Over the past decade there has been a large increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer fully online courses and blended courses (courses with a face-to-face component and with an online component). The number of students enrolling in these courses has also increased. These courses are less costly for universities to offer and provide students with more flexibility than traditional classes. However, the effect of these courses on student learning remains unclear. This study examines the effect of blended learning on a specific student learning outcome in introductory economics courses. The effect of blending on learning is determined by comparing scores on quizzes and exams between students in a blended course (the treatment) and students in a traditional face-to-face course (the control). This study accounts for the potential bias due to non-random selection into treatment by using propensity score matching. The results indicate no significant effects of blending on student learning. JEL Classification: A22; I20; I21

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Over the past decade, there has been a large increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer fully online courses and blended courses (courses with a face‐to‐face component and with an online component). The number of students enrolling in these courses has also increased. These courses are less costly for universities to offer and provide students with more flexibility than traditional classes. This study examines the relationship between online learning and knowledge retention in introductory economics courses. Student assessment data are matched to transcript and demographic information to control for individual student attributes. Using a differences‐in‐differences matching estimator, we determine the effect online coursework has on knowledge retention by comparing performance on the assessment. Results suggest that while there is no significant difference in student learning, students in more traditional, technology‐free courses retain the material better than students.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was intended to improve corporate governanceand increase the transparency of financial audits. The legislation also could havesignificant effects on the public accounting industry. This study finds evidence ofhigher audit fees across all firms resulting from compliance with the law. However,after accounting for self-selection of auditors, we do not find evidence that thesize of the audit firm affects the magnitude of the audit fee increase.

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