WORKING PAPERS

"Foreign Aid as Reward for or Condition upon Institutional Reform" with Wairimu R. Mugo
July 2007
Abstract: Multilateral organizations increasingly claim to be conditioning foreign aid on institutional reform of the recipient country. We test whether aid flows are related to current and future institutional improvements by relating Economic Freedom measures of the quality of countries’ institutions to foreign aid flows during the 1973 period through the 2002 period. Consistent with binding conditionality, we find that the amount of aid flowing to a recipient country is positively related to future improvements in its economic institutions. Moreover, these effects appear to be strongest for improvements in monetary policy and the business environment, precisely those institutions most often targeted. These results occur for both aid from multilateral organizations and from individual donor countries.
"A Direct Test of the Homevoter Hypothesis," with Carolyn Dehring and Craig Depken
June 2007
Abstract: We propose a methodology that facilitates a direct test of the homevoter hypothesis, which posits that homeowner/voter support for a public good project is positively related to the project’s expected effect on property values. First, we estimate how events that indicate an increasing probability that the public good project will be undertaken impact local residential property values before the referendum is held. These pre-vote impacts are considered noisy signals to homeowners about the market’s assessment of the net marginal benefits of the project. Second, we aggregate these market signals to the precinct level and relate them to precinct-level voting results concerning the proposed project. We apply this method to the 2004 referendum in Arlington, Texas, concerning a publicly subsidy to build a stadium to host the NFL Dallas Cowboys. The analysis supports the homevoter hypothesis and establishes a possible methodology for future evaluations in this small but growing empirical literature.
"The Impact of Stadium Announcements on Residential Property Values: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Dallas-Fort Worth" with Carolyn Dehring and Craig Depken
April 2007
Abstract: We investigate the impact of a potential new sports venue on residential property values, focusing on two sets of announcements in 2004 during the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys search for a new host city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We find that residential property values near a proposed new stadium in Fair Park in downtown Dallas increased, consistent with the hypothesis that these residents are the most likely to reap an amenity benefit. At the same time, property values fell throughout the county that would face the new stadium tax. These patterns reversed when the proposal was abandoned. Subsequently, three announcements that each increased the certainty of the suburb of Arlington partially funding the construction of the stadium all had a negative effect on residential property values. In aggregate, these corresponded to a 1.5\% decline in average property values in Arlington relative to the surrounding area. This decline in Arlington property values is almost equal to the anticipated sales tax burden, suggesting that the average amenity effect of hosting the Cowboys in Arlington is not significantly different from zero.
"Teaching Digital Piracy"
April 2007
Abstract: US education policy encourages the use of computers and the Internet at both the college level and the K-12 level. As a consequence, students have had better access to technologies to illicitly share copyrighted music and divert sales from the traditional music store retail channel. Using a panel of counties over the 1994-2004 period, I find evidence that the number of music stores fell when K-12 schools received subsidies for Internet connections and it fell faster where college enrollment was higher. This education intervention could have contributed greatly to the decline in the music industry.
"The Effects of the E-Rate Internet Subsidies in Education"
March 2006
Abstract: Since 1998, US schools and libraries have received $2.25 billion annually to provide internet access. The average estimated effect on educational outcomes for Texas high school outcomes are modest both for measures related to college preparedness and for subject area standardized test scores. Educational outcome improvements were greater at the low-income schools targeted by the program, but the difference in impacts are also small.