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This paper uses both the stochastic and nonstochastic production function approach to measure technical efficiency in public education in Utah. The stochastic specification estimates technical efficiency, assuming half normal and exponential distributions. The nonstochastic specification uses two-stage DEA to separate the effects of fixed inputs on the measure of technical efficiency. The empirical analysis shows substantial variation in efficiency among school districts. While these measures are insensitive to the specific distributional assumptions about the one-sided component of the error term in stochastic specification, they are sensitive to the treatment of fixed socioeconomic inputs in the two-stage DEA.

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on income inequality distribution in 60 developed, transitional, and developing countries. Using Kearney's (2002, 2003 and 2004) data and principal component analysis (PCA), two globalization indices are created. One of these indices is the equally weighted index. The other index is derived from the principal component analysis. The Gini coefficient of a country is regressed on each index, respectively, in all 60 test cases. The main contribution of this paper is its finding of a negative relationship between both globalization indices and the Gini coefficient for all 60 countries under investigation. Furthermore, test results indicate that this relationship is robust. Therefore, the empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the claim that globalization helps reduce income distribution inequality within countries.

Objective: To gather pilot data on the economic impact of terminal illness on families and on the feasibility of training caregivers as a method of stemming illness-related poverty.