Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue Recent documents in Michael R Donihue en-us Sun, 31 May 2009 09:20:40 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/3 http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/3 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:38:25 PDT This paper examines the determinants of game-day attendance during Major League Baseball's 2002 spring training season in Florida. Our model of game-day attendance includes location, quality of game, and time and weather variables. A censored Tobit estimation procedure is used to estimate our model. Our results indicate that the quality of the game, average ticket price, and several location-specific factors affect attendance. Specifically, our results suggest that changes in income have no effect on attendance while increases in ticket prices cause reductions in attendance. Furthermore, the estimated price elasticity of demand for Major League Baseball during the spring training season is unitary. We also find that a number of factors unique to spring training, such as a nonresident fan base and split squads of players, significantly affect game-day attendance. Michael R. Donihue Other Research http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/2 http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/2 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:13:24 PDT During the period from 1990 to 2002, U.S. households experienced a dramatic wealth cycle, induced by a 369 percent appreciation in the value of real per capita liquid stock-market assets, followed by a 55 percent decline. However, despite predictions at the time by some analysts relying on life-cycle models of consumption, consumer spending in real terms continued to rise throughout this period. Using data that include the period from 1990 to 2005, traditional approaches to estimating macroeconomic wealth effects on consumption confront two puzzles: (i) econometric evidence of a stable cointegrating relationship among consumption, income, and wealth is weak at best; and (ii) life-cycle models that rely on aggregate measures of wealth cannot explain why consumption did not collapse when the value of stock-market assets declined so dramatically. We address both puzzles by decomposing wealth according to the liquidity of household assets. In particular, we find that significant appreciation in the value of real estate assets that occurred after the peak of the wealth cycle helped to sustain consumer spending from 2000 to 2005. Michael Donihue Macroeconomic Policy Contributions http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/1 http://works.bepress.com/michael_donihue/1 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:13:23 PDT This paper examines the impact of socioeconomic factors on eighth grade achievement test scores in the face of federal and state initiatives for educational reform in Maine. We use student-level data over a five year period to provide a framework for understanding the policy implications of these initiatives. We model performance on standardized tests using a seemingly unrelated regressions approach and then determine the likelihood of meeting the standards defined by the adequate yearly progress requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and Maine Learning Results initiatives. Our results indicate that the key factors influencing a student's test scores include the education of a student's parents, special services received for learning disabilities, and alternative measures of academic achievement. Michael Donihue Other Research