The gap in university enrolment by parental education is large and persistent in many countries. In our representative survey of German adults, 74% of university graduates, but only 36% of those without a university degree, favour university education for their children. The latter are more...

Die deutsche Teilung im Jahr 1949 in die DDR und die Bundesrepublik sowie die Wiedervereinigung im Jahr 1990 bieten einen Rahmen, um Auswirkungen des Kommunismus zu analysieren. Niemals zuvor ereignete sich eine derart unerwartete Einführung und Abschaffung eines kommunistischen Regimes auf dem...

Auch zum 30. Jubiläum der Deutschen Einheit ist noch viel von Ost-West-Unterschieden die Rede. Im Vordergrund stehen hierbei neben rein ökonomischen Differenzen auch Unterschiede in soziokulturellen Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen. Dass diese Diskussionen auch nach so langer Zeit noch...

The long run prosperity of nations is directly related to the skills of their population. The relevant cognitive skills - the 'knowledge capital' of a nation - can be measured well by international math and science tests. The consideration of knowledge capital can completely account for the...

How can the labor-market prospects of school-attending adolescents from disadvantaged families be improved? One possible approach is the use of mentoring programs that assign adolescents a mentor who can provide them with support that their family environment is not able to provide. But do such...

For school children, the Covid-19 pandemic brought school closures that challenged their learning experiences and social-distancing rules that impeded their peer interactions. Will these experiences have persistent effects on the development of children's cognitive and socio-emotional skills? We...