(2017). Unexpected Benefits of Pre-University Skills Training for A-Level Students. Educational Studies, v43 n1 p67-70. First-year undergraduates can find the transition from the prescriptive learning environment at school to one of self-directed learning at university, a considerable challenge. A Pre-university Skills Course (PSC) was developed to address this issue by preparing sixth formers for the university learning style. It was piloted with students in the year prior to A-level examinations at a selective state-funded school in East Anglia. The present paper examines the effect of the course on the students' A-level tariff. Chi-squared analysis of A-level grades of students with comparable GCSE results, indicate that students who undertook the PSC performed significantly better in their A-level results than those who did not. These data demonstrate how skills training might improve A-level performance and assist in the transition to university…. [Direct]
(2020). A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reports on Sino-US Trade War in "The New York Times". English Language Teaching, v13 n10 p85-98. Critical Discourse Analysis is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse regarding language as a form of social practice. As a specific discourse, news discourse is a representation of the journalists' expression and construction of events, as well as readers' understanding and cognition of the events reported. It functions as a carrier that transmits ideologies and social values. Recently, news reports on the trade conflicts between China and the US has been the focus of world attention. A study of news reports on Sino-US trade conflicts with Critical Discourse Analysis approach helps interpret the relation between language use and social contexts and reveal ideological significance and power struggle in language. Twenty pieces of news reports on China's tariff actions on the United States, collected from "The New York Times" from 2018 to 2019 are studied and the result shows that the use of language in the news texts is not arbitrary, but rather dominated by… [PDF]
(2016). Higher Education in England 2016: Key Facts. September 2016/20. Higher Education Funding Council for England This updated edition of "Higher Education in England: Key Facts" provides a statistical overview of key sector trends and developments in 2016. Using the most recent data, it draws together key findings from a range of reports published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) over the past year to provide a robust, accessible evidence base. The first chapter reports on data on entrants to undergraduate courses. The numbers of full-time United Kingdom (UK) and other European Union (EU) entrants in 2015-16 were estimated to be 404,000, an increase of about 4 per cent on the previous year. Entry to postgraduate courses is considered in Chapter 2. The number of UK and other EU entrants to taught postgraduate courses was estimated to have fallen slightly, by 0.8 per cent between 2014-15 and 2015-16, although entry numbers have been broadly stable at around 75,000 for the past four years. The next chapter describes the UK-domiciled student population in higher… [PDF]
(2015). University Rankings: Do They Matter in the UK?. Education Economics, v23 n2 p137-161. This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of the effect of changes in university rankings on applicant and institution behaviour in the UK. When their rank worsens, universities are found to experience small but statistically significant reductions in the number of applications received as well as in the average tariff score of applicants and accepted applicants. Although the effects found are stronger for certain types of students and institutions, they tend to be modest overall, and suggest that other factors play a more important role in attracting applicants to universities…. [Direct]
(2013). The Impact of Trade Liberalization and Information Technology on India's Manufacturing Sector. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz. This dissertation is an investigation into how trade liberalization and the adoption of information technology have impacted labour and productivity in India's manufacturing sector respectively. The second chapter analyses the relationship between India's liberalization of tariffs on imported intermediate inputs (henceforth input tariff liberalization) and plant-level skill composition. It reveals that plant-level skill composition increased at importing plants relative to non-importing plants in response to input tariff liberalization, mainly via a relative decline in production workers. Incorporating import competition into the framework of analysis suggests that there is a weak complementarity between imported intermediate inputs and skilled workers. The third chapter delves into the mechanisms underlying this relationship by decomposing the imported intermediate inputs into categories of "quality", "scale" and "variety" based on whether they were… [Direct]
(2011). Child Labor and Trade Liberalization in Indonesia. Journal of Human Resources, v46 n4 p722-749 Fall. We examine the effects of trade liberalization on child work in Indonesia, identifying geographical differences in the effects of trade policy through district level exposure to reduction in import tariff barriers, from 1993 to 2002. The results suggest that increased exposure to trade liberalization is associated with a decrease in child work among the 10-15 year olds. The effects of tariff reductions are strongest for children from low-skill backgrounds, older siblings, and in rural areas. Favorable income effects for the poor, induced by trade liberalization, are likely to be the dominating effects underlying these results. (Contains 6 tables, 4 figures, and 21 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2017). Critical Reflections on Modern Elite Formation and Social Differentiation in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in England. Oxford Review of Education, v43 n4 p402-416. This paper investigates the changes in educational policy in England regarding the implementing of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (henceforth IBDP) into post-16 (sixth form) education. The aim is to illustrate the unique trajectory of the IBDP in England: from its adoption in schools and colleges across the country, to its removal, due largely to a combination of specific changes, such as government funding criteria inside state education, and the tariff system for university entry that is deployed for qualifications at 18. This paper explores this combination of changes using interview data with 28 senior leaders from eight schools and colleges that have introduced the IBDP, including state centres that have subsequently had to remove it from their curriculum. Employing the idea of a neo-liberal social imaginary, this paper analyses the resulting level of social exclusion inside the English post-16 curriculum created by the educational policies adopted by… [Direct]
(2010). Two-Part Tariff and Aftermarket Duopoly: An Illustration. Journal of Economic Education, v41 n1 p41-53. The authors shed light on the original equipment manufacturer's strategic behavior in the duopoly aftermarket. The original equipment manufacturer, firm 1, captures via its foremarket price some fraction of the aftermarket consumer surplus, where that surplus is generated by consumption of its own and its competitor's aftermarket products. The other firm, firm 2, only operates in the aftermarket and does not capture any of the aftermarket consumer surplus. Assuming a Cournot or Stackelberg duopoly aftermarket with firm 1 as the quantity leader, we find the conditions under which firm 1's aftermarket price is above or below its marginal cost; the conditions under which firm 1's profit falls or increases when firm 2 adds value to its aftermarket product or lowers its marginal cost; and the conditions under which firm 1 is less profitable or more profitable in sharing the aftermarket than it would be alone. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2014). NAFTA: The World's Largest Trading Zone Turns 20. Social Education, v78 n6 p306-311 Nov-Dec. Everyone under the age of 20 who has grown up in North America has lived in the common market created by NAFTA–the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a zone linking the United States, Canada, and Mexico, most goods and investments flow freely across borders to users, consumers, and investors. In 1994, NAFTA created the largest relatively free trade zone in the world by phasing out tariffs and other trade restrictions on goods and investments. Today, the NAFTA area is home to approximately 450 million people, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of almost $20 trillion. NAFTA countries create 23 percent of the world's total wealth. Twenty years after its enactment, how is the free trade zone working out? Did NAFTA make Canada and Mexico better off at the expense of the United States? Or did it help boost production, employment, investment, and consumption across all three countries?… [Direct]
(2012). An Empirical Method for Deriving Grade Equivalence for University Entrance Qualifications: An Application to A Levels and the International Baccalaureate. Oxford Review of Education, v38 n4 p473-491. We present a method to compare different qualifications for entry to higher education by studying students' subsequent performance. Using this method for students holding either the International Baccalaureate (IB) or A-levels gaining their degrees in 2010, we estimate an "empirical" equivalence scale between IB grade points and UCAS points whereby, for similar students in the same universities and subjects, final degree performance is independent of the type of entry qualification. The empirical equivalence scale suggests that the official UCAS tariff is too generous to IB students in the allocation of UCAS points. We also compare the points of IB students with the UCAS scores of A level students in the same university. We find that the amount that the official tariff is adjusted by universities is approximately correct in the low-to-middle part of the range (IB points in the low 30s). At the top end of the scale, however, universities have adjusted too far away from the… [Direct]
(2014). European Mobility of United Kingdom Educated Graduates. Who Stays, Who Goes?. Higher Education Quarterly, v68 n3 p288-304 Jul. Official figures from the Home Office show an increase in mobility of the highly-skilled from the United Kingdom (UK) to other European countries. This paper analyses the social composition of intra-European mobile graduates from the UK in the context of recent political developments (Bologna-Process, European Higher Education Area). Using quantitative and qualitative data from a longitudinal study of students and its follow-up study, the paper compares the social composition and current activity of intra-European mobile graduates with those remaining in the UK. Personal and higher education-related variables together with the current type of employment were significant for the distinction between intra-European mobile graduates and "UK stayers." UK-educated mobile graduates were identified as "Eurostars," who come from high social classes or studied at high tariff higher education institutions. Mobility was identified as one way for UK-educated graduates to avoid… [Direct]
(2009). Second-Degree Price Discrimination: A Graphical and Mathematical Approach. Journal of Economic Education, v40 n1 p68-79 Win. The authors use a relatively simple diagram accompanied by mathematical analysis to compare two pricing strategies: price-quantity packages and a two-part tariff. This is done both from the monopolist's point of view and from the welfare point of view. The authors show that in the case of two consumer types, the price-quantity packages strategy dominates two-part tariff pricing from the monopolist's point of view. However, social welfare may be higher under two-part tariff pricing. (Contains 2 figures and 13 notes.)… [Direct]
(2012). Protectionist Measures in Postsecondary Ontario (Canada) TESL. Online Submission TESL in Ontario, Canada, seems to be on an inauspicious path by having set up non-tariff protectionist measures in an apparent attempt to keep out a multinational TESL workforce, effectively going against the spirit of globalization. This paper highlights some of the differences between South Korean TEFL and TESL in Ontario; for the most part contrasting the protectionist practices and the influence of TESL Ontario, on the local TESL industry, to that of a relatively open and unrestricted TEFL industry in South Korea. Essentially, Ontarians may lay a strong claim to having a good command in the Canadian variety of English, as outlined by the Canadian Language Benchmarks, but it is nonetheless the South Korean TEFL industry that Ontario TESL providers have much to learn from in terms of ethical practices, from an international point of view. Should Ontario TESL providers wish to learn some valuable lessons, as outlined in this paper, they could turn to the South Korean model and… [PDF]
(2010). Essays on Pricing of Information Goods and Services. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Rochester. This dissertation consists of three essays that examine, in three specific contexts, issues related to pricing of information goods and services. As the ability to measure technology resource usage gets easier with increased connectivity, the question whether a technology resource should be priced by the amount of the resource used or by the particular application of the resource has become an important question. In the first essay, this question is examined in the context of pricing of wireless services: should the price be based on the application, e.g., voice, multimedia messages, short messages, or should it be based on the traffic generated? Contrary to the prevailing opinion that hold that consumers prefer pricing based on traffic alone and carriers prefer application-based discrimination, I show that in some instances consumers will prefer application-based discrimination, and that in some carriers will not prefer such discrimination. The first essay uses a deterministic… [Direct]
(2006). A Classroom Tariff-Setting Game. Journal of Economic Education, v37 n4 p431-441 Fall. The author outlines a classroom tariff-setting game that allows students to explore the consequences of import tariffs imposed by large countries (countries able to influence world prices). Groups of students represent countries, which are organized into trading pairs. Each group's objective is to maximize welfare by choosing an appropriate ad valorem tariff that may be changed intermittently throughout the game. The game is built on a computable general-equilibrium model, which allows each nation's utility and terms of trade under alternative tariff regimes to be expressed quantitatively. The exercise encourages students to consider terms-of-trade improvements and efficiency losses resulting from large-country tariffs and provides a framework to discuss the Nash equilibrium of a tariff war. The game is a useful supplement to traditional teaching methods. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures and 11 notes.)… [Direct]