A. H. Studenmund

Southern California’s Housing Crisis

A. H. Studenmund — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:36:46 PDT

Southern California in the 21st Century

A. H. Studenmund — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:34:37 PDT

Toward a Better Understanding of the Incremental Capital-Output Ratio

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:46:30 PDT

A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Law of Declining International Trade

A. H. Studenmund — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:41:15 PDT

A Statistical Model for Baseball Standings

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:38:14 PDT

Spurious Correlation and the Incremental Capital-Output Ratio

A. H. Studenmund — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:35:20 PDT

The Use of the Multinomial Logit in Transportation Analysis

A. H. Studenmund — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:31:14 PDT

Interim Analysis of the Free-Fair Transit Experiments

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:28:24 PDT

This paper summarizes the early results of the two systemwide off-peak free-fare transit experiments being conducted in Trenton, New Jersey, and Denver, Colorado. These experiments, which are sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) under its Service and Methods Demonstration Program, are the first free-fare programs of such size and comprehensiveness. The demonstrations have already provided a number of interesting, if still tentative, conclusions. The first major conclusion is that, while free fare induces large and sustainable ridership gains (19 percent in Trenton and 34 percent in Denver), the general aggregate behavior of the population in making their modal choices is not significantly different from what it would be with any other absolute change of an equal amount. The price elasticity of demand for transit implied by the Trenton results was -0.42, which is virtually identical to the transit industry's experience. Saturday evening youth riders and walk trips made up fully 7 percent of the ridership in the free-fare system in Trenton. The demonstration appears to have reduced the peak-load capacity requirements in Trenton's transit system and caused a dramatic shift from the peak to the off-peak. The most surprising finding was that complaints of rowdiness, vandalism, and other incidents increased at both sites to such an extent that some groups called for the abandonment of the experiments.

Women's Travel Behavior and Attitudes: An Empirical Analysis

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:24:38 PDT

The Free-Fare Transit Experiment

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:20:07 PDT

This paper summarizes and evaluates the results of experiments which consisted of the elimination of bus fares in off-peak in the cities of Trenton, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado. Because the data in Denver had significant weaknesses, the specific figures cited herein are for Trenton (more accurately, Mercer County, New Jersey); the results of the two experiments were essentially identical, however, so the conclusions drawn are made in a more general context. The evaluation found that the net ridership increase during the demonstration was on the order of 15% (about 45% during the off-peak periods). This included the combined effects of an increase in trip frequency by prior users and an increase in the number of off-peak bus riders. Most new bus trips were diverted from other modes; very few were newly generated. The observed effects on the operator were minimal, with the exception of the associated revenue loss. The effects on bus drivers included schedule adherence problems because of increased passenger boardings and problems with on-board security because of increased rowdyism among younger passengers. The findings indicate that the fare-free (off-peak) transit experiments did not significantly achieve most pre-conceived goals.

Economics: Private and Public Choice

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:33:14 PDT

Coursebook for Economics

A. H. Studenmund — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:30:09 PDT

The Critical Wage, Unemployment Duration, and Wage Expectations: The Case of Chile

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:19:35 PDT

This study tests the relevance of the job search model to understanding unemployment in developing countries by utilizing a 1982 data set describing unemployed men in Chile. The findings indicate that the model is relevant to a developing country: the job seekers studied based their critical wages on their perceptions of their own productivity, economic resources, and search costs, and they reduced their wage requirements as the duration of their unemployment increased. The authors also show, in the first direct test of this question, that the critical wage and the expected wage are determined jointly and that the expected wage is adjusted to duration of unemployment mainly in response to the fall in the critical wage.

The Effect of the Financial Aid Package on the Choice of a Selective College

A. H. Studenmund et al. — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:14:37 PDT

This paper examines the effects of financial aid on the decision to attend a selective liberal arts college using data obtained from applicants accepted to Occidental College in 1989. Patterned after a similar empirical investigation by Ehrenberg and Sherman for accepted freshmen at Cornell in 1981, logit probabilities of enrollment equations are estimated based on (1) observable characteristics of the individual students, (2) the net costs of attending Occidental and the various alternative colleges under consideration (including the financial aid packages offered) and (3) other characteristics of these alternative colleges. The results, like Ehrenberg and Sherman's, indicate that relative tuition and scholarships affect the probability of enrollment for financial aid applicants, but that loans and work study assistance have no statistically significant effect. Non-financial aid applicants — a group not investigated by Ehrenberg and Sherman — are much less sensitive to relative cost considerations.

Using Econometrics: A Practical Guide

A. H. Studenmund — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:59:20 PDT