The paper contrasts the pattern of returns to human capital in different economic sectors. As job mobility, especially across sectors, is limited, it is argued that coefficients of experience in earnings regressions may capture or be interpreted as the growth rate – net of depreciation – of...

In this paper, the efficiency of human capital investments is evaluated in the light of inadequate educational careers and skill obsolescence. Assuming heterogeneous returns to schooling and overeducation we use the potential outcome approach to measure the causal effect of human capital...

This paper analysis the robustness of the causal relationship between schooling and wages. Different estimators and instruments are compared under the assumption of heterogeneous returns to schooling. A data set from Germany is employed. It is shown that the results depend crucially on the...

We study semiparametric two-step estimators which have the same structure as parametric doubly robust estimators in their second step, but retain a fully nonparametric specification in the first step. Such estimators exist in many economic applications, including a wide range of missing data and...

Over the past few decades, Colombia’s education system has been growing in terms of access and coverage. However, this development has taken place mainly in bigger cities, and displays an agglomeration of graduates in tertiary education. The purpose of this article is to test this hypothesis...

In this paper we employ techniques developed in spatial econometrics to analyse spatial patterns of technology diffusion, to detect clusters and to estimate theoretical models that incorporate space explicitly. These techniques correct for misspecifications resulting from the omission of spatial...

The positive impact of early intervention on children's cognitive and behavioural outcomes is now well-recognized in the developed world. However, little is known about whether these programs confer similar benefits in developing countries. This paper focuses on the effect of preschool...

We study the debate relative to grade retention in the educational system. We first consider the practice of grade retention from the point of view of economic analysis. We then study the specific statistical and econometric problems posed by the measurement of the treatment effects of grade...

The paper investigates and tests the hypothesis that the intelligent and educated people are honest taxpayer citizens. In order to validate this hypothesis, the empirical part follows a cross-sectional approach, with OLS and robust estimations, across 55 countries. Considering the IQ as main...

Decentralization of the delivery of public services provision is an important governance reform recently witnessed in many developing countries. Public education has been one of the key public services devolved to lower level governments. This paper uses an exclusive and rich longitudinal data...