The view that the returns to public educational investments are highest for early childhood interventions stems primarily from several influential randomized trials - Abecedarian, Perry, and the Early Training Project - that point to super-normal returns to preschool interventions. This paper...

It has been noted that failure to meet the target set by government for reducing the head count ratio of child poverty in Britain is partly due to the success of government policy in generating economic growth. Apart from missing the argument that absolute poverty is not a meaningful idea, this...

This paper presents a model of smoking choice in which rationality is bounded by limitations in intertemporal computational abilities. The model is applied to the youth decision to initiate smoking. Lifetime smoking paths of representative smokers indicate that youths may experience a reduction...

The Education Reform Program launched in the mid-1990s by the Government of Bolivia had important accomplishments, particularly by increasing the coverage of primary education. However, the high rates of coverage observed at national level conceal the inequality in the distribution of schooling...

This paper has two interrelated goals. First, it examines racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes among older Americans using two important new data sets: the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldes Old (AHEAD). Second, our research attempts...

We evaluate the effect of the federal students’ financial assistance scheme (BAfoeG) on enrolment rates into higher education by exploiting the exogenous variation introduced through a discrete shift in the repayment regulations. Supported students had to repay the full loan until 1990....

Proceedings of a conference organised by the Productivity Commission and the Melbourne Institute of Economic and Social Research held on 7-8 March 2002 to explore key policy issues facing Australia's health sector. The Roundtable drew together thirty leading practitioners and analysts on health...

A common justification for HOPE-style merit-aid programs is to promote and reward academic achievement, thereby inducing greater investments in human capital. However, grade-based eligibility and retention rules encourage other behavioral responses. Using the longitudinal records of all...

This paper presents an economic model of individual crime decision relying on relative deprivation and discusses the role of education. It distinguishes between property and interpersonal crime and proposes an econometric estimation of the model for 723 municipalities of Minas Gerais, one of the...

On 13 July 1998 the Treasurer referred the current and alternative funding methodologies for nursing home subsidy rates to the Productivity Commission for inquiry and report within six months. The Aged Care Structural Reform Package, announced in the August 1996 Budget, included a process of...