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Using US survey data, we show that those on performance pay work substantially longer hours. This remains in worker fixed-effect estimates and in worker with employer fixed-effect estimates. The magnitudes confirm increased hours as a dimension of the anticipated effort response and long hours as a potential intermediary between performance pay and reduced worker health. Despite managers being the most likely to both receive performance pay and work long hours, this association largely reflects sorting and not the behavioral response evident for other workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking good notes is linked to success in college. However, increased use of computers to take notes necessitates reconsideration of the linkages between note-taking and learning. One difficulty is disentangling the latent student characteristics that may correlate with computer use from the actual effect of computer note-taking on information retention. The authors employ a within-subject, random control experiment to distinguish whether the commonly perceived negative correlation between digital note-taking and performance is due to the note-taking process itself, or is instead due to the characteristics of students who choose to use computers. Their findings suggest that digital note-taking does not have a statistically meaningful impact on student performance; rather, the problem likely lies in the students' choice to use the computer.

This article uses longitudinal student-level data from the American University of Sharjah, a large comprehensive university in the Middle East, to examine the relationship between student evaluations of teachers and current and future student achievement. Our model strategies control for the observed and unobserved heterogeneity of students and use unique instruments. We find that when all disciplines are examined together there is a positive relationship between current evaluation and current grade point average (GPA) but a negative relationship between past evaluations and current GPA. Discipline-specific estimations find the same results in the math and science course subsample, but for other course types there is little relation between evaluation and GPA.

While the existing literature largely finds that standardized test scores are positively associated with participation in pre-kindergarten programs at the student level, there is little research on the policy effect of publicly providing these programs to entire school districts. We attempt to partially fill this void by examining the effect that publicly provided pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs have on fourth grade student achievement in math and reading at the district level. The models utilize panel data from districts in Wisconsin along with fixed effects estimations. We find that once time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity of a district is accounted for, preschool programs have small but significant impacts on a cohort's future math scores, particularly in less-educated communities. Additionally, there is no evidence that preschool or full-day kindergarten has an impact on future reading scores at the district level. (JEL 120, 128), I. INTRODUCTION In 2011, more than 1.3 million children attended publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs; of this, more than 1.1 million were 4-year-olds (28% of the nation's 4-year-olds). These numbers are [...]

Using US panel data on young workers, we demonstrate that those who receive performance pay are more likely to consume alcohol and illicit drugs. Recognizing that this likely reflects worker sorting, we first control for risk, ability, and personality proxies. We further mitigate sorting concerns by introducing worker fixed effects, worker-employer match fixed effects, and worker-employer-occupation match fixed effects. Finally, we present fixed effect IV estimates. All of these estimates continue to indicate a greater likelihood of substance use when a worker receives performance pay. The results support conjectures that stress and effort increase with performance pay and that alcohol and drug use is a coping mechanism for workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of overeducation on wages by comparing two cohorts from the 1979 and 1997 U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth panels. Using an econometric technique uncommon to the literature, we allow for overeducation to have a disparate impact on wages across individuals by employing random slopes models. Overeducation has a positive marginal effect on wages. Yet, cohort comparisons reveal that the returns to overeducation declined dramatically over time. In the past, surplus schooling in full‐time jobs returned nearly as much as the correct level of education. Presently it returns approximately 50% less than in the past. The effect of undereducation and required education on wages changed as well, but by far less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]