The Decline of Schooling Productivity in OECD Countries

Based on Baumol's cost-disease model, we develop two alternative measures of the change in the productivity of schooling. Both productivity measures are based on changes in the relative price of schooling. We find that in most OECD countries the price of schooling has increased faster in 1970–94 than would be compatible with constant schooling productivity. In addition, we show that the average performance of pupils has remained constant at best in most OECD countries. Our results imply a larger decline in the productivity of schooling in many OECD countries than in the United States.     

The effect of Protestantism on education before the industrialization: Evidence from 1816 Prussia

Across Prussian counties and towns, Protestantism led to more schooling already in 1816, before the Industrial Revolution. This supports a human capital theory of Protestant economic history and rules out a Weberian explanation of Protestant education just resulting from industrialization.     

Dualism and cross-country growth regressions

This paper develops empirical growth models suitable for dual economies, and studies the relationship between structural change and economic growth. Changes in the structure of employment will raise aggregate productivity when the marginal product of labor varies across sectors. The models in the paper incorporate this effect in a more flexible way than previous work. Estimates of the models imply sizeable marginal product differentials, and indicate that the reallocation of labor makes a significant contribution to the international variation in productivity growth.     

Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-grade variation in TIMSS

We estimate the effect of class size on student performance in 11 countries, combining school fixed effects and instrumental variables to identify random class-size variation between two adjacent grades within individual schools. Conventional estimates of class-size effects are shown to be severely biased by the non-random placement of students between and within schools. While we find sizable beneficial effects of smaller classes in Greece and Iceland, we reject the possibility of even small effects in four countries and of large beneficial effects in an additional four countries. Noteworthy class-size effects are observed only in countries with relatively low teacher salaries.     

Exposition verhindern

Allergie durch Latex produkte - Nicht nur Pflegekr?fte leiden bisweilen an einer Latexallergie, auch Patienten k?nnen betroffen sein. Gerade bei Operationen, wenn latexhaltige Handschuhe, Katheter oder Beatmungsmasken direkten Kontakt zu Blut und Schleimh?uten des Patienten haben, ist das Risiko für Komplikationen hoch. Um schwerwiegende Notf?lle zu vermeiden, hilft oft nur eines – jegliche Latexexposition zu unterbinden.     

Sectoral and aggregate estimates of the cyclical behavior of markups: Evidence from Germany

Sectoral and Aggregate Estimates of the Cyclical Behavior of Mark-ups: Evidence from Germany. — The paper presents evidence of the cyclical behavior of the price to marginal cost ratio for Germany. Average markups are estimated both for two-digit manufacturing industries and for the aggregate economy, the results being quite similar once the difference between gross output and and value-added markups is accounted for. Over the business cycle, markups appear to be countercyclical for most parameter constellations. This is interpreted as empirical support for business cycle theories that rely on aggregate demand shocks to affect markups inversely, thus producing procyclical real wages and productivity without having to assume technology shocks.     

Education and religious participation: city-level evidence from Germany’s secularization period 1890–1930

Why did substantial parts of Europe abandon the institutionalized churches around 1900? Empirical studies using modern data mostly contradict the traditional view that education was a leading source of the seismic social phenomenon of secularization. We construct a unique panel dataset of advanced-school enrollment and Protestant church attendance in German cities between 1890 and 1930. Our cross-sectional estimates replicate a positive association. By contrast, in panel models where fixed effects account for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, education—but not income or urbanization—is negatively related to church attendance. In panel models with lagged explanatory variables, educational expansion precedes reduced church attendance, while the reverse is not true. Dynamic panel models with lagged dependent variables and instrumental-variable models using variation in school supply confirm the results. The pattern of results across school types is most consistent with a mechanism of increased critical thinking in general rather than specific knowledge of natural sciences.     

Expenditure Reform in Industrialised Countries: A Case‐Study Approach*

This study examines reforms of public expenditure in industrialised countries over the past two decades. We distinguish ambitious and timid reformers and analyse in detail reform experiences in eight case studies of ambitious reform episodes. We find that ambitious reform countries reduce spending on transfers, subsidies and public consumption. Such expenditure retrenchment is also typically part of a comprehensive reform package that includes improvements in fiscal institutions as well as structural and other macroeconomic reforms. The study finds that ambitious expenditure retrenchment and reform coincides with large improvements in fiscal and economic growth indicators.     

Fiskalpolitik nach der Krise

Die ?ffentlichen Haushalte sind durch die Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise stark in Anspruch genommen. Au?erdem wurde, noch bevor der Ausgang der Krise absehbar war, in Deutschland die Schuldenbremse beschlossen. Bei den Autoren besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass die Nachkrisenzeit einer sensiblen Fiskalpolitik bedarf. über deren Ausgestaltung gehen die Auffassungen jedoch auseinander.