We exploit a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of parental education on educational outcomes of their children when they are high school seniors. In 1968, the Taiwanese government extended compulsory education from 6 to 9 years and opened over 150 new junior high schools at a differential rate among regions. We form treatment and…

Recent research suggests that investments in education may provide the key to reducing persistent poverty in regions such as Appalachia. A look at some trends in poverty and educational attainment in Appalachia over the past two decades confirms that the two are strongly related. (A list of recommended readings is included. Contains 4 figures.)

This paper estimates changes in the effects of educational attainment and college quality on three cohorts of students observed during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Consistent with most of the prior literature, I find that educational attainment and college quality raise earnings, and the magnitudes of these effects have increased over time. The…

Staffing each classroom with an effective teacher is the most important function of a school district. Doing so requires strategic personnel policies and smart practices. This analysis reviews the Seattle Public Schools' teacher policies linked most directly to teacher effectiveness. Ten policy goals frame the analysis. Each of these goals is…

This policy brief investigates factors affecting New England's supply of recent college graduates and how those factors have changed over time, and suggests steps that states might take to expand this source of skilled labor. (Contains 3 figures.) [This brief summarizes analysis in NEPPC research report 08-1: "The Future of the Skilled Labor…

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the authors consider how parental education relates to four separate outcomes in the children's generation: education, lifetime earnings, health and (financial) wealth. They relate parents' educational ranks to children's ranks on these four outcomes. By focusing on ranks, they are able to see…

Concentration on school attainment goals without close attention to school quality has hurt developing countries. Recent evidence shows that individual incomes, the distribution of income, and economic growth rates are all closely related to the cognitive skills of the population. While direct evidence from developing countries is thin, the…

This paper uses the approach in the under/over education literature to analyze the extent of matching of educational level to occupational attainment among adult native born and foreign born men in the US, using the 2000 Census. Overeducation is found to be more common among recent labor market entrants, while undereducation is more likely among…

While public attention remains focused on the highest unemployment numbers in a generation, New York City is drifting toward a structural crisis with which policy makers could be grappling long after the recession fades to a bad memory. Even as the concerns about financial capital that spurred the downturn begin to subside, public officials must…

This study analyzes the effects of human, social, and financial capital on children's home environments in the United States and Great Britain by comparing a sample of 5- to 13-year-old children from the United States with a similar sample from Britain. In both countries, the authors find weaker home environments for boys, minority children, and…

Researchers often identify degree effects by including degree attainment ("D") and years of schooling ("S") in a wage model, yet the source of independent variation in these measures is not well understood. We argue that "S" is negatively correlated with ability among degree-holders because the most able graduate the…

This paper analyses the relation between two important aspects of human capital: education and health. The contribution of our paper to the literature is three-fold: some further tests for causality in the relation between education and health are provided; it is tested whether results are affected by scale of reference bias and unobserved…

This dissertation examines issues regarding the educational attainment of the U.S. workforce. Specifically, I investigate the impact of various factors on the growth of postsecondary educational attainment. This includes issues pertaining to improving the skill-level of the workforce at the regional or state level, as well as for the domestic…

California's community colleges are key to resolving the shortage of educated workers that is threatening the competitive position of the state's economy. Tremendous potential for addressing this challenge resides in the system's career technical education (CTE) mission which, with appropriate structures and support, could help many more students…

We explore the effect of bullying at school on the educational attainment of a sample of individuals drawn from the British National Child Development Study (NCDS). Our empirical findings suggest that school bullying has an adverse effect on human capital accumulation both at and beyond school. Moreover, the impact of bullying on educational…