The value of schooling depends on how effectively employers make use of students’ skills when they enter the work force. I show that in 14 of 19 countries, the initial effect of schooling on earnings is smaller than its average effect over the life of the worker. Three countries, the U.S.,...

Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson [2001] present evidence that colonies with inclusive and extractive institutions have grown at different rates since colonial times. I examine whether their findings are consistent with the estimated effects of schooling and experience on earnings over workers’...

I use data on cumulative tests, positive tests, and deaths for the coronavirus in South Korea and the U.S. lower-48 states during April 2020 to estimate the extent of infection and the unidentified share of the infected population in each state and in the U.S. as a whole on April 11, 2020. I...

I investigate whether the cross-sectional data on cumulative (symptomatic) cases of coronavirus in the 48 contiguous states of the U.S. at the end of March 2020 provide any evidence that the rate of transmission of the virus declines at higher temperatures. Average temperatures in March varied...

I use data on cumulative tests, positive tests, and deaths for COVID-19 in South Korea and in the lower-48 U.S. states during April and May 2020 to estimate the extent of infection and the unidentified share of the cumulative infected population in each state and in New York City on May 1, 2020....

Institutionalists argue that there are proximate and fundamental causes of economic development. I apply this theory to examine whether national culture is the fundamental cause of student achievement across countries, while family, school, and school system characteristics are the proximate...

Penn World Table (PWT) 7.0 is the newest PWT data set, based in part on benchmarked prices collected in 2005. In theory the data in PWT 7.0 should be more accurate than the data in PWT 6.3 since 1996 and similar in earlier years. I show that PWT 7.0 GDP/capita and price data for 1970 to 1996...

Using a dynamic augmented Solow model, I estimate the effect of students’ schooling attainment, schooling expenditures, and students’ test scores on growth rates over the period 1985-2005. I also estimate the effect of related measures for human capital stocks on national income in a static...

U.S. students in different ethnic groups have very different average scores on the PISA 2012 mathematics and reading tests, with Blacks and Hispanics showing negative gaps relative to White students and Asians showing a positive gap. I investigate whether a student's family characteristics or...