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The flipped classroom has been proposed as a teaching method with the potential to enhance student learning by removing much of the \"transmission of knowledge\" from the classroom and replacing this with active learning approaches that enable the assimilation of information. This article analyzes the impact of a flipped undergraduate economics course that leverages an existing suite of online lectures by Khan Academy. The study employs a quasiexperimental design to evaluate the impact of two different flipped treatments on an undergraduate microeconomics principles final exam. Student achievement is compared for students in (i) a \"traditional\" undergraduate course; (ii) a \"complemented\" (or partially flipped) classroom including traditional \"mini\" lectures complemented with online video lectures assigned as homework; and (iii) a flipped classroom. Results suggest that students in both of the flipped courses scored between 4 and 14 percentage points higher on set of common questions and a cumulative final exam.

Numerous studies have documented declines in the abundance of reef-building corals over the last several decades and in some but not all cases, phase shifts to dominance by macroalgae have occurred. These assessments, however, often ignore the remainder of the benthos and thus provide limited information on the present-day structure and function of coral reef communities. Here, using an unprecedentedly large dataset collected within the last 10 years across 56 islands spanning five archipelagos in the central Pacific, we examine how benthic reef communities differ in the presence and absence of human populations. Using islands as replicates, we examine whether benthic community structure is associated with human habitation within and among archipelagos and across latitude. While there was no evidence for coral to macroalgal phase shifts across our dataset we did find that the majority of reefs on inhabited islands were dominated by fleshy non-reef-building organisms (turf algae, fleshy macroalgae and non-calcifying invertebrates). By contrast, benthic communities from uninhabited islands were more variable but in general supported more calcifiers and active reef builders (stony corals and crustose coralline algae). Our results suggest that cumulative human impacts across the central Pacific may be causing a reduction in the abundance of reef builders resulting in island scale phase shifts to dominance by fleshy organisms.

Economists largely agree that writing is fundamental to understanding and communicating economics and can serve as an effective way to teach students to \"think like economists.\" However, only a small percentage of programs include writing-intensive courses, a major research paper, or a senior thesis, and even fewer devote class time to the writing process. This article provides a multi-dimensional classification of process-based writing assignments that are categorized according to two criteria: writing skill and economic understanding, and outlines how economists can use these approaches in a range of economic courses that do and do not include a research paper.

Agricultural expansion into tropical forests is believed to bring local economic benefits at the expense of global environmental costs. The resulting tension is reflected in Brazilian government policy. The national agrarian reform program has settled farm families in the Amazon region since the 1970s, with the expectation that they will clear forests in order to farm the land. On the other hand, recent Brazilian policy initiatives seek to reduce deforestation to mitigate climate change. We contribute to the policy debate that surrounds these dual goals for the Amazon by estimating the marginal effects of new agricultural land on the full income and assets of farm settlers over a 13-year period from 1996 to 2009. Using micro panel data from agrarian settlements where forest was being rapidly cleared, and controlling for factors that would otherwise confound the relationship, we estimate the effect of converting forest to agriculture on total household income to estimate the opportunity cost of conserving forest. Our measure of income reflects any re-allocation of resources by utility maximizing households and any productivity effects due to loss of forest ecosystem services. The estimated effect of new agricultural land on income is positive, but small relative to the income per hectare of previously cleared land. However, we show that income increases investment in physical assets, which raises households’ income generating capacity and future accumulation of assets. Thus, while there is only a small immediate income gain from clearing more forest, the long-term effects on wealth are still substantial. This demonstrates that given the right conditions, conversion of forest to agricultural land can be an impetus for asset accumulation by smallholders. It also highlights the importance of considering the indirect and long-term welfare benefits of new agricultural land when assessing the opportunity costs of forest conservation.

Each year high school football players sign letters of intent with college football programs. The NCAA governs this matching market with strict rules that are designed to protect amateurism. DuMond et al. (J Sports Econ 9(1):67–87, 2008) develop a model of athlete choice. I consider the matching puzzle from the program’s perspective: What factors increase the likelihood that a school will successfully recruit an athlete? Like DuMond et al., I find that the state of play matters. However, my results suggest that football programs are willing to recruit outside their borders. In addition, the results align with prior findings about cheating in the NCAA. This extends the literature on college sport recruiting and may provide insight into other matching puzzles in academic, medical, and business job markets.

This study used ratings to form teams of participants with different risk management competence levels to determine if a collectively optimised team performed a risk management exercise better than a marginally or a sub-optimised team. This paper also determined whether team performance was better than individual performance on a risk management exercise. An experimental group was split into three teams of six participants based on their individual risk scenario exercise outcomes. The collectively optimised team had at least one member rated as having some high-level or expert competency in one of the seven risk management process elements. So, jointly, the group had this competency level in all elements. Similarly, the marginally optimised team’s members were rated as having just above average or high-level competency in the seven elements. Likewise, the sub-optimised team’s members were rated as having just above average competency, just below average, or no competency in the seven elements. Each team undertook the risk scenario exercise, and two observers rated their performances, as recorded on a video camera. The results were that the collectively optimised team performed better in each of the seven risk management elements than the other teams (the marginally optimised or the sub-optimised team). However, a significant difference was only evident between the collectively optimised and sub-optimised teams across all elements. Also, the teams performed better in each of the seven elements than individuals. These results imply that a team collectively optimised in the seven elements of the risk management process can better perform a risk management process than a sub-optimised team. These competency outcomes could be used to assemble risk management teams that are collectively optimised, leading to better results from the risk management process.

Simple theoretical von Thünenian models of deforestation and agricultural expansion have been extensively studied in the literature but have not yet been adapted to reflect contemporary conservation paradigms, such as the emergence of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives, related payments for forest conservation, and payments for ecosystem services (PES) more broadly. We revisit Angelsen’s 1999 seminal adaptation of the 1826 von Thünenian model of deforestation and agricultural expansion and propose a “toy model” to incorporate the potential revenues from conservation payments and build on the concept of additionality in the payments for environmental services literature. As theorized, our extended model illustrates how such payments are more effective when they approach the profit margins of geographically peripherical crops that replace the forest. Moreover, it illustrates how conservation payments influence the agricultural frontier while quantifying the avoided deforestation area.

This study aims to test further the RISKometric previously developed by the authors. This paper is the second of three studies: it compares individuals’ RISKometric results in the first study with their performance in a risk scenario exercise in this second study; so, providing a reliability review for the RISKometric. A risk scenario exercise was developed that required participants to individually undertake a risk management process on a realistic, potentially hazardous event involving working at heights during simultaneous operations. Two observers assessed their responses, rating the participants’ competence in each of the seven risk management process elements. Twenty-six participants individually undertook the risk scenario exercise, known as round one. Analyses found that participants’ individual competence ratings given to them (by observers) when undertaking the risk scenario exercise were strongly and positively associated with the competence ratings given to them by their peers and downline colleagues in the RISKometric in an earlier study; for each of the seven elements in this second study. This finding supports the RISKometric as a useful tool for rating the competency of individuals in the seven elements of the risk management process. Work was also undertaken in preparation for a planned future third study whereby eight participants of the original 26 were selected to individually undertake the risk scenario exercise again to determine any difference in ratings, e.g., if there was a learning effect. The analysis found no significant difference over the two rounds.

In marine systems, algal abundance and community composition is often heavily influenced by top-down control by herbivores. As a result, examining the extent to which native herbivores exert grazing pressure on non-native marine algae can provide valuable insight into mechanisms controlling invasion success. The purpose of this study was to examine the grazing preferences of two common intertidal and subtidal herbivores on three congeneric species of marine algae with unique colonization histories in San Diego, California, USA, to determine if grazing pressure, or lack thereof, may help explain invasion success. We provide evidence that neither native Sargassum agardhianum, nor non-native Sargassum horneri, are particularly palatable to purple urchins or black turban snails, but that non-native Sargassum muticum is consumed by both native herbivores. We also provide evidence that when given a choice of all three species neither herbivore exhibits a significant grazing preference for any algal species. We suggest that other mechanisms may determine the invasion success of the two non-native algal species and the overall distribution and abundance patterns of these species, and we discuss potential directions for future work.

Ineffective and inefficient workforce involvement can negatively impact risk management practice for work health and safety (WHS) issues. Often the risk management process is undertaken by a single person, or by teams without a facilitator and without regard to the participants’ levels of competency in the risk management process. This study aimed to develop a tool to assess the competence of individuals in different elements of the risk management process and then review its reliability. This tool, termed the RISKometric, incorporated a 360° performance review method whereby peers upline and downline colleagues and the individual themselves gave competence ratings. The RISKometric was tested using 26 participants. Results showed that a significant positive relationship existed between the feedback given by peers and downline colleagues. Initial results gained from using the tool suggest it is able to discriminate the competence of participants, in each of the elements of risk management, through the opinions of self and others. In future research, we test assumptions through a further two studies. Firstly, that individuals’ RISKometric results are comparable with their performance in a risk scenario exercise; so, providing validity for the tool. Secondly, that a collectively-optimised team (formed using the Riskometric) can perform a risk assessment exercise better than marginally- or sub-optimised teams.