Olmo Silva reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of increasing resources, modifying teaching methods and introducing choice and competition. Policies to improve primary education can involve increasing the resources available to schools, modifying teaching methods or introducing elements of...

There are large disparities between the achievements, behaviour and aspirations of children in different neighbourhoods - but does this mean that the place where you grow up determines your later life outcomes? Steve Gibbons, Olmo Silva and Felix Weinhardt outline the findings of a series of CEP...

There are large disparities between the achievements, behaviour and aspirations of children in different neighbourhoods - but does this mean that the place where you grow up determines your later life outcomes? Steve Gibbons, Olmo Silva and Felix Weinhardt outline the findings of a series of CEP...

In this paper, we survey the UK-based literature on school structures and school autonomy to identify settings in which alternative and more autonomous school arrangements can improve the educational attainments of pupils in the bottom tail of the achievement distribution. We also present new...

Economists have typically been sceptical that computers improve educational outcomes. But research by Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Olmo Silva finds evidence that new technology can have a positive effect on pupils' performance.

A central focus of current education policy is to expand parents' choice over where their children go to school and to promote competition between schools. A long-running CEP research programme by Stephen Gibbons, Stephen Machin and Olmo Silva has been assessing the effects on both educational...

Cross-sectional tests of the Jack-of-All-Trades theory of entrepreneurship invariably conclude that accumulation of balanced skill-mix across different fields of expertise stimulates entrepreneurship. Yet, none of these considers individual unobservable characteristics which may simultaneously...

In this paper I survey the recent economics of education literature in order to identify which education policies can effectively improve the quality of primary schooling, as measured by pupil test-based achievements. Particular attention is devoted to the experience of England, a country which...