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ObjectivesThis study attempts to isolate instructor‐specific measures that may be sources of grade inflation and to measure their relative importance.MethodsWe estimate a fixed‐effects model, using by far the most extensive data set related to grade inflation ever assembled. Our data comprise 48,038 courses taught by 1,871 distinct instructors at a large public university over a two‐decade period.ResultsOur results suggest that female faculty members are the most likely to inflate grades, while ethnicity has a lesser effect.ConclusionsCharacteristics of instructors, in particular gender, affect the degree of observed grade inflation, controlling for student‐ and department‐specific effects.

Objectives. Colleges and universities routinely use evaluation scores to assess the quality of an instructor's teaching for purposes of promotion and tenure and for merit‐raise allocations. This article attempts to identify the determinants of these scores, and to suggest ways that departments' numerical rankings of instructors might be adjusted.Method. This article applies a feasible generalized least squares model to a panel of data from master's‐level classes.Results. We find that instructors can "buy" better evaluation scores by inflating students' grade expectations. Also, the teaching experience of instructors has an impact on evaluation scores, but this effect is largely seen as an increase after tenure is granted. In addition, we find evidence of a bias against nonwhite faculty.Conclusion. Our results suggest that an adjustment to the usual departmental rankings may be in order.

ObjectivesColleges and universities routinely use evaluation scores to assess the quality of an instructor's teaching for purposes of promotion and tenure and for merit-raise allocations. This article attempts to identify the determinants of these scores, and to suggest ways that departments' numerical rankings of instructors might be adjusted. MethodThis article applies a feasible generalized least squares model to a panel of data from master's-level classes. ResultsWe find that instructors can "buy" better evaluation scores by inflating students' grade expectations. Also, the teaching experience of instructors has an impact on evaluation scores, but this effect is largely seen as an increase after tenure is granted. In addition, we find evidence of a bias against nonwhite faculty. ConclusionOur results suggest that an adjustment to the usual departmental rankings may be in order. Adapted from the source document.

This study extends extant research on prenatal care and birthweight to the South American country of Uruguay. The data represent a population of poor women from a less-developed country with a health care system that provides both prenatal and obstetric care free of charge. We find a positive effect of increased prenatal care use on birthweight, with a small marginal effect that is similar to that found in studies using US data. The results highlight the usefulness of existing methodologies for estimating the effect of prenatal care on birthweight and the importance of extending these methodologies to data from developing countries.

States' choices on term limits are quantified as a multiple-categorical variable capturing variation in the type of limits passed. Measures of relative political influence in Congress explain much of this variation. Using 1992 data on the American states, the model controls for unobserved heterogeneity due to voter access to direct democracy in some states. At 2002 values for congressional tenure and federal spending, the model predicts approximately eight to ten additional states would choose to limit their own members' terms but cannot under a Supreme Court ruling. We discuss implications for institutional federalism and the potential passage of similar political institutions across the states. Adapted from the source document.

Variations in the availability of abortion providers may impact the demand for abortions since greater provider availability reduces the travel cost associated with acquiring an abortion. This paper applies a fertility‐control model to estimate the responsiveness of abortion demand to travel‐cost variations using county‐level data on the state of Texas. Abortion rates as well as pregnancy rates appear to be sensitive to availability‐induced variations in the travel cost of abortion services. In particular, the results suggest that residents in counties with longer travel distances to the nearest abortion provider have lower abortion rates and lower pregnancy rates.

Customer discrimination may result in racial differences in the marginal revenue products generated by workers. College basketball data allow for direct comparisons of the racial differences in the marginal revenues generated by players. This article compares the revenue generating potential of the top black and white college basketball players. A highly skilled white college player generates over $100,000 in per game revenues as compared to around $30,000 for a black player of equal talent, providing a strong incentive for colleges to discriminate against recruiting black student-athletes.