This paper analyzes four instruments that are widely used to measure the quality of centers serving children ages 0 to 36 months - the CLASS, the ITERS-R, the CC-IT-HOME, and the MITRCC - and that were administered to a sample of 404 child care centers in Ecuador. We first assess the...

We show that grading standards for primary school exams in England have triggered an inflation of quality indicators in the national performance tables for almost two decades. The cumulative effects have resulted in significant differences in the quality signaled to parents for otherwise...

In this paper we apply a real-option model to study the effects of tax rate uncertainty on a firm's decisions. In doing so, we depart from the relevant literature, which focuses on fully equity-financed investment projects. By letting a representative firm borrow optimally, we show that debt...