Using a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the impact of Ramadan on educational outcomes of Muslim students living in a non-Muslim country. For identification we exploit that the number of Ramadan weeks during the course that we study, varies from year to year, ranging from zero to four. Our main finding is that Ramadan observance…

We study student loan behavior in the Netherlands where (i) higher education students know little about the conditions of the government's financial aid program and (ii) take-up rates are low. In a field experiment we manipulated the amount of information students have about these conditions. The treatment has no impact on loan take-up, which is…

We use a novel quasi-experimental strategy to estimate the effect of expanding early schooling enrollment possibilities on early achievement. It exploits two features of the school system in The Netherlands. The first is rolling admissions; children are allowed to start school immediately after their 4th birthday instead of at the beginning of the…

Many higher education students combine their study with a job on the side instead of taking up a loan. This paper examines the factors underlying this apparently myopic behaviour. We find that standard economic factors explain observed borrowing decisions to some extent. Students with easier access to financial resources borrow less often.…

Until 1975 around half of all graduates from Dutch basic vocational schools finished a 3-year program, the other half finished a 4-year program. In 1975 all 3-year programs were extended to four years. This was accompanied by an increase of the compulsory school leaving age with one year. The authors evaluate the long-term wage effects of this…

This special issue was inspired by Greg Duncan and Saul Hoffman's 1981 article on the "incidence and wage effects of overeducation." These researchers used a Mincer earnings equation to determine that a substantial number of American workers were over- or under-educated for their chosen occupations. (MLH)

Explores schooling's effect on health, wealth, and happiness for a cohort of Dutch individuals born around 1940. Uses observations on childhood IQ and family background. The group with a nonvocational, intermediate-level education scored highest on all three factors. IQ affects health, not wealth or happiness. Family background increases wealth,…

Large changes in educational composition of the Netherlands labor force in the past two decades have produced marked changes in the distribution of individuals by education level across job levels. Undereducation has been reduced, and overeducation has been increased. The latter situation does not imply inefficiency because even years of…

Extends the standard human capital model by investigating the effects of uncertainty about future earnings and the probability of becoming unemployed on the optimum amount of schooling, assuming that lifetime earnings are maximized. Greater earnings dispersion by schooling level reduces the returns to schooling. (21 references) (MLH)

Critiques two 1992 "Economics of Education" articles using the "P" test to probe the screening hypothesis by comparing educational rates of return in private and public sectors. This method ignores two important phenomena--ability bias and selectivity bias. The outcome of the "P" test might change if a richer data set and/or a more sophisticated…

Employs a simple economic model to analyze determinants of Dutch college students' expected study duration and weekly effort. Findings show that the duration/effort ratio is determined by the relative prices of these inputs into the learning process. A higher socioeconomic status increases the duration/effort ratio. Higher ability levels decrease…