This paper evaluates average educational performance effects of an expanding independent- school sector at the compulsory level by assessing a radical voucher reform that was implemented in Sweden in 1992. Starting from a situation where all public schools were essentially local monopolists, the...

There are large differences in income and education levels, unemployment and ethnic composition between neighbourhoods. An interesting question is whether a neighbourhood’s characteristics affect the behaviour of its residents. This paper investigates neighbourhood effects on youths’ post...

In Sweden, children typically start compulsary school the year they turn seven. Individuals born just before or just after the new year, have about the same date of birth but start school att different ages. We exploit this source of exogenous variation, to identify the effects of age at school...

This study investigates the importance of gender and ethnic interactions among teachers and students for school performance in Swedish, English and Mathematics. School leaving certificates assigned by the teacher is compared with results on comprehensive national tests. The analysis is based on...

Mixed-aged classes (MA-classes) are a common phenomenon around the world. In Sweden, these types of classes increased rapidly during the 1980:s and 1990:s. But the scientific evidence of the benefits of MA-classes is not convincing. In this paper, we estimate the effect of attending an MA-class...

In most countries the number of places at the universities is restricted. This paper estimates the effect of university enrollment constraints in 1982 on years of education and earnings in Sweden 1981-96. The effect on educational attainment is related to labor market performance, to estimate...

In this paper we explore the composition of students, the study length towards diploma, and examine the likelihood of diploma, all with respect to parenthood. Few get children while enrolled in higher education, nevertheless one fourth of female university students in Sweden has children. In...

This paper focuses on the predictive validity of the upper secondary grade point average (GPA), when used as selection instrument to higher education. The purpose of the paper is to find out if the predictive strength of the GPA is affected by time, here measured as the time that has passed...

This paper examines teachers’ mobility in response to exogenous changes in the credentials of their students using data from Stockholm high schools. I explore a major admission reform that lead to the reshuffling of students between schools within the municipality of Stockholm. The results...

This paper examines the job mobility of teachers with different skills using matched employer-employee data from Swedish secondary schools. In addition to standard quality measures, I have access to population-wide data on cognitive and non-cognitive assessments of males born in 1951 or later....