This essay presents empirical tests of one of the conclusions from Bryan Caplan's 2007 book The Myth of the Rational Voter. Caplan claims that voters suffer from systematic biases about economic policy that through elections affects economic policy negatively. I derive three hypotheses from Caplan's theory and test them on a cross-country panel of 19 countries covering the time 1973 to 2009. The hypotheses stipulate that increased turnout lead to lower economic freedom, lower levels of foreign aid and higher inflation. After controlling for country specific effects turnout does not seem to have the effect stipulated in the three hypotheses.

Some studies have shown that managers concentrate large fractions of their wealth in the equity of their own firm. In this paper we use a unique dataset and investigate how Swedish owner-managers invest remaining wealth conditional on a major investment in their own firm. We find no[JR1] evidence that owner-managers seek diversification benefits when they invest remaining wealth. Instead some owner-managers invest remaining wealth in the industry where they already have a substantial capital investment. We conclude that some owner-managers seek to exploit their industry-specific superior information when they invest wealth not tied up in their own firms. / <p>QC 20130515</p>

A basic problem for a rational choice theory of mass political action is to explain why average citizens would participate in such behavior, since they have nothing to gain by participating (they won’t receive compensation for participating but will receive the public good if they participate or not) but much to lose (it can be costly and harmful to participate). According to the rational theory, the incentive to participate must come from the expectation of receiving selective benefits; but since average citizens in a general case cannot expect substantial private material rewards, the relevant benefits must be psychological in nature. A public goods model is proposed stating that the value of revolution in terms of public goods can be a relevant incentive for participation. Using data from surveys conducted in Egypt, we investigate the relationship between participation in mass political action and measures of the incentives of public goods. Hypotheses of the public goods model are supported.

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Reforms that expand school choice have been the focus of considerable policy interest, not least as a possible means of improving public school performance. According to the standard argument, increased choice will intensify competition, forcing public schools to improve quality in order to retain enrolment. Yet in principle, increased choice need not always raise performance, pointing to the need for careful empirical analysis. A key challenge in measuring the effects of greater choice on school performance is that convincing variation in choice is often hard to come by, especially in cross-sectional studies. And while school choice policy experiments have the advantage that choice increases in a clear way, few large-scale school choice policies have been implemented in North America. An important exception is the 2002 Ontario tuition tax credit, which eased access to private schools throughout Canada's most populous province. Analyzing the effects of the tax credit reform provides the focus of this thesis. The thesis begins by presenting the literature and gaps in existing research. The next chapter presents a model to clarify the link between increases in competition and school performance, and to motivate the empirical identification strategy. To set the stage for the main empirical analysis, I also provide some relevant institutional background relating to the Ontario education policy environment and the Ontario tuition tax credit as well as a descriptive analysis on the Ontario private school market. I then present an initial examination of the possible performance effects of the Ontario tuition tax credit using a difference-in-differences setup, before turning to the main empirical analysis, which exploits the differential competitive effects for public schools in districts with relative to those without a significant private school presence. The empirical results indicate that public school performance improved for schools facing the greatest competitive pressures following the introduction of the policy, controlling for a host of other relevant factors. To assess whether the effect is due primarily to increases in productivity, the analysis controls carefully for a series of alternative mechanisms. Overall, the Ontario findings are consistent with increased choice giving rise to productivity improvements in public schools.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the variables related to the occupational choice of Indian/Native teachers in Saskatchewan. In addition, four questions were posed to determine the extent of influence of specific people, internal agents, and ethnic concerns.<p>The sample for the study consisted of 115 Indian/Native teachers, all graduates of the Indian/Native Teacher Education Programs, and employed within Saskatchewan schools. Data was collected by a mail-out questionnaire. Through analysis of the data, the variables were identified, as was the extent of influence of specific people, internal agents, and ethnic concerns.<p>The major finding of this study was that Indian/Native teachers chose teaching as an occupation for reasons related primarily to ethnic concerns, rather than to variables identified in occupational choice approaches. Important differences were found in the variables of choice between Status Indian and Metis teachers; between younger and older teachers; and among those who had decided to become teachers within different age groups. These findings suggested the need for specially designed career education programs and the presentation of occupational information that would be relevant to Indian/Native students.<p>The five statements ranked most important by the total group in the decision to become a teacher were:<p>1.I enjoy working with children and/or youth. <p>2.Indian/Native teachers were needed in the school.<p>3.I wanted to help my people. <p>4.Indian/Native people are responsible for their own survival as a people.<p>5.I wanted to help Indian/Native people gain control of their education system.<p>Only the first statement related to occupational choice approach with the remaining four stemming from Indian/Native concerns.<p>Five research hypotheses were tested to answer the research questions. Significant differences were found leading to the acceptance of the hypotheses and the findings that differences existed between the variables related to the occupational choice of teachers classified on the basis of:<p>1. Age when the questionnaire was completed: The younger teachers, 19 30 years, differed from older teachers in their search for improved self identity; in being influenced by the opportunity to be a role model; and in desire to work against discrimination in schools. The older teachers, 31 years and older, were more influenced by positive family support; by the need to be with people; and by the desire for better living conditions.<p>2. Age when the decision was made to become a teacher: Respondents who had chosen teaching between the ages of 6 to 18 years,highlighted the importance of having supportive family; the desire to develop a positive self image; and the wish to gain professional recognition. Those who made the choice between 19 to 25 years, also pointed out self image needs. For them, the opportunity to be a role model was important, but family influence had been a minor factor. Those who decided at a later age, 26 years or older, wished to work with people and thought that teaching matched their interests.<p>3. Ethnic identity: Status Indian teachers had been strongly influenced by the family in contrast to the Metis group, which did not include family elements in their selection of 10 very important statements. The Me.tis teachers were motivated to teach because of perceived discrimination within schools; the need for an improved self image; and the perception that in teaching they could do what they liked to do.<p>4.Type of school attended.<p>5.Source of funding received while attending a teacher education program.<p>Teachers who had attended either a federal or residential school, and had received funding from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada were likely to be Status Indians.They had been strongly influenced by their families, by wanting to attend an Indian training program, and by wanting a better standard of living.Teachers who had attended a provincial school and received funding from the province of Saskatchewan were likely to be Metis.They had been strongly influenced by personal concerns for identity and independence. Family influence was a lesser factor.<p>In a further step of data analysis, the computation of mean response scores, individual family members, teachers, and the community were found to be relatively unimportant variables related to the decision to become a teacher.<p>Personality needs, interests, and abilities were important; the desire to improve socio-economic status and identification with a role model were found to be relatively unimportant.<p>The demand for Indian/Native teachers, the desire to help Indian/Native people, and Indian/Native control of the education system were found to be important variables. The desire to attend an Indian/Native training program and to receive funding during training were relatively unimportant variables related to the decision to become a teacher.

This thesis investigated the choice of nursing among immigrant women from Nigeria in Canada. I sought to understand why increasing numbers of immigrant women from Nigeria with degrees and professional backgrounds are opting for careers in nursing. The study was conducted through an antiracist feminist lens and uncovered the many dimensions in which African immigrant women encounter marginalization and discrimination in the Canadian labour market, resulting from entrenched norms and values. I placed centre stage the voices of the Nigerian women, and through their narratives found that the decision to change careers was based on barriers they faced, the availability of jobs within nursing, as well as personal perceptions and interactions with other Nigerian women who had successfully changed careers. The conclusion reached is that despite the structural barriers faced, the choice of nursing had overall benefited the women, elevating their status and improving their economic situation.

This thesis investigated the choice of nursing among immigrant women from Nigeria in Canada. I sought to understand why increasing numbers of immigrant women from Nigeria with degrees and professional backgrounds are opting for careers in nursing. The study was conducted through an antiracist feminist lens and uncovered the many dimensions in which African immigrant women encounter marginalization and discrimination in the Canadian labour market, resulting from entrenched norms and values. I placed centre stage the voices of the Nigerian women, and through their narratives found that the decision to change careers was based on barriers they faced, the availability of jobs within nursing, as well as personal perceptions and interactions with other Nigerian women who had successfully changed careers. The conclusion reached is that despite the structural barriers faced, the choice of nursing had overall benefited the women, elevating their status and improving their economic situation.

The evolution of mate choice remains one of the most controversial topics within evolutionary biology. In particular, the coevolutionary dynamics between ornaments and mating preferences has been extensively studied, but few generalizations have emerged. From a theoretical standpoint, the nature of the genetic covariance built up by the process of mate choice has received considerable attention, though the models still make biologically unrealistic assumptions. Empirically, the difficulty of estimating parameters in the models has hindered our ability to understand what processes are occurring in nature. Thus, it is the goal of this dissertation to contribute to the field both theoretically and empirically. I begin with a review of the evolution of mate choice and demonstrate how the lack of cross-talk between theoretical and empirical pursuits into studying mate choice has constrained our ability to extract basic principles. The review is followed by a new model of intersexual selection that relaxes some of the critical assumptions inherent in sexual selection theory. There are two empirical studies whose goal is to measure mating preference functions and genetic correlations in a way that can be related back to theory. Finally, I conclude by setting the stage for future endeavors into exploring the evolution of mate choice. The results presented herein demonstrate four things: (i) a lack of communication between theoretical and empirical studies of mate choice; (ii) genetic drift plays a much larger role in preference evolution than previously demonstrated; (iii) genetic correlations other than those explicitly modeled are likely to be important in preference evolution; and (iv) variation in mating preferences can eliminate intersexual selection altogether. From these four findings it can be concluded that a tighter link between theory and empiricism is needed, with a particular emphasis on the importance of measuring individual-level preference functions. Models will benefit from integrating the specific phenotypes measured by empiricists. Experimentation will be more useful to theory if particular attention is paid to the exact phenotypes that are measured. Overall, this dissertation is a stepping stone for a more cohesive and accurate understanding of mate choice evolution.

Despite promotion by well-known economists and supporting economic theory, econometric analyses of voucher systems often find that they have been unsuccessful in improving traditional measures of educational success. This paper examines a possible explanation of this phenomenon by comparing the drivers of educational achievement and of school popularity by examining private school choice. The findings of this paper indicate that there is a disconnect between school success and school popularity, which adversely effects both the demand and supply-side benefits of voucher systems. Additionally, this paper reviews matching mechanisms that seek to efficiently match students with schools based on both student and school preferences.