By specifying different goals of educational spending across districts, it is found that input (spending) equality and cost minimization improve both the Gini indexes of the college admission rate and public educational spending per student across different districts for the case of Taiwan. While complete output equality is not feasible, the…

Beyond some contracted minimum, salaried workers' hours are largely chosen at the worker's discretion and should respond to the strength of contract incentives. Accordingly, we consider the response of teacher hours to accountability and school choice laws introduced in US public schools over the past two decades. Total weekly hours of full-time…

The strong correlation between having graduated from a selective college and success in the labor market has been robustly observed in many countries. There are two major explanations for this finding. One claims that graduating from a selective college assures success in the labor market in a causal sense due to better education, a better alumni…

Examines differences in the pattern of sheepskin effects (possession of an academic diploma) across a full set of union, nonunion, public, and private labor markets. Sheepskin effects (and resultant screening evidence) are strongest in the private sector, nonunion labor markets and virtually absent in any public sector or unionized labor markets.…

Provides microeconomic estimates of the returns to education in Spain, using 1990 Spanish labor force survey data. The rate of return to education is higher for self-employed than for wage and salary workers. Secondary education is better compensated in the private sector, whereas a university education is better compensated in the public sector.…

This study provides estimates of the private returns to schooling in Palestine utilizing eight quarterly labor force surveys for 1999 and 2001. This period was chosen to investigate the differential impact of the Israeli closure policy on Palestinian male and female workers. Although gross enrollment ratios for males and females reveal little to…

Reestimates the P-test in the United Kingdom, correcting for the possible endogeneity of employment sector. Results do not support the strong screening hypothesis. After accounting for selectivity bias regarding choice of employment sector, the rate of return for the private sector is still higher than for the public sector. In 1985, an extra year…

Uses Greek data for 1981 and 1985 to test screening hypothesis by replicating method proposed by Psacharopoulos. Credentialism, or sheepskin effect of education, directly challenges human capital theory, which views education as a productivity augmenting process. Results do not support the strong version of the screening hypothesis and suggest…

Estimates separate earnings equations by employment sector and gender in Spain and identifies returns to human capital, based on 1990-91 household survey data. Public wages are higher, and civil servants more highly educated. However, the public sector pays lower returns to education and experience. Earnings advantage is largest for least skilled…

The book "Marketizing Education and Health in Developing Countries," edited by Christopher Colclough, examines five salient aspects of education and health care (cost recovery, public versus private alternatives, cost shifting, improved efficiency, and fiscal reforms) useful for examining national privatization efforts. A marriage of…

Including family background variables in the wage equation significantly decreases estimated returns to a worker's own schooling. Using data on family members' schooling, this paper identifies family background's substantial effects on returns to schooling in Taiwan. The father's schooling is more important than the mother's in explaining wage…