[...]This paper begins by discussing poverty trends on a global scale -- where the poor are located in the world and how their numbers have been changing over time. It then discusses the relationship of economic growth and income distribution to poverty reduction. Finally, it suggests an...

We present a joint study of the U.S. structural transformation (thedecline of agriculture as the dominating sector) and regional convergence(of southern to northern average wages).We find empiricallythat most of the regional convergence is attributable to the structuraltransformation: the...

There is plenty of evidence across the EU to suggest that young people from poorerbackgrounds are less likely to attend tertiary education than their better-off peers. Thiscorrelation is often used to justify monetary transfers to families with students. It isnot clear, however, that these...

We exploit a universe dataset of state school students in England with linkedtest score records to document the evolution of attainment through school fordifferent ethnic groups. The analysis yields a number of striking findings. First,we show that, controlling for personal characteristics, all...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced bychildren across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices ofdissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nineethnic...

Parental involvement in their children’s lives can have a lasting impact on wellbeing.More involved parents convey to their children that they are interested intheir development, and this in turn signals to the child that their future is valued.However, what happens in socio-economically...

Both educational attainment and school quality are typically lower indisadvantaged areas than others and much recent policy attention has beenfocused on each. This paper looks at the quality problem, exploring therelationships between disadvantaged contexts, what schools do, and the qualityof...

Truancy is often seen as irrational behaviour on the part of school ageyouth. This paper takes the opposite view and models truancy as thesolution to a time allocation problem in which youths derive currentreturns from activities that reduce time spent at school. The model isestimated using a US...

[...]Nonetheless, not all the news is bad. As we describe in detail,our work on New York City’s public schools—which includesextensive research on immigrant children—and our separate work on school reform offer several reasons for optimism.First, immigrant students, who might be viewed as...

[...]In this paper, I draw on analyses that aimed todetermine whether impoverished U.S. locales varied byrace or urban/rural location in their rates and causes ofexcess mortality, and whether mortality gaps betweenimpoverished and other U.S. populations widened over thedecade from 1980 to 1990....