For a variety of reasons described in the paper, improving the performance of urban school districts is more difficult today than it was several decades ago. Yet economic and social changes make performance improvement especially important today. Two quite different bodies of research provide...

I survey the evidence on patterns in U.S. high school graduation rates over the period 1970-2010 and report the results of new research conducted to fill in holes in the evidence. I begin by pointing out the strengths and limitations of existing data sources. I then describe six striking...

Introduces applications of microeconomic theory to planning problems including urban form and structure, environmental controls, zoning and property rights, and income inequality and poverty. From the course home page: Course Description Planning Economics (11.202) is a course that runs for the...

Planning Economics (11.202) is a course that runs for the last one-third of a semester and covers economics topics of particular interest to city planning students: location theory, the interplay between externalities and zoning, international trade and globalization, and housing finance. Few...

[...]I will describe the dilemma by first reviewing thecontext of stagnant wages and living standards. I will thensummarize some of the trends—political and demographic—that economic angst has accelerated. Finally, I will examine the future path of the education/earningsgap in the short run,...