Many educators and policymakers have argued for lenient grade promotion policy – evenautomatic promotion – in developing country settings where grade retention rates arehigh. The argument assumes that grade retention discourages persistence or continuationin school and that the promotion of...

The proportion of U.S. high school students working during the school year ranges from 23% in thefreshman year to 75% in the senior year. This study estimates how cumulative work histories duringthe high school years affect probability of dropout, high school academic performance, and...

In the United States, both federal and state governments have tried to establish and enforcechild labor laws to protect youth from work that interferes with their schooling. While federalchild labor law focuses on the work experience of minors, especially those aged 15 andbelow; state child...

The health consequences of child labor may take time to manifest themselves. This studyexamines whether children who began working at a young age experience increasedincidence of illness or physical disability as adults.. When child labor and schooling aretreated as chosen without consideration...

Sri Lanka's Termination of Employment of Workmen Act (TEWA) requires that firms with 15or more employees justify layoffs and provide generous severance pay to displaced workers,with smaller firms being exempted. Athough formally subject to TEWA, firms in ExportProcessing Zones (EPZs) may have...

We propose a strategy to identify the complementarity or substitutability amongtechnology bundles. Under the assumption that alternative technologies are independent,we develop a hypothetical distribution of multiple technology adoptions. Differencesbetween the observed distribution of...

Using U.S. Census data from 1950 to 2000, this paper provides a framework to compare theresponses of immigrant and native population growth to the economic incentives offered by ruralcounties in the Midwest and the South. We find that in marked contrast to traditional destinationsfor new...

This paper reviews the stylized facts regarding the levels of human capital investments and the returnsto those investments in developing countries. These returns are substantial and are pervasive acrossdemographic groups. Returns are comparable between men and women and between urban and...

Students in majors with higher average quantitative GRE scores are less likely to attend graduate school whilestudents in majors with higher average verbal GRE scores are more likely to attend graduate school. This sortingeffect means that students whose cognitive skills are associated with...

In developing countries, rising incomes, increased demand for more skilled labor, and government investments of considerable resources on building and equipping schools and paying teachers have contributed to global convergence in enrollment rates and completed years of schooling. Nevertheless,...