We study the impact of a student's ordinal rank in a high school cohort on educational attainment several years later. To identify a causal effect, we compare multiple cohorts within the same school, exploiting idiosyncratic variation in cohort composition. We find that a student's ordinal rank...

Using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data for Egypt in 2007, this paper examines the determinants and gender inequality of educational attainment (test scores in Mathematics and Science). The complicated structure of the data is carefully addressed during all...

This paper assesses the relationship between courses taken in high school and college major choice. It considers individuals as holding a portfolio of relative human capital rates that may either be similar to those in their major - specialized - or different from those in their major -...

Various grading reforms and trends of more lenient grading have contributed to grade inflation in Sweden and other countries. Previous research shows that over-grading increases higher education enrolment, achievements and earnings, but no study has yet addressed the potential impact of grading...

Cognitive performance in late adulthood is critical for better welfare and understanding the causes of human capital depreciation in old age is increasingly crucial in aging societies. Using data from South Africa, we study how early life education affects cognition, a component of human capital...

This paper surveys the theoretical approaches used in the literature to study the phenomenon of delayed graduation and university dropout. The classical human capital model does not contemplate failure, which the amended human capital model does. Delayed graduation and university dropout are two...

This paper surveys the theoretical approaches used in the literature to study the phenomenon of delayed graduation and university dropout. The classical human capital model does not contemplate failure, which the amended human capital model does. Delayed graduation and university dropout are two...

Grade retention is a widely used educational policy promoting human capital. However,its benets and costs are still under debate. Retention may aect learning, cognitive and psychologicalcapacities, educational attainment and the lifetime income (through the timingof entry to the labor market)....

Students face four decision margins: (a) How many years to spend in school, (b) What to study, (c) How much effort to devote to learning per year and (d) Whether to disrupt or assist the learning of classmates. The thousands of studies that have applied human capital theory to the first two...

This paper presents evidence on the development of educational attainment and its returns on the labor market in Germany in the time period 1985-2002. Returns to education are estimated using Mincer equations. We analyze micro-census data in addition to GSOEP data, which allows estimating...