We partially identify the average treatment effect of education on earnings and nonparametrically estimate its upper bound for African, Coloured (mixed race) and White males in South Africa. We address endogenous selection into education, cohort effects and endogenous selection into work. Using the September 2007 South African Labour Force Survey, the upper bound estimates are considerably lowe...

The Effect of Schooling on Cognitive Skills How schooling affects cognitive skills is a fundamental question for studies of human capital and labor markets. While scores on cognitive ability tests are positively associated with schooling, it has proven difficult to ascertain whether this relationship is causal. Moreover, the effect of schooling is difficult to separate from the confounding fact...

This paper examines the relationship between the Great Depression and the educational attainment of young adults who were growing up during the 1930s, taking advantage of the statelevel variation in employment as individuals were turning a critical age. I find that there was negligible association between the Great Depression’s severity and the average years of education. Statistically signific...

Using Norwegian data we find that married women’s education is positively associated with completed fertility, but this relationship becomes insignificant after controlling for husbands’ characteristics. Husbands’ education has a positive effect on women’s fertility. These findings suggest that the effect of education on married women’s fertility goes through assortative mating. For unmarried w...

This paper models voters’ preferences over central versus local education policies when there are private alternatives. Education is financed by income taxes and individuals are mobile between communities. Public education levels are chosen by majority vote. Contrary to conventional wisdom, centralisation may benefit the rich and poor, while the middle class prefer decentralised education. The ...

An Economic Perspective on Religious Education: Complements and Substitutes in a Human Capital Portfolio This paper models the tradeoffs between education in secular subjects, formal and informal, and the formation of religion-specific human capital. It explores some implications of negative externalities between religious and secular education. Applications include the tension between science ...

This paper argues that accounting for the dynamic interactions between endogenous changes in longevity, the education composition of the population, and the associated fertility differential is crucial for understanding the economic and the demographic transition. In the model, heterogeneous individuals make optimal decisions about fertility, education of their children and type and intensity o...

School Quality, Educational Attainment and Aggregation Bias Data from 31 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is used to estimate education production functions for reading literacy. The analysis suggests that the probability of finding statistically significant and correctly signed class size effects increases the higher the level of aggregation ...

A multi-product cost function is estimated using data on the UK higher education system. The results are used to provide information about average incremental costs, economies of scale and economies of scope in a wide variety of institutions. Implications of the analysis are discussed for the identification of allocative and technical efficiencies in universities. JEL Classification: I2, L1.