Curriculum tracking creates incentives in the years before its start, and we should therefore expect test scores to be higher during those years. I find robust evidence for incentive effects of tracking in the UK based on the UK comprehensive school reform. Results from the Swedish comprehensive school reform are inconclusive. Internationally, I…

This paper addresses the economic returns on tertiary degrees obtained in ages above 30 for individuals with upper-secondary schooling in light of current ideas on lifelong learning. Sweden is a case in point: Swedish tertiary education is open to older students, and labor market legislation supports employees who take a leave to study. The…

Girls typically have higher grades than boys in school and recent research suggests that part of this gender difference may be due to discrimination of boys in grading. We rigorously test this in a field experiment where a random sample of the same tests in the Swedish language is subject to blind and non-blind grading. The non-blind test score is…

Modern societies would potentially reap large benefits from upgrading low skilled's education. However, this is difficult to put into practice because employers are reluctant to train low skilled and because low skilled are unwilling to participate. To circumvent this potential market imperfection, a large supply of formal education in Sweden is…

This paper adds to the sparse literature on the consequences of education-occupation mismatches. It examines the income penalty for field of education-occupation mismatches for men and women with higher education degrees in Sweden and reveals that the penalty for such mismatches is large for both men and women. For mismatched men the income…

This paper exploits discontinuities and randomness in the college admissions in Sweden in 1982, to estimate the economic return to college in the 1990s. At the time, college admissions were highly selective and applicants were ranked with respect to their formal merits. Admissions were given to those ranked higher than some threshold value. At the…

In this paper I use a rich dataset in order to observe each student in different subjects and courses over time. Unlike most peer studies, I identify the peers and the teachers that each student has had in every classroom. This enables me to handle the simultaneity and selection problems, which are inherent in estimating peer effects in the…

Sweden has undertaken major national reforms of its school sector, which, consequently, has been classified as one of the most decentralized ones in the OECD. This paper investigates whether local tax base, grants, and preferences affected local school resources differently as decentralization took place. We find that municipal tax base affects…

While individual data form the base for much empirical analysis in education, this is not the case for analysis of technical efficiency. In this paper, efficiency is estimated using individual data which is then aggregated to larger groups of students. Using an individual approach to technical efficiency makes it possible to carry out studies on a…

Findings from a Swedish longitudinal study of 834 men indicate that acquired level of youth education functions as a socioeconomic stratifier through its effects on occupational status and earnings at the age of 30, 35, 43, and 52. Adult education appears to reinforce the effects of youth education on occupational status from age 35 to 52.…

Summarizes a study exploring the relationship between higher education and economic development, using cointegration and Granger-causality tests. Results show a significant causality from higher education efforts in Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, and France. However, a similar causality link has not been found for Italy or Australia. (68…

Investigates the usefulness of the schooling coefficient, in equations developed by the human capital theorist Jacob Mincer, in estimating the internal rate of return to education in Sweden. Examines several assumptions underlying the coefficient, for example, that schooling precedes work. Finds that in some cases inference from the estimated…

Most economics students at two Swedish universities do not complete their undergraduate theses within the intended time. This paper finds that coauthoring, compared to writing alone, increases the probability of completing a thesis. A second thesis is less likely to be completed than a first, and the probability of completion decreases over time.…