This research examines whether teacher licensure test scores and other teacher qualifications affect high school student achievement. The results are based on longitudinal student-level data from Los Angeles. The achievement analysis uses a value-added approach that adjusts for both student and...

This paper is concerned with measuring health outcomes among the elderly in Zhejiang and Gansu provinces, China, and examining the relationships between different dimensions of health status and measures of socio-economic status (SES). The authors use the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal...

Recent studies show that financial literacy is strongly positively related to household wealth, but there is also substantial cross-sectional variation in both financial literacy and wealth levels. To explore these patterns, the authors develop a calibrated stochastic life cycle model which...

How do potential recruits decide to enlist in the military? What information do they seek on which to base career decisions? The Internet increasingly provides a medium for advertising and communication with recruiters and other potential recruits. The authors explored the influence of online...

The authors present a generalized solution to Grossman's model of health capital (1972), relaxing the widely used assumption that individuals can adjust their health stock instantaneously to an "optimal" level without adjustment costs. The Grossman model then predicts the existence of a health...

In this paper, the authors model gender differences in cognitive ability in China using a new sample of middle-aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the American Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), the CHARLS Pilot survey respondents are 45 years and older in two quite distinct...

For millions of Americans, financial advisors are a trusted source of financial and retirement preparation information. This includes providing advice and information on Social Security benefits, a critical component of most Americans’ retirement finances. To gain greater insight into...

This project examines the impact of employer-provided financial education for newly hired workers on contributions to voluntary retirement savings plans. Using administrative data from five large employers, the researchers assess the impact of information and delivery methods on the choice to...

Inter-vivos cash transfers and bequests between family members total hundreds of billions of dollars each year. They may equalize resources within a generation of a family as well as across family generations. Transfers delayed to the end of life may represent a significant motive for saving....

This report explores how well equipped today's households are to make complex financial decisions in the face of often high-cost and high-risk financial instruments. Specifically it focuses on financial literacy. Most importantly, it describes the geography of financial literacy, i.e., how...