This dissertation consists of three essays in which I use causal inference methods to study
issues concerning both developing and developed economies, focusing on the economics …

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on schooling, as an investment with market returns
is not intended to detract from the importance of education as a public good and as a source …

Should countries or regions (generically," states") invest more in education to promote
economic growth? Policy makers often assert that if their state spends more on educating its …

This paper surveys recent advances in our understanding of the consequences of human
capital for individual and social outcomes. Particular attention is given to recent …

The focus of this paper is regression analysis. Regression analysis forms the core for a
family of techniques including path analysis, structural equation modelling, hierarchical …

This dissertation estimates returns to education in terms of skills and health as important
aspects of human capital given their importance in determining economic outcomes. The …

This dissertation examines higher education and social policies in developing countries.
The first chapter evaluates how attending college offers a wage premium in the long term …

Professors Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett set out to capitalize on recent
developments in education data and methodology by attempting to answer the following …

Parents with higher education levels have children with higher education levels. Why is this?
There are a number of possible explanations. One is a pure selection story: the type of …

Using a dynamic programming model of schooling decisions, we investigate the relationship
between subjective discount rates and the labor market ability (the discount rate bias) on a …