We examine the educational production function and efficiency of public school districts in Illinois. Using nonparametric kernel methods, we find that most traditional schooling inputs are irrelevant in determining test scores (even in a very general setting). Property tax caps are the only...

This paper considers a linear panel data model with time varying heterogeneity. Bayesian inference techniques organized around Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) are applied to implement new estimators that combine smoothness priors on unobserved heterogeneity and priors on the factor structure of...

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are one of the dominant approaches to compare statistical methods. To date, there is no standard procedure for MC simulations. Although internally valid, they exhibit a certain degree of arbitrariness through the various choices that researchers make. In this paper,...