The author notes that raising the school-leaving age and increasing the amount of spending per pupil have been extremely important public school reforms. However, he says, sizable improvements in school quality will only be evident when these two reforms are complemented by higher standards--and when students' abilities to meet these standards are tested.
Analyzes the distribution of worker earnings across workers and over the working age as consequences of differential investments in human capital. The study also develops the human capital earnings function, an econometric tool for assessing rates of return and other investment parameters.
The paper examines major non-policy and policy factors that account for the varying patterns of change of output and incomes in Russia's regions. It is found that initial conditions (resource advantages) and institutional capacity has had considerable impact on performance, but there is no evidence that economic reforms has led to better output and investment dynamics. In contrast, for interpreting regional differences in per capita income change, reform progress (controlling for federal-regional financial transfers) is an important explanatory variable. Thus, the major impact of reforms has not been to boost output and investment, but to redirect incomes into pro-reform regions.