Based on the prevalent son preference in China, this paper proposes a new measure of relative bargaining power within the household. Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, we show that a woman with a first-born son has a 3.9 percentage points' greater role in household decision-making than a woman with a first-born daughter. Having a…

This study considers the relationship between federal academic earmarks and state appropriations for higher education. Often referred to as "pork," federal academic earmarks are both controversial and understudied. Using a unique panel dataset which spans 1990-2006, this study conducts a panel analysis with two-way state and year-fixed effects. It…

Access to English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses is crucial for society, social cohesion and the economy. In 2006 it was estimated that 600,000 people in London alone had an ESOL need. In some parts of the country, as many as 50 per cent of adults have Entry-level ESOL needs. ESOL is no longer an issue only for urban areas. People…

A spate of school shootings in the U.S. has prompted policymakers to address the public's growing perception that our schools are unsafe. As education policymakers continue to press for additional security initiatives, it is important to understand the costs borne by school systems for these programs. Thus far, the scholarly literature is silent…

For two decades, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute have been tracking nine school districts, typical of districts nationwide, to understand how the spending levels and composition in elementary and secondary education have changed over time. The first report, "Where's the Money Gone?" (1995) tracked expenditures from 1967 to…

Driven by stable or declining financial resources many school districts are considering the costs and benefits of a seven-period day. While there is limited evidence that any particular scheduling model has a greater impact on student learning than any other, it is clear that the school schedule is a tool that can significantly impact teacher…

Some of the most complicated issues facing school districts across the country revolve around resource allocation and student assignment planning. Determining school attendance boundaries, selecting sites for new schools, closing existing ones, balancing seat utilization while minimizing travel costs, and achieving socioeconomic diversity are all…

A new informal federal survey has found that for many districts, budget cuts have had a profound effect on school safety and security measures. Administrators have been forced to cut safety and security staffing and programs, reorganize security departments and find alternative sources of funding in order to maintain levels of safety and security…

Gadi Paskoff just completed his freshman year of high school. He's an honor student, accomplished musician, and sports fanatic. He is also a staff writer for Freestyle, a section in the "Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era's" Saturday edition. Paskoff hit a homerun with his June 20 article, "Learning Should Be More than Technology." Reflecting…

It is no secret that library budgets are in a downward spiral like the rest of the economy. The recent annual budget survey by the "Library Journal" indicates that per capita funding for libraries will decline 1.6%, and total library budgets will be reduced by 2.6% in FY 2010. Librarians are all too familiar with this bad news, and some of them…

This study explored the criteria that children and adults use when evaluating the niceness of a character who is distributing resources. Four- and five-year-olds played the "Giving Game", in which two puppets with different amounts of chips each gave some portion of these chips to the children. Adults played an analogous task that mimicked the…

This executive summary describes highlights from the report, "Building Management Information Systems to Coordinate Citywide Afterschool Programs: A Toolkit for Cities." City-led efforts to build coordinated systems of afterschool programming are an important strategy for improving the health, safety and academic preparedness of children…

The National League of Cities (NLC), through its Institute for Youth, Education and Families, produced this report to help city leaders, senior municipal staff and their local partners answer those questions as they work to strengthen and coordinate services for youth and families, particularly for those cities building comprehensive afterschool…

Charter schools are public schools. Historically, however, the relationship between school districts and charters has been nonexistent at best, antagonistic at worst. As the charter sector continues to grow steadily, an analysis of the national landscape explores how that relationship needs to start changing--and where it already has. This year's…

On September 28, 2012, the postgraduate students of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto organized a conference on the theme of "Health, Austerity and Affluence." It brought together academics, health-care professionals and public policy makers in a forum to discuss effective health care delivery at a time…