We take a different look at the PISA 2006 data considering time input as one of the main ingredients for scholarly achievement. Across countries there does not exist any clear relationship between total time spent studying (sum of class time, homework time and time spent in private lessons) and...

While students from more advantageous family backgrounds tend to perform better, it is not clear that they exert more effort compared to those from less advantageous family backgrounds. We build a model of students, schools, and employers to study the interaction of family background and effort...

Grandparents are regular providers of free child care. Similar to other forms of child care, availability of grandparent-provided child care affects fertility and labor force participation of women positively. However, grandparent-provided child care requires residing close to parents or...

East Germany's unemployment rate still doubles that of West Germany and for the last decade its economic growth has been below that of other transition countries. Policy makers often point to the lack of entrepreneurship as one of East Germany's main problems. This paper addresses the question...

Between 1949 and 1989, communism restricted private entrepreneurship in East Germany, but even after reunification in 1990 entrepreneurship remained low compared to other transition economies. To quantify the determinants of low entrepreneurship in East Germany and its impact on economic...

In this paper I use the Labour Force Survey to obtain stylised facts about worker gross flows in the United Kingdom. I analyse the size and cyclicality of the flows between employment, unemployment and inactivity. I also examine job-to-job flows, employment separations by reason, flows between...

I build a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with search and matching frictions and two sectors in order to study the labour market effects of public sector employment and wages. Public sector wages plays an important role in achieving the efficient allocation. High wages induce too...

This paper documents a number of facts about worker gross flows in the United Kingdom for the period between 1993 and 2010. Using Labour Force Survey data, I examine the size and cyclicality of the flows and transition probabilities between employment, unemployment and inactivity, from several...