In this paper, we use data from the German PISA 2003 sample to study the effects of central exit examinations on student performance and student attitudes. Unlike earlier studies we use (i) a value-added measure to pin down the effect of central exit exams on learning in the last year before the...

We investigate the relative merits of unconditional cash transfers (UCT), conditional cash transfers (CCT), and the effects of improvements in education quality on efficiency and welfare. In our setting, some parents underinvest in their children's education because capital market imperfections...

Is it possible to compress instruction time into fewer school years without lowering education levels? A fundamental reform in Germany reduced the length of academic track schooling by one year, while increasing instruction hours in the remaining school years to provide students with a very...

We evaluate the impact of the Gambian hardship allowance, which provides a salary premium of 30–40% to primary school teachers in remote locations, on the distribution and characteristics of teachers across schools. A geographic discontinuity in the policy's implementation and the presence of...

This paper studies whether the introduction of tuition fees at public universities in some German states had a negative effect on enrollment, i.e., on the transition of high school graduates to public universities in Germany. In contrast to recent studies, we do not find a significant effect on...

This paper estimates the effects of statewide affirmative action bans on graduation rates within colleges and on the fraction of college entrants who become graduates of selective institutions. On net, affirmative action bans lead to fewer underrepresented minorities becoming graduates of...

There is significant unease with the state of college loans in the US, of which Stafford loans are the most common. One of the most important issues relates to the “repayment burden” (RB), the proportion of a debtor's income per period required to repay loans. RBs are fundamental to...

In this paper, I estimate the differential effects of compulsory schooling laws on school quality between black and white schools in the United States segregated South. I employ state-level data on length of school terms and pupil–teacher ratios to examine these responses. Other literature has...

Over the last decade many districts implemented performance pay incentives to reward teachers for improving student achievement. Economic theory suggests that these programs could alter teacher work effort, cooperation, and retention. Because teachers can choose to work in a performance pay...

Using data from a randomized experiment and fixed effect quantile regression (FEQR), we examine the effects of having a TFA teacher on test scores across the entire achievement distribution of primary school students in disadvantaged neighborhoods. While we generally find that TFA teachers...