In this paper we apply a semi-parametric approach (quantile regression - QR) to the last 2007 wave of the EU-SILC data set, in order to explore the connection between education and wage inequality in 8 European countries. We find that wages increase with education and this holds true across the...

In this paper we investigate whether inequality in the inter-industry wage premia may be explained by unobserved differences in workers’ educational skills. We use the 2007 EU-SILC data set for Portugal, a nation which can be considered a case-study, due to its high inter-industry wage...

International research has shown that schooling enhances within-groups wage dispersion. This assessment is typically based on private sector data and, up to date, the inequality implications of schooling have not been documented for the public sector. This paper uses recent data from eight...

Using a rich dataset of primary school students in the Netherlands, this paper investigates the heterogeneous effects of immigrant concentration in the classroom on the academic achievement of natives. To identify the treatment effect, it takes advantage of some features of the Dutch primary...

In this paper we investigate the effects of class size on the achievements of a sample of college students enrolled at a middle-sized Italian public university. To estimate the effects of class size we exploit the exogenous variations in class size determined by a maximum class size rule...

This study uses longitudinal student-level test score data to examine the effectiveness of elementary teachers and schools in Los Angeles. The results show that teacher effectiveness varies widely both across the Los Angeles school district and within district schools. Controlling for student...

This study uses value-added methods to examine the effectiveness of Los Angeles elementary teachers and schools. The results show that teacher effectiveness varies substantially across the school district. Most of the variance in teacher effectiveness is within schools and not across schools....

This paper sheds light on the role of student motivation in the success of schooling. We develop a model in which a teacher engages in the management of student motivation through the choice of the classroom environment. We show that the teacher is able to motivate high-ability students, at...

Our results show that high-income families place significantly higher value on academic achievement than low-income families. High-income families are also more likely to penalize house price for non-desirable non-academic school quality. This paper uses quantile regression to examine the...

Using a panel of international student test scores 1980 – 2000 (PISA and TIMSS), panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of educational spending.