Previous work by the authors suggested that during the 1970s and 1980s, a person’s early cognitive ability became a less important determinant of his or her eventual educational achievement. Furthermore, over the same time period, family background started to have a greater impact on a...

In a meritocratic society an individual's economic success is determined by their ability, not by their parents' socio-economic status. We assess whether meritocracy has increased in both the British education system and labour market. The richness of our longitudinal data enables us to look at...

Education boosts individuals' productivity and wages. Yet many individuals leave school with minimal skills and qualifications. One way for these workers to catch up might be lifelong learning. We find that a particular form of lifelong learning, work related "training", does have a positive...