In 1979, less than 30% of full-time university students in Canada worked for pay during the academic year. By the mid-2000s, this had risen to 45%. This trend to increasing work among full-time students is also evident in other countries, and may be a concern if it reduces students' investment in human capital during their studies. I find…

We examine the importance of adult functional literacy skills for individuals using a quantile regression methodology. The inclusion of the direct measure of basic skills reduces the return to schooling by 27%, equivalent to two additional years of schooling, while a one standard deviation increase in the score increases earnings by 20%. For those…

This paper uses a rich longitudinal dataset to measure the evolution of the gender differences in numeracy among school-age children in Indonesia. Girls outperformed boys by 0.08 standard deviations when the sample was around 11 years old. Seven years later, the gap has widened to 0.19 standard deviations, equivalent to around 18 months of…

This paper analyzes the consequences of integration in public education. I show that the flight from the integrated multicultural public schools to private education increases private educational expenditures and, as a result, decreases fertility among more affluent parents whose children flee. In contrast, among less prosperous parents…

Several African countries instituted education reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, there is only little evidence on the effectiveness of these programs. Additionally, most previous studies of the determinants of literacy and numeracy have considered the proficiency in only one language and, possibly, numeracy. This paper examines both of these…

The returns to education have been increasing. It is suggested that high-skilled workers' social capital investment has been adversely affected by the increasing incentives to devote human capital to career development. Lower social capital is linked to reduced economic growth and innovation and higher transaction costs and is detrimental to…

This study investigates the economic outcomes of education for wage earners in Pakistan. This is done by analysing the relationship between schooling, cognitive skills and ability, on the one hand, and economic activity, occupation, sectoral choice and earnings, on the other. In Pakistan, an important question remains largely unaddressed: what…

This paper investigates achievement gaps between low and high socioeconomic students in 19 high-income countries. On average, math scores of students with indicators of high socioeconomic status (SES) are over one standard deviation above those with low SES indicators. The paper estimates the extent to which these achievement gaps can be…

Using data on Swedish university entrants, this study finds that earnings are significantly lower for students who change universities compared to students who do not change. Earnings differences decrease over time and over the earnings distribution. The pattern in the estimates seems consistent with non-transfer students having higher earnings…

This paper examines the impact of education on economic growth in Greece over the period 1960-2000 by applying the model introduced by Mankiw, Romer, and Weil. The findings of the empirical analysis reveal that education had a positive and statistically significant effect on economic growth in Greece over the period 1960-2000. The econometric…

Human capital theory holds that a higher education will be pursued to the extent that its pecuniary rewards outstrip its costs. This notion is founded on the neoclassical economic assumption that expected earnings conditional on educational investment are accurately anticipated by those considering such investments. However, the evidence in…

This paper uses linked household, school, and test score data from Madagascar to investigate the relation of household characteristics and school factors to the cognitive skills of children ages 8-10 and 14-16. In contrast to most achievement test studies in developing countries, the study uses representative rather than school-based samples of…

Using primary survey data, factors influencing preferences of international graduate students in the United States as to whether they prefer to stay in the United States or go back to their home country to start their careers are examined employing discrete choice analysis. Career opportunities and social climate are critical factors. Students…

According to standard human capital theory, firm-financed training cannot be explained if the skills obtained are general in nature. Nevertheless, in German-speaking countries, firms invest heavily in apprenticeship training although the skills are assumed to be general. In our paper, we study the extent to which apprenticeship training is general…

In this paper, we revisit the question whether inequality in education and human capital is closely related to income inequality. Using the most popular functional forms describing the relationship between, first, output and human capital and, second, education and human capital, we find that the effect of inequality in schooling on income…