Publications

For Faster Education Progress, We Need to Know What Kids Know
 Center for Global Development. 14-Apr-17
American Teachers Unions Oppose Innovative Schools—in Africa
 Wall Street Journal. 10-Mar-17
General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Life-Cycle
(with Guido Schwerdt, Ludger Woessmann, and Lei Zhang). Journal of Human Resources, 52(1), pp. 49-88. Winter 2017
For Long Term Economic Development, Only Skills Matter
 IZA World of Labor, 343. 2017
School Resources and Student Achievement: A Review of Cross-Country Economic Research
(with Ludger Woessmann). In Monica Rosén, Kajsa Yang Hansen, and Ulrika Wolff (ed.). Cognitive Abilities and Educational Outcomes: A Festschrift in Honour of Jan-Eric Gustafsson, Springer, pp. 149-171. 2017
Imperfect Performance Information and Public Sector Personnel Decisions : The Case of School Principals
(with Julie Berry Cullen, Gregory Phelan, and Steven G. Rivkin)
. NBER Working Paper No. 22881. Dec-16
Dynamic Effects of Teacher Turnover on the Quality of Instruction
(with Steven G. Rivkin and Jeffrey C. Schiman). Economics of Education Review, 55, pp. 132-148. December 2016
Skills, Mobility, and Growth
(with Ludger Woessmann). In Alexandra Brown, David Buchholz, Daniel Davis, and Arturo Gonzalez (ed.). Economic Mobility: Research & Ideas on Strengthening Families, Communities & the Economy, St. Louis, MO: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, pp. 423-449. 2016
Will more higher education improve economic growth?
 Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 32(4), pp. 538-552. Winter 2016
Education Reform
In Scott W. Atlas, Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Eric A. Hanushek, Edward P. Lazear, Lee Ohanian, Joshua D. Rauh, and Frank A. Wolak. Economic Policy Challenges Facing California’s Next Governor, Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, pp. 19-23. Oct-18
Education and the Nation's Future
In George P. Shultz (ed.). Blueprint for America, Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, pp. 89-108. 2016
It Pays to Improve School Quality
(with Jens Ruhose and Ludger Woessmann). Education Next, 16(3) , pp. 16-24. Summer 2016
The Economic Impact of Good Schools
 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. 3-May-16
Handbook of the Economics of Education, Volume 5
(co-editor with Stephen J. Machin and Ludger Woessmann). Amsterdam: North Holland. 2016
Student Achievement and Every State's Economic Future
 Real Clear Education. 29-Apr-16
Linking Large-Scale Reading Assessments: Comment
 Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 14(1), pp. 27-29. 2016
What Matters for Achievement: Updating Coleman on the Influence of Families and Schools
 Education Next, 16(2), pp. 22-30. Spring 2016
The knowledge capital imperative
 Education for Global Development. 28-Jan-16
School human capital and teacher salary policies
 Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 1(1), pp. 23-40. 2016
Knowledge Capital, Growth, and the East Asian Miracle
(with Ludger Woessmann). Science, 351(6271), pp. 344-345. 22-Jan-16
Can Schools Be Saved? Hope and Despair
 The Atlantic. 30-Dec-15
Education’s Double Helix
 Past as Prologue: The National Academy of Education at 50 -- Members Reflect, Washington, DC: National Academy of Education, pp. 309-312. 2015
Time in Education: Introduction
 Economic Journal, 125, pp. F394-F396. November
Achieving Universal Basic Skills
 Real Clear Education. 4-Nov-15
Education Quality for Economic Development
 Conferencia Internatcional Educação e Desenvolvimento Escola e Sociede, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, pp. 23-32. October 2015
Foreward [to Carl Bistany and Stephanie Gruner Buckley, Last Bell]
 Last Bell: Breaking the gridlock in education reform, London: Profile Books, pp. xi-xiv. 2015
The Preschool Debate: Translating Research into Policy
In Ingrid Gould Ellen, Edward L. Glaeser, Eric A. Hanushek, Matthew E. Kahn, and Aaron M. Renn. The Next Urban Reaissance: How Public-Policy Innovation and Evaluation Can Improve Life in America’s Cities, New York: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, pp. 25-40. 2015
Land Use Controls, Fiscal Zoning, and the Local Provision of Education
(with Kuzey Yilmaz). Public Finance Review, 49(5), pp. 559-585. September 2015
Teach the World: Why the UN Sustainable Development Goals Should Focus on Education
(With Ludger Woessmann). Foreign Affairs. 20-Aug-15
Why Standard Measures of Human Capital are Misleading
 KDI Journal of Economic Policy, 37(2), pp. 22-39. 2015
Teach all young people universal basic skills by 2030 – it will give huge boost to GDP
(with Ludger Woessmann). The Conversation UK. 18-May-15
Universal basic skills should become the primary development goal
(with Ludger Woessmann). VoxEU. 24-May-15
The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth
(with Ludger Woessmann)., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 262 pages. 2015
The Economic Impact of Educational Quality
(with Ludger Woessmann). In Pauline Dixon, Steve Humble, and Chris Counihan (ed.). Handbook of International Development and Education, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 6-19. 2015
Universal Basic Skills: What countries stand to gain
(with Ludger Woessmann). Paris: OECD Publishing, 110 pages. 2015
Economics of Education
In Paul B. Baltes and Neil J. Smelser (ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 6, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, pp. 4200-4208. 2001
An Evaluation System Linked to Retention and Reward Is Vital
 Room for Debate, New York Times, 2-Mar. Mar-15
Not Enough Value to Justify More of the Same
 Room for Debate, New York Times. 26-Mar-15
Returns to Skills around the World: Evidence from PIAAC
(with Guido Schwerdt, Simon Wiederhold, and Ludger Woessmann). European Economic Review, 73, pp. 103-130. Jan-15
The UFT’s wasteful class-size push: Research says teacher quality trumps quantity
 New York Daily News. 14-Dec-14
Finding the Right Focus
In María de Ibarrola and D.C. Phillips (ed.). Leaders in Educational Research, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 93-105. 2014
How Teachers Unions Use 'Common Core' to Undermine Reform
 Wall Street Journal. 1-Jul-14
Achievement Gap
In Denis C. Phillips (ed.). Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy, Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, pp, 4-7. 2014
There Is No War On Teachers
 USA Today. 11-Jun-14
Is Location Fate? Distributional Aspects of Schooling
In Gregory K. Ingram and Daphne A. Kenyon (ed.). Education, Land, and Location, Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp. 25-61. 2014
More Easily Firing Bad Teachers Helps Everyone
 Room for Debate, New York Times. 11-Jun-14
U.S. Students from Educated Families Lag in International Tests
(with Paul E. Peterson and Ludger Woessmann). Education Next, 14(4), pp. 8-18. Fall 2014
Institutional Structures of the Education System and Student Achievement: A Review of Cross-country Economic Research
(with Ludger Woessmann). In Rolf Strietholt, Wilfried Bos, Jan-Eric Gustafsson, and Monica Rosen (ed.) . Educational Policy Evaluation through International Comparative Assessments, Munster, Germany: Waxman, pp. 145-175. 2014
Kansas Courts Get It Right
 Education Next. 12-Mar-14
Borrowing Constraints, College Aid, and Intergenerational Mobility
(with Charles Ka Yui Leung and Kuzey Yilmaz). Journal of Human Capital, 8(1), pp. 1-41. Spring 2014