Students in some countries do far better on international achievement tests than students in other countries. Is this all due to differences in what students bring with them to school - socio-economic background, cultural factors, and the like? Or do school systems make a difference? This essay...

It is recognised that expressive preferences may play a major role in determining voting decisions because the low probability of being decisive in elections undermines standard instrumental reasoning. Expressive and instrumental preferences may deviate and in electoral settings it is more...

1. Introduction: The Rise and Puzzling Fall of the Swedish Educational System -- 2. The Silver Age of Swedish Education -- 3. Educational Performance in Swedish Schools—What Are the Facts? -- 4. The Malaise in the School System -- 5. Two Views of Knowledge and Teaching -- 6. The Rise of...

This paper offers an explanation for the widespread phenomenon of uniform public schooling, which is viewed here as a way for the government to precommit itself to restraints on future income redistribution. Such precommitment is likely to enhance accumulation of human capital, to bolster...

We investigate equilibrium impacts of federal policies such as free-college proposals, taking into account that human capital production is cumulative and that state governments have resource constraints. In the model, a state government cares about household welfare and aggregate educational...

Good education changes lives. It is therefore unsurprising that improved schooling plays a central part in most development strategies. At the same time, the expansion of school attainment alone is not sufficient to guarantee improved welfare. This book focuses on one country in West Africa,...

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Albert Jay Nock: Pessimism about Education by State or Market -- Chapter 3: Frank Chodorov: Consumer Sovereignty, Markets in Education, and “A School on Every Corner” -- Chapter 4: Ayn Rand: Isabel Paterson, Private Education for a Free Society, and...

1. Introduction: Education and Human Capital, Current Debates, and Policy Imperatives -- 2. Unpacking the Rhetorical Equity for Development: Is Equity Available in an Unequal Society? -- 3. Educational Expansion in Africa (1965–2010): Implications for Economic Inequality between Countries --...

This paper estimates the marginal returns to college for individuals induced to enroll in college by different marginal policy changes. The recent instrumental variables literature seeks to estimate this parameter, but in general it does so only under strong assumptions that are tested and found...