We use a calibrated macroeconomic model to examine the different effects of university tuition and student loan policies aimed at improving access to public higher education. Student loans that condition repayment on future income substantially improve access. The significant fiscal cost of such...

A natural experiment in education on Israeli kibbutzim, where investment in human capital is equal for all children, allows us to differentiate between the effect on children's grades of genetics and home environment on the one hand and of material resources invested in education on the other...

Even the most egalitarian education systems employ high-stakes tests to regulate the transition from universal secondary education to selective academic programs that open doors to skilled, well-paid professions. This gives parents a strong incentive to invest substantial resources in improving...

We construct a simple model of compulsory schooling in which legislation and compliance are endogenously determined by individuals disciplined by social norms, optimizing their voting decisions and the school attendance of their children. The model provides a formal framework for interpreting...

Arab society in Israel offers a counter-example, which calls into question the hypothesis that the male advantage in STEM decreases as gender equality in society increases. Analyzing administrative longitudinal data on students in Hebrew- and Arabic-language schools in Israel, all operating...

Arab society in Israel offers a counter-example, which calls into question the hypothesis that the male advantage in STEM decreases as gender equality in society increases. Analyzing administrative longitudinal data on students in Hebrew- and Arabic-language schools in Israel, all operating...

We consider the contribution of public education to growth through its role in building social capital—instilling common values and norms that lower economic transaction costs and reduce social tensions between different population groups. This is modeled in the context of a political economy...

Efforts to enforce compulsory schooling by linking welfare assistance to school attendance are rarely successful in themselves. One reason is a lack of credibility: targeted families may anticipate that welfare administrators will be reluctant to withdraw support when attendance does not...

We draw on quantitative and descriptive data from Robert Campbell's widely cited manual for prospective apprentices, The London Tradesman (1747), to demonstrate the responsiveness of apprenticeship in mid-eighteenth century London to market forces of supply and demand. We regress apprenticeship...