MAPP Papers
MAPP Discussion Paper #1 -- Campaign Spending: A Meta-Analysis for Incumbents and Challengers
Many believe that money plays an unfair role in elections, arguing that victory goes to the candidate who can raise the most money, rather than to the candidate with more popular ideas. The results of our meta-analysis however, contradict this popular belief. We found that for every additional $100,000 that incumbents spend, challenger vote share increases by 0.1292, and for every additional $100,000 that challengers spend, challenger vote share increases by 1.3099. Both of these results were significant at the .001 level. These results indicate that it is really only challenger spending that matters. These results have very real implications for campaign finance reform. Policies limiting spending would systematically hurt challengers, and take away one of the few advantages they have. Contrary to one’s intuition, our analysis has found that in order to have fair campaign finance laws, we must treat incumbents and challengers differently.
campaign finance paper -- executive summary
campaign finance paper -- full text
MAPP Discussion Paper #2 -- The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Teenage Employment and Unemployment: A Meta-Analysis
Minimum wage laws are designed to ensure that people in the workforce at the lowest end of the income spectrum will earn enough money to live a sustainable life. This meta-analysis looks at the teenage section of the minimum wage worker population. We explore the impact of the minimum wage on youth employment and unemployment, including the effects of both federal and state minimums. The analysis is limited to studies conducted on the workforce in the United States.
MAPP Discussion Paper #3 -- High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Are High-Stakes Tests Helping or Hurting America's Children?
Educational testing has been a common practice in the United States for a number of years, but standardized testing has existed for only a few decades, and high-stakes testing began only in the 1980s. High-stakes tests are examinations in which the outcomes have significant consequences for students, teachers, and/or schools. High-stakes testing is a main component of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and is used to measure student achievement and hold students, teachers, and schools accountable for student performance. However, there is much debate regarding the effectiveness of high-stakes testing on student achievement. Many supporters of No Child Left Behind have changed their minds, because high-stakes testing has not created the significant achievement gains promised. Therefore, it is important to know the true effects of such testing on student achievement, in order to know if No Child Left Behind should be reauthorized. The available data indicates that high-stakes testing is not having the intended positive effect on student achievement; on the contrary, research indicates that testing has no overall effect on student achievement. More high-level statistical analysis is needed on this topic for reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act to have any statistical basis.
MAPP Discussion Paper #4 -- Are Charter Schools Meeting Expectations? A Meta-Analysis on Charter School Effectiveness
Charter schools are becoming a popular form of school choice, especially for students who learn in failing public schools. But are they effective in raising student performance? We scoured the educational literature for quantitative estimates of the effects of charter schools. After controlling for confounding factors like income, the consensus of these studies is that charter schools do not improve student learning. The mean estimates indicate that moving a child to a charter school reduces his or her reading score by two percentile points, and reduces his or her math score by 3.64 percentile points. Therefore, parents and lawmakers need to evaluate the current impact of charter schools on student achievement before they continue this trend of granting local, state, and federal money to the schools.
charter schools paper -- executive summary
charter schools paper -- full text
Questions and comments on the papers should be directed to Paul Gary Wyckoff, MAPP Coordinator, at pwyckoff@hamilton.edu.