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University students' latent attitudes toward capitalism were quantified and used to predict self-reported cheating behaviors. Results suggest that the relationship between student academic dishonesty and attitudes toward capitalism are complex. Students indicating a strong degree of risk aversion are less likely to report cheating behaviors. Students demonstrating a preference for equality over efficiency, while no more likely to be cheaters, may cheat more often. Efficiency-minded students do not appear to be more likely to cheat, but may engage in fewer instances of cheating. Implications for curriculum development in economics and business programs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several studies suggest that there is a statistically significant, positive relationship between education expenditures and economic growth in the U.S. states and among developed countries. Conversely, some literature suggests that there is no link between education spending and economic growth. There are several explanations given for the lack of a link between spending and growth including higher levels of taxation dampening growth, spending on administration instead of teaching, and poor student-teacher ratios. Our analysis of county level expenditures and demographics finds that it is not the expenditures that matter but the educational attainment level of the workforce. While a locally provided high school degree is still important, it is no longer an end but a means toward attaining a college degree, potentially obtained outside the jurisdiction. These results imply that local development officials must do more than spend on primary and secondary education; they must attract and/or retain college educated individuals as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to 2009, a mid-sized public institution in the southeast had a faculty-driven honor policy characterized by little education about the policy and no tracking of repeat offenders. An updated code, implemented in August of 2009, required that students sign an honor pledge, created a formal student honor board, and developed a process to track and hold accountable, repeat offenders. Self-reported data on faculty vigilance to detect and punish cheating is collected both prior to and after a change in the honor code at a mid-sized public institution in the southeast. We find that, at the time of the first survey, full professors and faculty with a longer duration of employment were more likely to claim vigilance in cheating detection and harshness in punishing cheaters than newer, untenured faculty. The relationship between these factors and detection and harshness diminished when the honor code was enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]