This paper presents economic models of child development that capture the essence of recent findings from the empirical literature on skill formation. The goal of this essay is to provide a theoretical framework for interpreting the evidence from a vast empirical literature, for guiding the next...

In the public discourse, education is usually considered as the main vehicle for the promotion of social equality and social mobility. The paper surveys the existing literature and concludes that the relationship between education and inequality in Greece is strong. Inequities are evident at all...

There is an urgent need to reform the educational system to achieve universal primary education in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Even after 35 years of Independence, PNG has been struggling to educate an estimated 2 million elementary and primary aged children and faces numerous challenges in...

This paper uses U.S. Current Population Survey data to develop new "dynamic" and "expected dynamic" rates of return to education for synthetic cohorts of males and females for 1967-95 that take trends in earnings at older ages and annual changes in education institutional costs into account....

We estimate the impact of increases in Federal student aid and funding, such as the recently proposed American Graduation Initiative (AGI), on the outcomes of community colleges, including enrollments, list and average tuitions, and variables related to educational quality. We develop a model of...

This paper attempts to assess outcomes of school system decentralization in Poland. National examination results are analyzed using the value-added model of teaching quality. Variation in decentralized spending is related to estimates of achievement growth. Exploring exam results for three...

New York State provides aid to local schools through a confusing maze of aid programs that are, according to many commentators, unfair to the neediest school districts, often defined as those with many students who are poor or otherwise "at risk." For example, New York City, which, by any...