This paper tests the hypothesis that compulsory school attendance laws, which typically require school attendance until a specified birthday, induce a relationship between the years of schooling and age at school entry. Variation in school start age created by children's date of birth provides a...

This paper tests the hypothesis that compulsory school attendance laws, which typically require school attendance until a specified birthday, induce a relationship between the years of schooling and age at school entry. Variation in school start age created by children's date of birth provides a...

[...]The main conclusion from this review is that thewidely held belief that American schools have failed—thatthey are performing worse today than they have in the past,that a high school degree is no longer valuable, and thatadditional resources yield no benefits in the current system—is...