The benefits of a college diploma are many, including higher pay, lower unemployment, maybe even better health. Yet many high school graduates still do not pursue a college degree. This article examines several key reasons why more people aren’t making this investment in themselves.

(29 Reviews)

(0 Reviews)

Replicating the Harlem Children's Zone: How a Charter School Tax Credit Could Bring Human Capital Investment to Scale

By Ian Galloway

Every year, 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States. A clear moral and policy failure, this ongoing crisis is also an economic disaster.

(49 Reviews)

Which Came First—Better Education or Better Health?

By Rubén Hernández-Murillo and Christopher J. Martinek

Better-educated people appear to be in better health than less-educated people. But does more education cause better health, or are there other factors at play – such as income and access to information?

(15 Reviews)

Resources

(0 Reviews)

Teacher Workshops Chip Away at Economic Illiteracy

By William Bosshardt Paul Grimes, and Mary Suiter,

Workshops put on for teachers by the Atlanta and St. Louis Feds are having the desired results, a recent assessment shows. Teachers are learning about the economy and personal finance, and they are passing this information on to a student body that desperately needs it.

(2 Reviews)

A Bleak 30 Years for Black Men: Economic Progress Was Slim in Urban America

By Natalia A. Kolesnikova and Yang Liu

In many ways, black men were still worse off than white men in 2000, more than three decades after passage of the Civil Rights Act. A decline in manufacturing and relatively low levels of education were contributing factors.

(14 Reviews)

An Early Childhood Investment with a High Public Return

By Rob Grunewald and Arthur J. Rolnick

High-quality early childhood programs, particularly for children at risk, result not only in economic gains for the children as they grow up, but in savings on taxes, studies have shown.

(10 Reviews)

Mexico's Oportunidades Program Fails to Make the Grade in NYC

By Brett W. Fawley and Luciana Juvenal

A program that pays poor, rural Mexican families to keep their children in school didn’t translate well to New York City. The latter’s version will end this summer.

(12 Reviews)

The Dismal Science Tackles Happiness Data

By Rubén Hernández-Murillo and Christopher J. Martinek

While many believe that money does buy happiness, research shows that richer people aren’t necessarily happier people, especially in the United States.

(7 Reviews)

The Return to Education Isn't Calculated Easily

By Natalia A. Kolesnikova

Most studies estimate that the return to each year of education is about 10 percent. But calculating the financial gain is not a cut-and-dried process. Even more difficult is calculating the nonmonetary return.

(28 Reviews)

From Community College to a Bachelor's Degree and Beyond: How Smooth Is the Road?

By Natalia A. Kolesnikova

Those who start out at a community college and go on to get a four-year or better degree usually face a rougher road than those who start out at a four-year college. The paycheck at the end of the road is often less for those in the former group.

(2 Reviews)

A Winning Combination? Economic Theory Meets Sports

By Kristie M. Engemann and Michael T. Owyang

Satisfying a need to get out in the field, some economists are studying sports. Their topics have included racism in the NBA, coaches’ maximization of their chances of winning, and the direction that soccer players and goalies should move during penalty kicks.

(4 Reviews)

Community Profile: El Dorado Hopes The Promise Brings Back the Golden Days

By Susan C. Thomson

(43 Reviews)

Community Colleges: Not So Junior Anymore

By Natalia A. Kolesnikova and Luke Shimek

Originally, their goal was to prepare students to transfer to a four-year college. Today, they also offer work force training, certification in professions, adult continuing education-and even bachelor's degrees.

(3 Reviews)

U.S. Income Inequality: It's Not So Bad

By Thomas A. Garrett

Census data show that the income of the rich is growing faster than the income of the poor. But such common measures exaggerate the degree of income inequality. In addition, income inequality is the result of-and not a detriment to-a well-functioning economy.

(6 Reviews)

Which Came First–Democracy or Growth?

By Rubén Hernández-Murillo and Christopher J. Martinek

Most economists agree that economic freedom promotes growth, but fewer agree that more political freedom improves economic performance as well. Chile of the 1970s and 1980s and China today are just two autocracies with strong economies.

(0 Reviews)

Community Profile: Town and Gown: In This Southern Illinois Hub, They Are Now “Tied at the Hip”

By Susan C. Thomson

(2 Reviews)

Adding Up the Economic Effects of Immigration

By Rubén Hernández-Murillo

The influx of low-skilled and undocumented workers raises concerns about the impact on low-skilled U.S.-born workers and on the tax burden for all those born in the United States.

(3 Reviews)

Wage Gap Widens, Especially in Cities

By Christopher H. Wheeler

Thirty years ago, the "haves" in the St. Louis Fed's District earned 3.7 times what the "have nots" earned. Today, the "haves" make 5.2 times as much. Education is just one of the reasons behind the widening divide.

(0 Reviews)

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