We estimate the importance of teachers in Chicago public high schools using matched student-teacher administrative data. A one standard deviation, one semester improvement in math teacher quality raises student math scores by 0.13 grade equivalents or, over 1 year, roughly one-fifth of average...

The effects of Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism on educational attainment in the United States are examined. OLS estimates of educational attainment and Probit estimates of college attainment are undertaken. It is shown that Islam and Judaism have similar positive effects on attainment relative to...

The effects of cognitive ability as measured by test scores and educational attainment on the demand for alchol by young adults are estimated. Data are used from a followup survery of seniors in high school in the United States. For men and women six years after their senior year in high school,...

In this paper the effects of rural Catholic high schools on achievement in mathematics, high school graduation rates, and the likelihood that high school graduates go on to college are examined. Estimates that are corrected for selection bias indicate that rural Catholic high schools have a...

The effect of living in a less urban area on the probability of being happy is estimated. It is shown that less urban areas are associated with higher levels of happiness. Further, it is shown that respondents in the north region are less happy. Data from the National Opinion Research Center's...

Several new relationships ware indicated by this study. First, the percentage of adults with a college degree seems to increase welfare spending. As noted above, this does not necessarily imply that this group is particularly altruistic overall; higher AFDC levels could be encouraged by a...

The revealed residential choice of city versus suburbs within large metropolitan areas is examined with particular focus on families with children, especially those with college-educated parents. Probit and bivariate probit estimates are presented for 15 large metropolitan areas in the United...

Using data on individuals from the 2008 American Community Survey, we examine the relationship between educational attainment and the location of jobs in fifteen large metropolitan areas in the United States. We focus on whether individuals with higher educational attainment tend to work in the...