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Item Putting the "A" in AP: the effect of advanced course access on AP participation and performance(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2022) Callen, Ian Andrew; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Christiana Stoddard and Andrew HillThis paper investigates the effect of state-level policy regarding access to advanced course curriculum on participation and performance within the Advanced Placement (AP) program. From the early 2000's through 2019, participation in the Advanced Placement (AP) program, the most popular college-preparatory course in the United States, has nearly tripled in size. Today, nearly 20% of all high school students taking at least one AP exam per year. The AP program provides an opportunity for students to potentially earn college credit while still in high school which, at least in theory, reduces the cost of a college education. While the AP program provides many benefits to students, it also presents two major barriers - the ability to access advanced-level courses, and the monetary cost associated with taking the AP exam. We find that when states require schools to offer AP courses and when states fund AP exams, participation within the program increases drastically. For Black and Hispanic students, our estimates indicate a large increase in the number of exams that receive a passing score. These findings indicate that when states reduce the financial burden associated with taking an AP exam, students have the ability to participate and succeed in the program at higher rates than their peers in states without AP curriculum and exam funding.Item Availability of rural housing credit in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1964) Sargent, Robert L.Item School organization and costs in Judith Basin County(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1941) Marshall, Douglas G.Item Redlining in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2006) Schumacher, Joel Brent; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Vincent H. SmithRedlining is the practice of using the attributes of geographic location of a mortgage loan as the basis for differential and typically adverse treatment of an application. This is a particularly important social problem in the home mortgage market due to benefits which have been shown to be correlated with home ownership. Minority and low income applicants may find redlining to be a major barrier to obtaining home ownership and the benefits associated with being a home owner. This thesis uses a data set collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to examine the mortgage market in Montana. A major focus is the effects of redlining on Montana's American Indian populations many of whom face substantial housing problems. A theoretical model is developed as a framework for the empirical section of this thesis. The empirical results of this study indicate variables that directly affect the expected return of a loan are relevant to the lending decision. Other variables that do not directly affect the expected return of loan are also found to be important to the lending decision, suggesting that either economic or taste-based discrimination may be occurring. In particular, other things being equal, American Indians are approximately 8 to 10 percent more likely to have a mortgage application denied than are non-American Indians. In addition, regardless of ethnicity, applicants located on reservations are approximately 4 percent more likely to have their mortgage applications denied. These results indicate that American Indians may be subject to economic discrimination in which their ethnic profile is used as an indicator of the expected return for a mortgage loan. Further, the study provides some evidence that property rights in tribal reservations are less well defined than elsewhere, partly because of the vagaries of tribal courts under which these rights are adjudicated and enforced.Item Central bank holdings of foreign exchange reserves : why have they grown so fast?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2010) Gantt, Ryan Preston; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Douglas J. Young.The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed an historically unprecedented rise in the quantity of assets held as foreign exchange reserves by central banks. The locus of this rise has been in east Asia. By analyzing the change in reserve accumulation behavior which followed the financial crises that swept the globe in the late 1990s, this paper puts forth an explanation of the rise in East Asian reserve holdings based on increased sensitivity to perceived crisis risk by the Asian "Tigers" (including Japan and China). Our findings indicate that not only are reserve holdings worldwide higher since the end of the 1990s in real terms, but that the increase in East Asian reserve holdings has outpaced the rest of the world by a factor of 6. Empirical results corroborate the hypothesis that the relevant channel of influence for this change is through the interaction of exchange rate policy-specifically, a "fixed" exchange rate regime-and the extent to which a country engages in international trade.Item Equalization of school funding in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1996) Gilboy, John Joseph; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Douglas J. Young.In 1988 the First Judicial Court of Lewis and Clark County ruled that because of disparities in spending among districts and a heavy reliance on local property taxes, the school funding system in Montana did not provide an equal opportunity for education. The Montana State Legislature responded by passing House Bills 28 and 667 in attempts to reduce the reliance on local property taxes and to bring the expenditures among districts closer together. This thesis examines school budgets for a representative sample of 301 elementary districts and 118 high school districts for fiscal years 1989, 1991 and 1995. Districts are ranked by their general fund budget per pupil in each year. High spending districts (95th percentile) are then compared to low spending districts (5th percentile). The results indicate that spending disparities have diminished among both elementary and high school districts, and among most size groups as well. High spending districts, however, still commonly spend twice as much as low spending districts, far exceeding the 1.25 ratio which is the target of both federal regulations and the state's own program. Changes in state policy over this period first reduced and then increased district dependence on local property tax levies. When HB 28 was first implemented, the state picked up a larger share of budgets in most districts. Although much of the state's contribution was itself financed by property taxes, districts did not need to rely so much on their local levies. Between 1991 and 1995, however, state funding failed to keep pace with inflation and enrollment growth. The state also changed the rules governing district finances so that voter approval is often necessary. The result of these policies has been a growing reliance since 1991 on local mill levies, 'and increasing numbers of public votes on budget issues. These trends may run counter to the goal of equalization, while restraining overall spending.