The province of Ontario has two publicly funded school systems: secular schools (known as public schools) that are open to all students, and separate schools that are limited to children with Catholic backgrounds. A simple model of inter-system competition predicts that incentives for effort are...

We analyze how fatal shootings in high schools affect schools and students using data from shooting databases, school report cards, and the Common Core of Data. We examine schools’ test scores, enrollment, and number of teachers, as well as graduation, attendance, and suspension rates at...

Canada’s population has been aging steadily for several decades. In 1976, the median age of men in the population was only 27.2 years, but by 2013, had risen to 39.4 years. The trend reflects both an increase in the life expectancy of Canadians at birth and also the impact of the aging...

In this paper, we document the post-displacement employment patterns observed between 1979 and 2004 for displaced workers aged 50 to 54. We uncover four key patterns. First, we detect no upward trend in the re-employment rates of male displaced workers in the aggregate, in manufacturing or...

Using micro data and grouped data that cover the period 1996-2006, we assess the extent to which cohabiting women adjust their labour supply to a lesser extent, if any, than married women in response to changes in male wages. Both micro data regressions and grouping estimators unambiguously...

As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as: hiring and firing teachers, monitoring instruction, and maintaining student discipline, among others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in student math and reading achievement...

We use a large, rich Canadian micro-level dataset to examine the channels through which family socio-economic status and unobservable characteristics affect children's decisions to drop out of high school. First, we document the strength of observable socio-economic factors: our data suggest...

Studies based on instrumental variable techniques suggest that the value of a high school education is large for potential dropouts, yet we know much less about the size of the benefiÂ…t for students who will go on to post-secondary education. To help Â…fill this gap, I measure the...

We use administrative data on students in grades 4 and 7 in British Columbia to examine the extent to which differences in school environment contribute to the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students as measured by standardized test scores. We find that segregation of...

This study investigates the causal effects of education on individuals’ adaptability to employment shocks. Specifically, we assess the extent to which education influences re-employment success for unemployed workers. We also examine the impact of education on job search intensity, one...