Economic theory advances various arguments in favor of and against privatizing education. In this paper we investigate the extent to which these arguments influence voters’ opinions. We analyze two popular referenda in which some 400,000 voters in two Swiss cantons expressed their opinions on...

In this paper I scrutinize the impact of employment on time-to-degree in Higher Education. In contrast to the previous literature, I look at different types of working while being enrolled at university. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), I find that full-time employment and...

This paper examines whether government ideology has influenced the allocation of public expenditures in OECD countries. I analyze two datasets that report different expenditure categories and cover the time periods 1970-1997 and 1990-2006, respectively. The results suggest that government...

We analyze educational institutions’ incentives to set up demanding or lax curricula in duopolistic markets for education with endogenous enrolment of students. We assume that there is a positive externality of student achievement on the local economy. Comparing the case of regulated tuition...

We examine the impact of tuition fees for long term students at the University of Konstanz. Applying duration analysis to examine how tuition fees influence when and how students finish their studies in six different majors, we find significant effects with respect to the hazard rates of the...

Many European universities face demands to provide excellent education and to enrol more students at the same time. With scarce financial resources policy makers concentrate on regulations (especially admission policies, tuition fees, and the introduction of competition) to meet the different...

The paper contributes to the literature on ability grouping in schools by taking student incentives into account. Education provides both a signal on unobservable ability and improves productivity after education. Sorting sets better incentives in primary education and allows for improved peer...

We study whether early tracking of students based on ability increases migrant-native achievement gaps. To eliminate confounding impacts of unobserved country traits, we employ a differences-in-differences strategy that exploits international variation in the age of tracking as well as student...

The presented model demonstrates how the coexistence of reciprocal and selfish types influences the formation of employment relationships, their profitability, wage differentials, wage competition, and unemployment in the presence of moral hazard. Wage and profitability differentials result from...

A two country model of trade between a flexiwage and a minimum wage economy or two mmjmum wage economies is developed. The main novelty is that there are three factors of production: capital, skilled and unskilled labour. This unlocks the terms of trade. Unskilled labour is subject to the same...