In this paper we analyze the impact of classroom peers' ability on individual student achievement with a unique longitudinal data set covering all Florida public school students in grades 3-10 over a five-year period. Unlike many data sets used to study peer effects in education, ours identifies...

I investigate the determinants of high school completion and college attendance, the likelihood of taking science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) courses in the first year of college and the probability of earning a degree in a STEM field. The focus is on women, who tend to be...

Teacher turnover has adverse consequences for student achievement and imposes large financial costs for schools. Some have argued that high-stakes testing may lower teachers’ satisfaction with their jobs and could be a major contributor to teacher attrition. In this paper, we exploit changes...

Over the past 25 years a large literature has developed that attempts to measure the impact of zoning regulations on real estate markets. This vast zoning literature is also quite diverse; studies differ significantly in methodology, data and the results obtained. In this paper we systematically...

Unlike past charter school studies focused on student achievement, the authors analyzed the relationship between attendance and educational attainment in charter high schools. They found that these schools in Florida and Chicago had substantial positive effects on both high school completion and...