Using a panel of international student test scores, 1980 – 2000, panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of, or decentralization in, educational spending.

This paper studies teacher mobility using matched employee-employer panel data from Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools. The Norwegian institutional set-up with completely centralized wage setting for teachers is ideal to analyze the effect of non-pecuniary job attributes on quit...

This paper identifies three possible outcomes of higher relative firm bargaining power in a unionized firm facing an upward sloping labor supply curve. The conventional regime with reduced wage and higher employment corresponds to firm bargaining power below a certain critical value. A supply...

The ability of the public sector to recruit skilled workers is important for the quality of public sector services. Centralized and rigid pay systems in the public sector might give limited labor supply and shortages of qualified personnel in areas and periods with strong outside labor markets....

This paper utilizes information on cognitive ability at age ten and earnings information from age 20 to 65 to estimate the return to ability over the life-cycle. Ability measured at an early age is not influenced by the individual’s choices of schooling and other circumstances. We find that...

Evidence on teacher behavior is essential for the understanding of the performance of school systems. In this paper we utilize rich data to study the teachers' quit decision in Norway. We distinguish between decisions to move between public schools within school districts, to another school...

Monopsonistic wage-setting power requires that the supply of labor directed toward individual establishments is upward sloping. This paper utilizes institutional features to identify the supply curve. The elasticity of labor supply is estimated using data for the Norwegian teacher labor market...

Monopsonistic wage-setting power requires that the supply of labor directed toward individual establishments is upward sloping. This paper utilizes institutional features to identify the supply curve. The elasticity of labor supply is estimated using data for the Norwegian teacher labor market...

The ability of the public sector to recruit skilled workers is important for the quality of public sector services. Centralized and rigid pay systems in the public sector might reduce labour supply and lead to shortages of qualified personnel in areas and periods with strong outside labour...