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This study provides evidence on the distribution of school attendance and educational attainment across African countries, focusing on the correlation with literacy rates in the population, level of resources and country institutional features. The study also estimate sample correlations between enrolment and macroaggregates, related to resources (GDP per capita, student/teacher ratio), computing some counterfactuals. The authors then move to micro-data, selecting three African countries as representative examples of low (Mauritania), middle (Uganda) and high (Ghana) educational attainment. Using social surveys conducted in these countries, the authors estimate the returns to education in terms of better quality of employment (for those who are in the labour market) and of higher monetary returns (for the sub-sample of those earning a monetary wage). In addition, the authors collapse the data at household level, in order to study the determinants of individual educational attainment of children aged between 5 and 25, showing the correlation between parental education, availability of schools at community level, external shocks (like drought, famine, war) and the individual probability of being in school.

In 2015, a new performance-related pay scheme was introduced for schoolteachers in Italy as part of education accountability policies aimed at improving their performance. Beginning in that year, all Italian state school principals were offered the opportunity to distribute wage bonuses to deserving teachers. During the first year of implementation, 82 percent of the schools appointed ad hoc internal committees and distributed the bonuses, on average to one teacher out of three. A large majority of schools distributed the funds internally, choosing their own criteria for defining what merit was and how much it should be prized. Results suggest that merit pay was mostly uncorrelated to students' achievements, although more than one round of application would be required for more rigorous tests. However, the article argues that the 2015 reform aligned the Italian system of evaluation and assessment with other international accountability policies.

This paper presents stylised facts on the labour supply and income inequality of individuals aged 25–55, drawn from the 1989–2020 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Over the sample period, earnings inequality has increased considerably although the gap is smaller when considered in terms of household disposable income. We investigate the possible drivers of this increase using administrative data on employees. The evidence suggests that labour market reforms implemented since the start of the 1990s are the most plausible explanation for this growth in earnings inequality. Comparison between earnings and disposable income suggests that both government and households are important for reducing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the potential impact of introducing performance-based funding systems (PBFS) on national research systems, using information on the number of publications and their scientific impact (citations or publications in top-ranked journals) for 31 countries over the period 1996-2016. The analysis is performed both at the aggregate level and looking separately at each of the six main scientific areas identified according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) classification. On average, PBFS are found to increase the number of publications, though the effect is only temporary and fades after a few years. Looking at the scientific impact, PBFS are found to have a negligible effect on excellence as measured by the share of articles published in the top journals, irrespective of the type of assessment adopted. On the contrary, PBFS have some influence on average research quality, as measured by the number of citations per paper normalised with respect to the field.

In this paper We present a pilot study providing ICT resources at some Italian junior high schools. In 2009, 156 classes at 6th grade were endowed with additional resources earmarked for purchasing ICT equipment. By selecting an equivalent number of classes in the same schools, we are able to conduct an evaluation of the causal effect of ICT on student achievements, controlling for their initial level. Despite a significant investment, the impact on literacy and numeracy achievement is negligible: if we take the most encouraging results, the average improvement would be 3 test points, corresponding to 17% of a standard deviation.

This article reassesses the conventional wisdom that public-sector jobs have worse pay but better amenities than equivalent private-sector jobs, using data from 22 European countries and the USA. Earnings gaps are shown to be heterogeneous across countries—public sector work carries a premium in Europe but a penalty in the USA. However, whereas European public-sector workers report better job amenities—better job security and work–life balance—than their private-sector counterparts, there are no public–private amenity differentials for US workers. Public-sector work also has fewer pay-for-performance schemes. Finally, the public sector does not seem to ensure a fairer work environment, compared to the private sector, in terms of workplace discrimination and harassment. These stylized facts inform the external validity of extrapolating individual case studies to different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents empirical evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2003 survey on the role of students' attitudes towards competition and cooperation in mathematical literacy achievement. While individual competitive attitudes are positively correlated with test scores, the reverse occurs when considering the aggregation of individual attitudes. Similarly, while individual cooperative attitudes exhibit a negative correlation with test scores, the opposite is true in the aggregate. We provide an interpretation of this "fallacy of composition" based on public good production and incentives to free riding, which is prevented by social norms held valid in a small or homogenous group. (Contains 16 notes, 3 tables, and 1 figure.)