Correctional education is a prevalent form of rehabilitation programming for prisoners in the United States. There is limited evidence, however, about the labor market returns to credentials received while incarcerated. Using incarceration, educational, and labor market data in Washington State, we study the labor market returns to GEDs and…

This dissertation consists of two chapters, both of which study the wealth inequality using heterogenous agent general equilibrium model. In particular, the first chapter focuses on a government policy and its implications on wealth inequality. The second chapter incorporates cost to high return assets to generate realistic wealth mobility in the…

In this study we investigate the educational attainment of the labour force in the United States. Our data analysis, based on Bureau of Labour Statistics data in more than 700 occupations, produced two important findings. First, we observed that the Overeducation Ratio (share of employees that are overeducated), which began to rise in the United…

Virtual charter schools are increasingly popular, yet there is no research on the long-term outcomes of virtual charter students. We link statewide education records from Oregon with earnings information from IRS records housed at the U.S. Census Bureau to provide evidence on how virtual charter students fare as young adults. Virtual charter…

Blue-collar employment growth increases schooling opportunities by raising incomes, but also reduces incentives for some students to advance beyond compulsory education. These contradictory influences may help to explain relatively slow and uneven growth of progression to upper-secondary schooling in Vietnam, which has experienced a foreign…

This dissertation consists of three empirical studies that explore the educational experiences and trajectories of English learners (ELs) and students with disabilities. The first study uses longitudinal data from four large California school districts to examine the characteristics of long-term ELs (LTELs) and former ELs--those reclassified as…

This paper looks at the joint impact of labour market risk and selection into employment on returns to education estimates. The risk-adjusted returns to both high school and college for males are larger than unadjusted returns. For females, risk leads to an increase in returns to high school but to a "decrease" in the returns to college…

Some countries have certifying institutions for competence acquired at the workplace. These institutions provide incentives for workplace training that may have favourable effects on productivity, earnings and labour market participation. We present evidence on the earnings effects of attaining vocational qualifications in adulthood through two…

This study examines how the "college earnings premium" (CEP)--the difference in average earnings between workers with and without college education--varies across the United States. Specifically, it compares across cities, states, and rural areas the mean earnings of workers with bachelor's degrees to those with associate degrees, with…

Conventional wisdom regards a college degree as necessary for a well-paying job and a good life. By focusing on average earnings, this conventional wisdom obscures the enormous variability in outcomes at each education level; in fact, the top half of high school graduates earn in the same range as the bottom half of college graduates. However the…

When coping with the tight competition in the Asian Economic Community, career guidance from educators can be very beneficial to students. This research looks at vocational high schools in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia and aims to: see the attainments of vocational school graduates in labor markets, analyze guidance-counseling program to bridge…

What factors should come first in the choice of an educational programme or a future career for a ward? Is it the interest, potential, and passion of the ward or the ego of the guardian? Is it monetary consideration and social status that should be the criteria based upon which such a decision is made or the criterion of better prospects of a job…

The study was carried out to explore the trends in professional education in the middle class society of Karachi. The present study not only reviews the indicators of a middle class society of Karachi but also explores the interest and aptitude of parents belonging to this social class regarding the selection of professional education for future…

The impact of charter schools on early-life labor market outcomes using administrative data from Texas is estimated. It was found that, at the mean, charter schools have no impact on test scores and a negative impact on earnings. No Excuses charter schools increase test scores and four-year college enrollment, but have a small and statistically…

This paper examines the importance of "self-determination" and "hard work" found within interviews with a group of young people in Manchester, England. The author suggests that moments of apparent contradiction within the interviews have much to offer, particularly when analysed in relation to discussions of inequality and…