Using 10-year neighborhood-level panels derived from personal tax records in Canada, we find that local ethnic and religious diversity are inversely related to charitable donations. A 10 percentage point increase in ethnic diversity is associated with a 14% reduction in donations. The same...

Do households react to changes in the distribution of income in their localities by changing their charitable giving? The theoretical prediction of the effects of income inequality on giving is unclear. We study how changes in income inequality measured at the neighbourhood and municipality...

As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as hiring and firing of teachers, monitoring instruction and maintaining student discipline, among many others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in math and reading achievement...

Many studies examine the importance of teachers in students' learning, but few exist on the contribution of principals. We measure the effect of principals on gains in primary test scores in North Carolina and estimate the standard deviation of principals' value added to be 0.12 -0.17. We find...

Evidence supports the contention that humans find it costly to carry out some sorts of strategies. Such costs are unlikely to be observed directly, but various models have been proposed to represent them. We discuss a method for testing the empirical worth of these models.

We estimate the effect of information about school achievement that is disseminated to the public through websites and school `report cards' on school choice decisions. We find that students are more likely to leave their school when public information reveals poor school-level performance. Some...

For many Americans, purchasing or acquiring food is a minor inconvenience rather than a major obstacle that must be overcome. In the United States, 17 million households (14.6%) were food insecure in 2008. Confronted with this vulnerability, some communities are attempting to re-localize many...

The age at which students enter school is increasing. More parents are delaying their child's entry, and U.S. states are moving school entry cutoffs earlier, mainly because older students outperform younger ones on many educational outcomes. Much of the literature interprets advantages held by...

As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as: hiring and firing teachers, monitoring instruction, and maintaining student discipline, among others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in student math and reading achievement...

We explore the effects of local ethnic and religious diversity on private donations to charity. We find that an increase in religious or ethnic diversity decreases donations. The ethnicity effect is driven by non-minorities and blacks, and is strongest in high income, low education areas. The...