This paper studies the effect of attending a high-quality secondary school on subsequent educational outcomes. The analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study in which we observe children when they make their secondary school choice (between ages 10-12) and later when...

Peer effects in education production functions are predominantly employed as the mean classroom performance. Based on sociological theory and using spatial regression techniques, I introduce social network matrices that correspond to a weighting scheme for peers within the class. In a spatial...

We estimate the effects of college education on female fertility – a so far understudied margin of education, which we instrument by arguably exogenous variation induced through college expansions. While college education reduces the probability of becoming a mother, college-educated mothers...

In this paper, we estimate the gender pay gap along the wage distribution using a detailed decomposition approach based on unconditional quantile regressions. Non-randomness of the sample leads to biased and inconsistent estimates of the wage equation as well as of the components of the wage...

We investigate the additionality effects of Eurostars, Europe's largest multilateral subsidy program for R&D-performing small and medium sized enterprises. A specific budget allocation rule serves as an instrument and allows us to identify the local average treatment effect of public R&D grants....

In Germany as in many other European countries there will be a shift in the age structure of the workforce in the next decades. The number of older workers will increase whereas the number of young and middle aged workers will decline. This paper provides evidence how the demographic ageing...

In 2004, the German Social Health Insurance introduced a co-payment for the first doctor visit in a calendar quarter. I combine a structural model of health care demand and a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate the effect of that reform on the number of visits. In the model, the...

This paper compares endogenous social interactions models to determine which one fits the classroom reality best. The analysis uses data from German 9th-graders and considers the effect of the best and worst peers scores, the peers sum and peers average scores on own achievement. Although each...

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth and the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector for a panel of 503 Brazilian micro-regions for the period 1980-2004 using panel spatial econometrics. It investigates the importance of the SME sector size measured by the share of the...

While the growing supply of university skills is known to have agglomerated towards the large centers in Finland, there is no research knowledge available on the development of regional demands. This paper attempts to fill this gap by analyzing regional variation in the private-sector return to...