Lifelong learning represents a key response to the demographic challenge in Germany. In terms of professional success, not only hard skills but also soft skills hold importance. Indeed, the OECD competence tests PISA and PIAAC have come to the fore, although acquired skills are still relevant....

During the last decade knowledge about human behavior from psychology and sociology has enhanced the field of economics of education. By now research recognizes cognitive skills (as measured by achievement tests) and soft skills (personality traits not adequately measured by achievement tests)...

Die zentrale Antwort auf die demografische Herausforderung in Deutschland ist das lebenslange Lernen. Mit Blick auf den beruflichen Erfolg sind dabei nicht nur die hard skills, sondern auch die soft skills von Bedeutung. Kompetenzen wurden durch die OECD-Kompetenztests PISA und PIAAC zwar in den...

In economies characterized by low labor demand and high rates of youth unemployment, entrepreneurship training has the potential to enable youth to gain skills and create their own jobs. This paper presents experimental evidence on a new entrepreneurship track that provides business training and...

We study the causal impact of network centrality on educational outcomes using field experiments in primary schools in Bangladesh. After obtaining information on friendship networks, we randomly allocate students into groups and give them individual and group assignments. We find that groups...

This paper provides both a theoretical and an empirical investigation into the impact of job skill types on the black/white pay differentials. The theoretical analysis derives that the more intensively "soft"/"hard" skills are used in an occupation, the greater/smaller the black/white pay...

Despite being central to government education policy in many countries, there remains considerable debate about whether resources matter for pupil outcomes. In this paper we look at this question by considering an English education policy initiative - Excellence in Cities - which has been a...