This paper investigates how the precision and stability of a teacher's value-added estimate relates to the characteristics of the teacher's students. Using a large administrative data set and a variety of teacher value-added estimators, it finds that the stability over time of teacher...

Occupational credentials provide an additional-and, at times, alternative-path other than traditional academic degrees for individuals to increase productivity and demonstrate their abilities and qualifications to employers. In the United States, these credentials typically take the form of...

The typical measure used by researchers and school administrators to evaluate teachers is based on how the students' achievement increases after being exposed to the teacher, or based on the teacher's "value-added''. When teacher value-added is heterogeneous across her students, the typically...

We study how signaling skills that are specific to college majors affect labor market outcomes of college graduates. We rely on census-like data and a regression discontinuity design to study the impacts of a well-known award given to top performers on a mandatory nationwide exam in Colombia....

This paper proposes and estimates a two-step methodology to measure international managerial skill and calculate its impact on firm performance, using a sample of the biggest private Colombian exporting firms. The first step quantifies the manager’s organizational capital contribution to...

This paper analyzes the determinants and labour market effects of further higher education studies of graduates, the factors that induce them to switch to other fields (switching decision) and in comparison the determinants of deciding upon &"deepening" their knowledge (to proceed with further...

In dem Beitrag wird untersucht, wie sich Berufserfahrung und beruflicher Hintergrund auf die Dauer der Selbstständigkeit von Unternehmensgründern auswirken, insbesondere welchen Einfluss ausgewogene Qualifikationen auf diese Dauer haben. Es wird ein Bezugsrahmen zur Berufswahl eingesetzt, der...

Economists once believed firms do not pay to develop occupational skills that workers could use in other, often competing, firms. Researchers now recognize that most firms benefit from investing in apprenticeship training. Evidence indicates that financial returns to firms vary. Some recoup...

Despite the high growth of the Peruvian economy during the last decade, college graduates are facing increasing difficulties to find occupations that match their higher educational background, skills and educational investments. This scenario is embodied in the "professional underemployment"...

Skill development is increasingly viewed as a way to escape the low education - high unemployment trap in developing countries. Consequently, policy makers in these countries are extensively investing in skill development programs. However, participation and completion rates in many of these...