This paper develops a new measure of human capital, calculated as a cohort-weighted average of the quality of education (PISA scores) and the quantity of education (mean years of schooling). Contrary to the existing studies, the relative weights of quality and quantity are estimated (and not calibrated). The quality of education is estimated to be…

This study examines the impact of fluctuations in the unemployment rate before high school graduation on educational attainment measured 30 years later. I find evidence that important heterogeneity is masked by estimating average effects across the ability distribution. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this analysis…

This paper analyses immigrants' educational mismatch and its impact on wages in Spain. The incidence of immigrants' education-occupation mismatch in the Spanish labour market can largely be explained by the mismatch in the last job held in the home country. The probability of having been over-educated in the home country has a higher effect on the…

This paper documents changes in the entire ability distribution of individuals entering the teaching profession using the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and a constructed Armed Force Qualifying Test score that allows direct comparison of ability between cohorts. Such direct comparison between cohorts was…

Building on earlier work that explored within-student variation in hours of instruction across school subjects, we investigate the impact of instruction time on student test scores in Switzerland, as measured by the PISA 2009 test. Our results confirm the results of previous studies of a positive effect of instruction time on student performance.…

This paper contributes to the class size literature by analysing whether short-run class size effects are constant across grade levels in compulsory school. Results are based on administrative data on all pupils enrolled in Danish public schools. Identification is based on a government-imposed class size cap that creates exogenous variation in…

This paper analyzes the impact of university quality, family background and mismatch on the wages of young Italian graduates. An empirical analysis is undertaken using a representative sample of graduates merged with a dataset containing information on the characteristics of universities. By utilizing quantile regression techniques, some evidence…

This study investigates the impact of ethnic diversity on test scores, on top of the effect of the share of non-native pupils. We use a rich survey of Dutch primary school students and exploit variations between subsequent cohorts within the same school as our identification strategy. We find that ethnic diversity has a positive impact on the test…

The objective of this paper is to better understand the factors that affect the chances of re-engaging early school leavers in education, with a particular focus on the importance of time out from school (duration dependence) and school-related factors. Using data from three cohorts of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth and duration…

This paper investigates the impact of early noncognitive skills on social outcomes in adolescence. The child's attention span, approach, prevailing mood and distractibility in early childhood may be crucial predictors for school achievements, health risk behavior, delinquency and autonomy as adolescent. We investigate this issue using a…

This paper examines the wage returns to qualifications and academic disciplines in the Greek labour market. Exploring wage responsiveness across various degree subjects in Greece is interesting, as it is characterised by high levels of graduate unemployment, which vary considerably with the field of study, and relatively low levels of wage…

Previous research has suggested a positive intergenerational relationship between a parent's childhood cognitive skill level and their own children's skill levels. Yet we also know that individuals' skill levels change during childhood and into adulthood, not least as a result of their education, training and work experience. Thus parents' adult…

Important changes characterize the recent evolution of the schooling of workers in Portugal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consequences of those changes in the gender wage gap. In particular, we analyze and compare the way that this process has evolved in the groups of young workers and older workers. Our findings suggest that…