Using detailed education data between 1996-2012 from the state of Florida, we examine whether pollution from local Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites affects student achievement and high stakes accountability school rankings. Using event study and difference-in-differences designs, we compare...

This paper sheds light on the impact of the COVID-19 policy measures on a wide set of career expectations, occupational beliefs, and well-being of high-school students in their final grades. For this purpose, we use a unique panel data collection, which surveyed around 6,000 students in their...

We characterize the outcomes of the tertiary education market in a context where borrowing constraints bind, there is a two-tier college system operating under monopolistic competition in which colleges differ by the quality offered and returns to education depend on the quality of the school...

While there has been a substantial increase in the return to college (the college premium), college attainment has stagnated. We show that these facts can be reconciled by allowing for uncertainty in college payoffs, in particular around college completion and earnings, with borrowing. With...

Rising costs of and returns to college have led to sizeable increases in the demand for student loans in many countries. In the USA, student loan default rates have also risen for recent cohorts as labor market uncertainty and debt levels have increased. We discuss these trends as well as recent...

We document a largely unrecognized pathway through which schools promote human capital development - by fostering informal mentoring relationships between students and teachers, counselors, and coaches. Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents, we explore...

Rising costs of and returns to college have led to sizeable increases in the demand for student loans in many countries. In the U.S., student loan default rates have also risen for recent cohorts as labor market uncertainty and debt levels have increased. We discuss these trends as well as...

Using field-experimental data (study-time tracking and randomized incentives), we identify a structural model of learning. Student effort is influenced by external costs/benefits and unobserved heterogeneity: motivation (willingness to study) and productivity (conversion rate of time into...

High student dropout rates are a continuing concern within higher education and have received considerable attention for decades. Despite numerous proposed interventions, it remains unclear which interventions are effective, and what the pivotal active ingredients are. This paper systematically...