Steven McMullen | Hope College (original) (raw)
Papers by Steven McMullen
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series
In contrast to the largely favorable view of property rights among economists, animal advocates h... more In contrast to the largely favorable view of property rights among economists, animal advocates have often espoused strong criticism of human ownership of other animals. This position is not universal in the animal rights literature, however, and the disagreements between animal ethicists can be enlightening. This chapter will examine the case for the abolition of human ownership of animals, sometimes referred to as “animal liberation.” Some of the most prominent animal advocates have placed this goal at the very center of their philosophy. I will argue, however, that animal liberation is a laudable goal, but not ideal, since retaining some kind of ownership—albeit reformed—could play an important role in maintaining peaceful human-animal relations.
Food Ethics, 2018
When consumers choose to abstain from purchasing meat, they face some uncertainty about whether t... more When consumers choose to abstain from purchasing meat, they face some uncertainty about whether their decisions will have an impact on the number of animals raised and killed. Consequentialists have argued that this uncertainty should not dissuade consumers from a vegetarian diet because the "expected" impact, or average impact, will be predictable. Recently, however, critics have argued that the expected marginal impact of a consumer change is likely to be much smaller or more radically unpredictable than previously thought. This objection to the consequentialist case for vegetarianism is known as the "causal inefficacy" (or "causal impotence") objection. In this paper, we argue that the inefficacy objection fails. First, we summarize the contours of the objection and the standard "expected impact" response to it. Second, we examine and rebut two contemporary attempts (by Mark Budolfson and Ted Warfield) to defeat the expected impact reply through alleged demonstrations of the inefficacy of abstaining from meat consumption. Third, we argue that there are good reasons to believe that single individual consumers-not just individual consumers taken as an aggregate-really do make a positive difference when they choose to abstain from meat consumption. Our case rests on three economic observations: (i) animal producers operate in a highly competitive environment, (ii) complex supply chains efficiently communicate some information about product demand, and (iii) consumers of plant-based meat alternatives have positive consumption spillover effects on other consumers.
Journal of Labor Research, 2011
This study examines the extent to which high school students respond to education and labor marke... more This study examines the extent to which high school students respond to education and labor market incentives when making decisions about homework. Student and state fixed effects estimators are used to control for unobserved individual and geographic heterogeneity and selection. I find that students' choices about homework respond to unemployment rates and changes in the minimum wage, but not to changes in the price of higher education. These responses are not constant throughout the population: female students, low income students, and low achieving students in particular increase their homework time in response to a higher minimum wage, while male students are more responsive to changes in the unemployment rate.
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2012
In 2007, 22 Wake County, North Carolina traditional calendar schools were switched to year-round ... more In 2007, 22 Wake County, North Carolina traditional calendar schools were switched to year-round calendars, spreading the 180 instructional days evenly across the year. This paper presents a human capital model to illustrate the conditions under which these calendars might affect achievement. We then exploit the natural experiment to evaluate the impact of year-round schooling on student achievement using a multi-level fixed effects model. Results suggest that year-round schooling has essentially no impact on academic achievement of the average student. Moreover, when the data are broken out by race, we find no evidence that any racial subgroup benefits from year-round schooling. (JEL H75, I21, I28, J24)
Abstract: In recent years a literature has developed that brings insights from virtue-based ethic... more Abstract: In recent years a literature has developed that brings insights from virtue-based ethics to the field of economics. One of the most formidable challenges in this literature is the application of these insights to policy decision-making. This paper summarizes the literature on virtue ethics and economics before drawing on MacIntyre's account of virtues to argue the following. First, virtues are best conceived of, in economics, as capabilities for moral action. Second, these virtues are essential to the functioning of the economy. Finally, virtues are ...
Research Atlanta, 2000
This Census Issue focuses on the geographic distribution of persons and families that earn less t... more This Census Issue focuses on the geographic distribution of persons and families that earn less than the poverty level across census tracts within the 10-county ARC region. The geographic patterns of poverty for the Atlanta Region are illustrated and comparisons are made with the geographic distribution of poverty from the 1990 Census of Population.
Economics of Education Review, 2012
This study exploits a unique policy environment and a large panel dataset to evaluate the impact ... more This study exploits a unique policy environment and a large panel dataset to evaluate the impact of school crowding on student achievement in Wake County, NC. We also estimate the effects of two education policy initiatives that are often used to address crowding: multi-track year-round calendars and mobile classrooms. We estimate a multi-level fixed effects model to identify effects that are not confounded by other school, family, and individual characteristics. Results suggest that severely crowded schools have a negative impact on reading achievement but have no discernable impact on math achievement. Both mobile classrooms and year-round calendars are found to have a small negative impact on achievement in the absence of crowding, but a positive impact in crowded schools, though these policies are only able to partially offset the negative impact of crowding.
Several charter schools have shown great success in improving the academic performance of student... more Several charter schools have shown great success in improving the academic performance of students from low-performing school districts. It has been argued, however, that their success may be due to student selection. This paper tests of two aspects of these charter schools ’ reforms using nationally representative panel data on student behavior and academic performance. First, I examine a policy that increases the proportion of homework that students complete. Second, I examine the impact of increasing the amount of homework assigned. Previous studies have not been able to accurately estimate the impact of homework because of important omitted variables and measurement error, which strongly bias the estimated impact of homework time. This paper, however, uses an instrumental variables approach with student fixed effects to account for both time-varying and time-invariant unobserved characteristics and inputs. This approach produces estimates of the impact of homework time on academ...
Year-round academic calendars - calendars that do not increase the number of school days, but spr... more Year-round academic calendars - calendars that do not increase the number of school days, but spread them more evenly over the calendar year – have grown in popularity, spurring heated education policy debates across the country. Interestingly, while there has been much discussion regarding the pros and cons of the year-round calendar, data limitations have prevented other researchers from addressing these questions in a way that properly controls for unobserved student, family and school heterogeneity that can otherwise bias results. Using panel-level data from North Carolina we exploit a unique natural experiment created by an multi-school calendar change to evaluate the impact of year-round schooling on student achievement in Wake County, NC. We use a multi-level fixed effects approach to identify the impact of year-round schooling on achievement separate from the confounding impacts of other school, family, or individual characteristics. Consistent with the existing literature, ...
In recent scholarship, some prominent theologians have criticized the practice of economics as a ... more In recent scholarship, some prominent theologians have criticized the practice of economics as a discipline and profession. Their concerns center on a suspicion of modern social-scientific methods, as well as liberalism more broadly. Economic logic and language have become a dominant way to discuss public and private life, which is decried because of economists’ attempt to build a value-free reductionist framework. The focus of this conversation has been on the factvalue dichotomy, self-interest, and the application of economic logic to a wide array of human actions. I argue that modern economic methods must be understood as a way of pursuing methodological consensus in the midst of strongly contested ethical concerns. Moreover, while economic methods serve an important function, they cannot be free of a moral framework. Nevertheless, the goal of objectivity is one that economists can strive for in a limited sense, while still working within an explicitly normative framework.
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Oct 31, 2022
The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series
In contrast to the largely favorable view of property rights among economists, animal advocates h... more In contrast to the largely favorable view of property rights among economists, animal advocates have often espoused strong criticism of human ownership of other animals. This position is not universal in the animal rights literature, however, and the disagreements between animal ethicists can be enlightening. This chapter will examine the case for the abolition of human ownership of animals, sometimes referred to as “animal liberation.” Some of the most prominent animal advocates have placed this goal at the very center of their philosophy. I will argue, however, that animal liberation is a laudable goal, but not ideal, since retaining some kind of ownership—albeit reformed—could play an important role in maintaining peaceful human-animal relations.
Food Ethics, 2018
When consumers choose to abstain from purchasing meat, they face some uncertainty about whether t... more When consumers choose to abstain from purchasing meat, they face some uncertainty about whether their decisions will have an impact on the number of animals raised and killed. Consequentialists have argued that this uncertainty should not dissuade consumers from a vegetarian diet because the "expected" impact, or average impact, will be predictable. Recently, however, critics have argued that the expected marginal impact of a consumer change is likely to be much smaller or more radically unpredictable than previously thought. This objection to the consequentialist case for vegetarianism is known as the "causal inefficacy" (or "causal impotence") objection. In this paper, we argue that the inefficacy objection fails. First, we summarize the contours of the objection and the standard "expected impact" response to it. Second, we examine and rebut two contemporary attempts (by Mark Budolfson and Ted Warfield) to defeat the expected impact reply through alleged demonstrations of the inefficacy of abstaining from meat consumption. Third, we argue that there are good reasons to believe that single individual consumers-not just individual consumers taken as an aggregate-really do make a positive difference when they choose to abstain from meat consumption. Our case rests on three economic observations: (i) animal producers operate in a highly competitive environment, (ii) complex supply chains efficiently communicate some information about product demand, and (iii) consumers of plant-based meat alternatives have positive consumption spillover effects on other consumers.
Journal of Labor Research, 2011
This study examines the extent to which high school students respond to education and labor marke... more This study examines the extent to which high school students respond to education and labor market incentives when making decisions about homework. Student and state fixed effects estimators are used to control for unobserved individual and geographic heterogeneity and selection. I find that students' choices about homework respond to unemployment rates and changes in the minimum wage, but not to changes in the price of higher education. These responses are not constant throughout the population: female students, low income students, and low achieving students in particular increase their homework time in response to a higher minimum wage, while male students are more responsive to changes in the unemployment rate.
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2012
In 2007, 22 Wake County, North Carolina traditional calendar schools were switched to year-round ... more In 2007, 22 Wake County, North Carolina traditional calendar schools were switched to year-round calendars, spreading the 180 instructional days evenly across the year. This paper presents a human capital model to illustrate the conditions under which these calendars might affect achievement. We then exploit the natural experiment to evaluate the impact of year-round schooling on student achievement using a multi-level fixed effects model. Results suggest that year-round schooling has essentially no impact on academic achievement of the average student. Moreover, when the data are broken out by race, we find no evidence that any racial subgroup benefits from year-round schooling. (JEL H75, I21, I28, J24)
Abstract: In recent years a literature has developed that brings insights from virtue-based ethic... more Abstract: In recent years a literature has developed that brings insights from virtue-based ethics to the field of economics. One of the most formidable challenges in this literature is the application of these insights to policy decision-making. This paper summarizes the literature on virtue ethics and economics before drawing on MacIntyre's account of virtues to argue the following. First, virtues are best conceived of, in economics, as capabilities for moral action. Second, these virtues are essential to the functioning of the economy. Finally, virtues are ...
Research Atlanta, 2000
This Census Issue focuses on the geographic distribution of persons and families that earn less t... more This Census Issue focuses on the geographic distribution of persons and families that earn less than the poverty level across census tracts within the 10-county ARC region. The geographic patterns of poverty for the Atlanta Region are illustrated and comparisons are made with the geographic distribution of poverty from the 1990 Census of Population.
Economics of Education Review, 2012
This study exploits a unique policy environment and a large panel dataset to evaluate the impact ... more This study exploits a unique policy environment and a large panel dataset to evaluate the impact of school crowding on student achievement in Wake County, NC. We also estimate the effects of two education policy initiatives that are often used to address crowding: multi-track year-round calendars and mobile classrooms. We estimate a multi-level fixed effects model to identify effects that are not confounded by other school, family, and individual characteristics. Results suggest that severely crowded schools have a negative impact on reading achievement but have no discernable impact on math achievement. Both mobile classrooms and year-round calendars are found to have a small negative impact on achievement in the absence of crowding, but a positive impact in crowded schools, though these policies are only able to partially offset the negative impact of crowding.
Several charter schools have shown great success in improving the academic performance of student... more Several charter schools have shown great success in improving the academic performance of students from low-performing school districts. It has been argued, however, that their success may be due to student selection. This paper tests of two aspects of these charter schools ’ reforms using nationally representative panel data on student behavior and academic performance. First, I examine a policy that increases the proportion of homework that students complete. Second, I examine the impact of increasing the amount of homework assigned. Previous studies have not been able to accurately estimate the impact of homework because of important omitted variables and measurement error, which strongly bias the estimated impact of homework time. This paper, however, uses an instrumental variables approach with student fixed effects to account for both time-varying and time-invariant unobserved characteristics and inputs. This approach produces estimates of the impact of homework time on academ...
Year-round academic calendars - calendars that do not increase the number of school days, but spr... more Year-round academic calendars - calendars that do not increase the number of school days, but spread them more evenly over the calendar year – have grown in popularity, spurring heated education policy debates across the country. Interestingly, while there has been much discussion regarding the pros and cons of the year-round calendar, data limitations have prevented other researchers from addressing these questions in a way that properly controls for unobserved student, family and school heterogeneity that can otherwise bias results. Using panel-level data from North Carolina we exploit a unique natural experiment created by an multi-school calendar change to evaluate the impact of year-round schooling on student achievement in Wake County, NC. We use a multi-level fixed effects approach to identify the impact of year-round schooling on achievement separate from the confounding impacts of other school, family, or individual characteristics. Consistent with the existing literature, ...
In recent scholarship, some prominent theologians have criticized the practice of economics as a ... more In recent scholarship, some prominent theologians have criticized the practice of economics as a discipline and profession. Their concerns center on a suspicion of modern social-scientific methods, as well as liberalism more broadly. Economic logic and language have become a dominant way to discuss public and private life, which is decried because of economists’ attempt to build a value-free reductionist framework. The focus of this conversation has been on the factvalue dichotomy, self-interest, and the application of economic logic to a wide array of human actions. I argue that modern economic methods must be understood as a way of pursuing methodological consensus in the midst of strongly contested ethical concerns. Moreover, while economic methods serve an important function, they cannot be free of a moral framework. Nevertheless, the goal of objectivity is one that economists can strive for in a limited sense, while still working within an explicitly normative framework.