with Economic Principles, an introductory economics textbook by Bergstrom and Miller. They compared experimental outcomes with…

In this paper we argue that the primary force behind the large drop in real exchange rates that occurs after large devaluations is the slow adjustment in the prices of nontradable goods and services. Our empirical analysis uses data from five large devaluation episodes: Argentina (2002), Brazil (1999), Korea (1997), Mexico (1994), and Thailand…

The graded payment method of receiving traditional annuity benefits was introduced by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) in 1982 to introduce an inflation-fighting factor into the annuity program. Under the graded method, in contrast to the standard method, a part of current annuity dividend income is withheld each year to…

The development of Texas' new cost-of-education index (CEI) for 1992-93 is described in this report. The two components of the index are price, which adjusts for regional price variations beyond the control of local districts, and scale, which adjusts for diseconomies of scale due to differences in district size as measured by pupil attendance.…

Illustrates some problems associated with the statistics used in popular statistical reports. (Author/DW)

Costs of producing milk rose 53 percent between 1975 and 1984 to $13.57 per hundredweight, whereas cash (out-of-pocket) costs rose 56 percent to $10.64 per hundredweight. Cash receipts, which measure gross production value, peaked in 1981 at $14.94 per hundredweight compared with $9.23 in 1975. Production costs in the Pacific region were more than…

There are several ways to construct an education price index (EPI). This report represents an attempt to identify methods and procedures for producing an accurate measure of educational resource input price indices. The methods are largely mathematical equations that link student achievement to the unique social, political, and economic costs of…

A series of articles providing statistics on construction projects and cost of those projects for 1973 and 1974. (JF)

Present systems for the apportionment of grants from the state or federal level to local public school districts are based primarily on measures of district wealth as modified by weightings for the characteristics of the student population. Until recently little attention has been given to differences among districts in the costs of providing…

Data were gathered on the costs charged by various service centers which contract Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) services to individual libraries, and charges were compared at the levels of 3,000, 10,000, and 20,000 FTUs per year. (An FTU is the first time a library uses a cataloging record to catalog a title in its collection.) It was…

In this report, all readily available federal consumption data (as of July 1975) are analyzed for differences in the costs of consuming food, clothing, housing and other expenditures using several residential definitions. There were two specific objectives to this study: (1) to analyze the data on the cost of these items for differences among…

This paper examines the particular problems involved in analyzing the costs of bilingual education and suggests that cost analysis of bilingual education requires a fundamentally different approach than that followed in other recent school finance studies. Focus of the discussion is the Intercultural Development Research Association's (IDRA)…

These two notes offer a couple of refinements to existing equalization plans--one deals with cost indexes, the other with fiscal incentive for dollar equalization. (Author/IRT)

A methodology for efficient measurement of the occurrence and direction of grade inflation using the techniques of price indexing is presented. (MSE)

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee of the Alaska Legislature has asked The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage to make certain changes and adjustments to the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) that the American Institutes for Research (AIR) constructed and reported on in Alaska…