This study expands the literature on the determinants of educational attainment by analyzing the effects of birth order in Germany. These effects are typically attributed to sibling rivalry for parental resources. Using data from the German Life History Study on birth cohorts 1945-1978, we find...

A large number of econometric studies have examined the impact of central exit examinations on student attainment and repeatedly found a positive effect. This paper contributes to clarify the term central exit examination by distinguishing between central assignment and central grading. For this...

Using PIRLS 2001 and PISA 2003 data for Germany, this paper examines whether second-generation immigrants and girls are graded worse in math than comparable natives and boys, respectively. Once all grading-relevant characteristics, namely math skills and oral participation, are accounted for,...