This paper provides the first causal evidence on how early grades affects students' education choices, attainment, and labor market outcomes. I identify treatment effects exploiting the staggered implementation of a reform that postponed grade assignment in Swedish compulsory school. I examine...

Zero or negative peer effects in academic achievement have been explained in the literature assuming that better peers negatively affect beliefs about own ability (self-concept), motivation or peer interactions. This paper provides clear-cut evidence on such mechanisms. I study peer effects...

In this paper we analyze investments in human capital assets in a way which is standard for financial assets, but not (yet) for human capital assets. We study mean-variance plots of human capital assets. We compare the properties of human capital returns using a performance measure and by using...

Outsourcing of jobs to low-wage countries has increased the focus on the accumulation of skills - such as Math skills - in high-wage countries. In this paper, we exploit a high school pilot scheme to identify the causal effect of advanced high school Math on labor market outcomes. The pilot...