Between 2001 and 2004, the state of North Carolina gave an annual salary bonus of $1,800 to certified math, science, and special education teachers in a set of low-performing and/or high-poverty secondary schools. Eligible teachers were to continue receiving the bonus as long as they continued...

Much of the controversy about whether mortgage lenders discriminate against minorities can be explained in terms of the confusion about how to define discrimination. Based on the legal definition, careful studies of loan denial rates, such as that done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,...

This article contributes to the small literature on the determination of local taxes by testing hypotheses about whether local officials consider the tax burdens of neigh boring counties when making their own decisions about taxes on residents. Based on data for large U.S. counties, evidence of...

This paper marshals available evidence from both the U.S. and other countries on the effects of private schools, peer effects, and competition to demonstrate that that any gains in overall student achievement from a large scale voucher program are at best likely to be small. Moreover, given the...

Through the process of "bracket creep," the marginal tax rates faced by taxpayers under a progressive income tend to increase as inflation pushes up nominal incomes. Congress has sought to offset the resulting revenue increases by cutting taxes periodically in recent years. Because of the...

Despite the involvement of two-thirds of economists in it, the higher education industry remains incompletely understood. Among the topics related to higher education that invite further research are the rapid increase in college costs, the interaction of tenure and the end of mandatory...