This paper provides an overview of public expenditures on education and healthcare in Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and some other countries of the former Soviet Union before and during the global financial crisis. Before the crisis, the governments of these countries...

This study reviews the impact of the global financial crisis on public service delivery in the Republic of Moldova1. It provides a background of the country's development in the period prior to the crisis (2000 to 2007/2008) and presents the factors which determined the country's fiscal...

This paper analyzes the reaction of teachers` and doctors` unions to a series of social sector reforms in the region, including administrative decentralization, provider payment mechanisms, and the introduction of performance evaluation and private provision. It combines the literature of...

This paper analyses levels of low literacy across twelve countries using the International Adult Literacy Survey. We go beyond existing work that only looks at the proportions below certain critical levels of literacy. Using methods developed for the measurement of poverty we calculate measures...

This strategy paper by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) shows ways in which Germany once more can attain full employment in the coming decade. Much of what the previous government's Agenda 2010 has put into motion has clearly steered labor market development in the right direction. The...

Die Bildungsreformen der sechziger Jahre sollten das Bildungsniveau der Westdeutschen anheben. Die Analyse der Daten des Mikrozensus weist darauf hin, dass die durch die Bildungsreformen intendierte Bildungsexpansion schon vor 1960 begonnen hat. Mit dem Conditional Mean Independence Ansatz...

Das Durchschnittsalter der Erwerbspersonen steigt trotz wachsender Frühverrentung, weil jüngere Altersjahrgänge immer spärlicher besetzt sind und ihre Verweildauer in Bildung und Ausbildung zunimmt. Dennoch ist das deutsche Hochschulsystem vergleichsweise unproduktiv: Zwar hat die...

Gemessen am Leistungsstand der Schülerinnen und Schüler verharrt die Bildungsarmut in Deutschland auf hohem Niveau. Die Folgen sind ungünstige Einkommens- und Beschäftigungsperspektiven für die Betroffenen sowie hohe fiskalische Kosten und volkswirtschaftliche Wachstumseinbußen aufgrund...

Parents with higher education levels have children with higher education levels. However, is this because parental education actually changes the outcomes of children, suggesting an important spillover of education policies, or is it merely that more able individuals who have higher education...