Educational opportunities determine the intergenerational mobility of human capital and are affected by institutional features of schooling systems. The aim of this paper is twofold. It intends to show how strongly student performance depends on student background at two important stages in a...

We estimate peer effects for fourth graders in six European countries. The identification relies on variation across classes within schools. We argue that classes within primary schools are formed roughly randomly with respect to family background. Similar to previous studies, we find sizeable...

On the basis of a theoretical model, we argue that higher aggregate unemployment affects individual returns to education. We therefore include aggregate unemployment and an interaction term between unemployment and the individual education level in a standard Mincer equation. Our results show...

The difference between girls and boys academic performance is a major issue on both sides of the Atlantic. Do boys and girls fair better with a teacher of their own gender? This paper investigates the presence of such ?pupil-teacher gender interactions? on scholastic performance. We use data...

We estimate the effects of hiring subsidies for older workers on transitions from unemployment to employment in Germany. Using a natural experiment, our first set of estimates is based on a legal change extending the group of eligible unemployed persons. A subsequent legal change in the opposite...

Violence at schools is a well-known problem in many societies. This paper assesses the degree of school violence in 11 European countries and analyzes the determinants of being a victim and its effect on student performance. The study draws on the international TIMSS 2003 and the British...

This paper investigates the functioning of regional labour markets in Italy and Germany for different employee groups. In the light of high and persistent differences in unemployment and wage rates between the North and South of Italy and the West and East of Germany, we first derive theoretical...

Die hier dokumentierte Erhebung bei Zeitarbeitsbetrieben soll mit ihren Ergebnissen dazu beitragen, die Lücken im Wissen über die Bedingungen der Arbeitnehmerüberlassung zu schließen. In der bislang größten Umfrage unter Zeitarbeitsbetrieben haben 471 Betriebe aus allen Regionen...

Dieses Papier beschreibt Ergebnisse einer Evaluation von Eingliederungszuschüssen (EGZ) und Entgeltsicherung für ältere Arbeitnehmer. Es wird untersucht, ob förderberechtigte Personen im Vergleich zur Situation ohne diese Instrumente früher aus Arbeitslosigkeit in Beschäftigung wechseln....