Human capital theory assumes that education determines the marginal productivity of labour and this determines earnings. Since the 1960s, it has dominated the economics, and policy and public understanding, of relations between education and work. It has become widely assumed that intellectual formation constitutes a mode of economic capital,…

This article illustrates how literature can bring models to life in undergraduate courses on labor market economics. The authors argue that economics instructors and students can benefit from even small doses of literature. The authors examine excerpts from five American novels: "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Drieser (1900/2005); "The Grapes of…

Background: This paper was prepared to address the issue of whether current levels of public expenditures on education are cost-effective in countries with widely differing average levels of education. Purpose: The paper examines the role of education in economic growth from a theoretical and historic perspective, addresses why education has been…

This note describes an interdisciplinary project designed to enhance students' knowledge of the basic techniques taught in a multivariable calculus course. The note discusses the four main requirements of the project and then the solutions for each requirement. Concepts covered include differentials, gradients, Lagrange multipliers, constrained…

In response to demands for school accountability, states now devote much attention to distinguishing among effective and ineffective schools. These efforts, while varying considerably in rigor and sophistication, generally emphasize technical or allocative efficiency (e.g., the marginal productivity of measured inputs employed in various…

This paper aims to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1 (H1): Everything else the same, high quality infant-toddler care will increase children's cognitive scores immediately (i.e. at 24 months of age). However, without subsequent high quality preschool, children with high quality infant-toddler care will not have higher cognitive and…

For a future faculty member the choice of which graduate programme and institution to attend is considered to have important implications for securing academic employment, developing skills to succeed in academia, and yielding positive returns on investment of time and money in education. Yet does it matter where a faculty member attends graduate…

Discusses effects of funding variations upon the rate of knowledge growth in algebraic and differential topology. Results based on a marginal productivity model indicated that funding variations had little or no effect upon the rate of knowledge growth. Lists 150 of the field's most highly rated papers. (ML)

Investigates the relationships among schooling, experience, job status, and earnings in a large, private company in India. Results indicate that job status rises monotonically with experience and channels the transmission effects of schooling and experience onto earnings. Marginal productivity theory and the weak version of the screening…

A study estimated the effects of college faculty gender differences on research and teaching productivity, using a sample of 523 four-year institutions for the academic year 1987-1988. Results indicate that female faculty have significant marginal productivity in research at liberal arts institutions but not in other institution categories.…

There are large differences across countries in instructional time in public schooling institutions. For example, among European countries such as Belgium, France and Greece, pupils aged 15 have an average of over a thousand hours per year of total compulsory classroom instruction while in England, Luxembourg and Sweden the average is only 750…

An analysis is made in this speech of the rates of return on investments in higher education. Results indicate that the annual rates of return are higher in every year (1961-75) than the 10 percent realized on business investments. On the basis of the evidence presented, it is concluded that Americans are not overeducated. The trends in student…

The purpose of this study was to examine the operations of a Texas high-poverty middle school focusing on teachers as a significant component in the flow of resources and their effect on achievement. The sample in this study included 11 math teachers and 26 English/language arts teachers, all from the same school, along with randomly selected…

In this paper it is argued that there are fundamental differences among labor markets in the mechanisms that create the observed associations between socioeconomic attainment and the characteristics of individuals, and that these differences result from the nature of the employment relationship in different labor markets. In open-employment…

Admissions officers devote substantial resources to high school visits and other recruiting events. Economic theory indicates that the best measure of effectiveness is marginal productivity. Subjects in this study were applicants to a large, Catholic, urban university and all students who participated in recruiting programs in fall 2002.…