We introduce publicly funded education into R&D based economic growth theory. Our framework allows us to i) explicitly describe a realistic process of human capital accumulation within these types of growth models, ii) reconcile semi-endogenous growth theory with the empirical evidence on the...

This paper sheds light on how changes in the organization of work lead to wage inequality. We present a theoretical model in which workers with a wider span of competence (higher level of multitasking) earn a wage premium. Since abilities and opportunities to expand the span of competence are...

The study aims to analyze the modalities of vocational training in rural areas in order to identify systematic contents that are relevant to define the perception of the general role of continuing vocational training in the economic and social development of rural areas, the functions of...

Lifelong learning becomes increasingly important in times of population ageing, but little is known about the returns to adult education or the effectiveness of government attempts to promote adult learning. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment with...

This paper investigates the effect of founders' human capital on the qualification structure of employees in newly established firms. Different corner solution outcome models are compared regarding their goodness of fit and adequacy. Based on survey data of about 1,200 new-born firms in the...

This paper examines the impact of parental investments on various skills during childhood using the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk (MARS). Our work offers three important innovations. First, we use reliable measures of the child's cognitive, mental and emotional skills as well as accurate...

We analyze the timing of birth of the first three children based on German panel data (GSOEP) within a hazard rate framework. A random effects estimator is used to accommodate correlation across spells. We consider the role of human capital - approximated by a Mincer-type regression - and its...

This paper studies second best policies for education, saving, and labour in an OLG model in which endogenous growth results from human capital accumulation. Government expenditures have to be financed by linear instruments so that growth equilibria are inefficient. The inefficiency is...

Using German linked employer-employee data, this paper investigates the impact of further training on wages. The estimation technique applied was primarily introduced by Leuven and Oosterbeek (2008). The idea is to compare wages of employees who intended to participate in training but did not do...

This paper employs a dynamic framework to compare the effects of alternative governmental activities on the process of convergence. Policy instruments include facilitating private investment and public expenditure (amount and structure) that act as enhancing individual skills. Highly skilled...