Econ 138 Writing Assignment 3
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Econ 138 Writing Assignment 3: DUE Feb 24 by 8 PM PST on Canvas
Please read all instructions both before you begin the assignment and after you complete it. I’ve included guides for using relevant Excel functions in the assignment instructions on Canvas.
In this writing assignment, you will analyze racial disparities in a data set about judge overrides in Alabama. These judge overrides occurred when a jury sentenced a defendant to life in prison, but the judge did not follow their ruling and instead sentenced the defendant to the death penalty. Please explain your answers thoroughly.
Steps:
1. (a) Download the provided data set, “WA3 Data on Alabama Judge Overrides.xlsx”. What
percent of overrides involve a Black defendant? A White defendant?
(b) Find the number of cases with a:
a. Black defendant and White victim
b. Black defendant and Black victim
c. White defendant and Black victim
d. White defendant and White victim
You can do these by hand or use the “COUNTIFS” function in Excel or any statistical software of your choice.
2. Black people constitute 26% of the population in Alabama. Are the differences in the override rates that you found sufficient to conclude that judges have racial bias? Explain your answer.
3. Sort the data by judge. If all judges and juries see the same proportion of Black/White defendants with random case assignment, find a judge that you think exhibits evidence consistent with racial bias against Black or White defendants. Explain your answer.
4. (a) Suppose you wanted to use the approach of Antonovics and Knight to determine whether
these judges are statistical discriminators. What additional data would you need and how you use it to determine whether there is statistical discrimination? (b) Suppose you are asked to design an algorithm that determines whether or not cases are overturned, with a goal of minimizing racial gaps in overturns. Assume that the algorithm would rely on data similar to the data you have dealt with for this assignment. Would you want this algorithm to be race-blind or race-seeing?
Format:
1. The informal word limit is 1000 words, but I will not take off points on this assignment if you are below/above that word count. This is only a rough length suggestion.
2. You should answer each step as a separate question. You do not need to write an introduction or conclusion. You do not need to restate the questions I asked. Focus on the economics; I am not going to judge the quality of your writing (so long as it is readable and relatively typo free), but rather the quality of the economic thought behind them. Write freely and then revise to express your ideas clearly and concisely.
3. You can write in the first person, using “I” statements.
4. To make it easier for me to read, use Times New Roman 12 point font with double-spaced lines. You must submit either a .doc or .pdf file.
5. Please follow APA style when discussing different racial/ethnic groups. Current APA style recommends using “South Asian people”, “South Asian Americans”, “South Asian folks”, etc. , rather than “South Asians”, for example. Use race/ethnicity in this way as a descriptor rather than as a noun for all groups. Additionally, always capitalize Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc. See the document posted in the assignment instructions if you would like more explanation.
6. You can cite any outside sources you use in Chicago, MLA, or whatever format you prefer. As long as I can find the source and read it myself, I won’t take off points for the style of your bibliography. Note that you should be able to complete this assignment without any outside sources.
7. Grading: The points are distributed across questions as follows. There is partial credit within questions, but no partial credit will be given for answers without evidence or careful reasoning. I will follow the below rubric. There is no partial credit within any of the subsections unless otherwise stated. I will take off 12.5 points (50%) for late submissions and I reserve the right to take off additional points for essays that did not follow the formatting guidelines.
|
Step 1 |
3 pts: 1.5 pts for each average 6 pts: 1.5 points for each part |
|
Step 2 |
4 pts: justification (2 pts partial) |
|
Step 3 |
4 pts: justification for biased judge ( 2pts partial) |
|
Step 4 |
4 pts: part a 4 pts: part b |
Academic Integrity: You are not permitted to discuss this writing assignment with anyone: other students, private tutors, friends, family, etc. If you desperately need to talk about your essay, I recommend thinking out-loud to a pet or a small child. You are permitted to use other written sources, but you need to cite them in the format of your choice. I strongly discourage against doing this because these questions are not easily searched, and you will likely end up plagiarizing (citing something can still be plagiarism when the ideas/language are copied). Your writing assignment will be automatically submitted to Turnitin when you submit it on Canvas. I will give a zero grade and report an Academic Integrity violation for anyone whose essay is similar to any written source or the essay of another student.
Late Assignments: The assignment closes at 8pm on Canvas. Please, if you are a procrastinator, treat the deadline as earlier than that. We cannot accept assignments on email. We will take off 12.5 points out of 25 for essays submitted within 24 hours of the deadline and cannot accept assignments after 24 hrs. Note that for late assignments, we will have to reopen the Canvas link for you, so you must email your TA Anjali Pai [email protected].
Excuses about wifi issues at the last minute will not be accepted so please submit early.
Regrading Policy: We do not have a regrade policy. You are more than welcome to come to office hours if you would like additional clarification on your grade.
Good luck, and I look forward to reading your essays!
2023-02-27