We exploit the change to the minimum school-leaving age in the United Kingdom from 14 to 15 using a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effect of one more year of education on cognitive abilities at older ages. We find a large and significant effect of this reform on males'...

This paper investigates how and to what extent disparities in family socio-economic status (SES) during childhood have long-lasting effects on old-age health, income and cognition. Further, it examines the variability of these effects across 11 European countries using the Survey on Health,...

We exploit the change to the minimum school-leaving age in the United Kingdom from 14 to 15 using a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effect of one more year of education on cognitive abilities at older ages. We find a large and significant effect of this reform on males’...

We benefit from the Bologna reform to show how course and program policies affect academic achievement. We examine two similar programs at the business school of a major European university, which were both reformed. Time lags in the reforms allow us to estimate the difference in the differences...

This paper analyzes professors' effect from a fundamental first-year course in Economics on students' later performance in follow-on courses with a special attention given to the problem of self-selection bias of students toward certain professors. Based on an extensive dataset consisting of...

In recent years, many countries have experienced a significant expansion of higher education enrolment. There is a particular interest among policy makers for further growth in STEM subjects, which could lead to larger classes in these fields. This study estimates the effect of class size on...

In recent years, many countries have experienced a significant expansion of higher education enrolment. There is a particular interest among policy makers for further growth in STEM subjects, which could lead to larger classes in these fields. This study estimates the effect of class size on...

This paper considers a fundamental question about the school environment – what are the long run effects of a student's ordinal rank in elementary school? Using administrative data from all public school students in Texas, we show that students with a higher third grade academic rank,...

Enrollment in teacher preparation programs in the U.S. has decreased dramatically over the last few years. However, the factors behind this decline are still largely unknown. In this paper, we examine whether the introduction of school accountability systems has discouraged individuals from...

In this paper, we estimate the effect of receiving financial aid for a cohort of students who enrolled at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in the year 2007/08, through a Propensity Score Matching approach. Using administrative data about these students for four years, we were able to evaluate the...