Table of Contents

I. Introduction and Background.- Chapter 1 Why do Economists Study Education Policy?.- Chapter 2 The Structure and History of Education Markets in the US.- Chapter 3 Empirical Tools of Education Economics.- II. The Foundations of Education Production and Investment.- Chapter 4 The Human Capital Model.- Chapter 5 The Signaling Model: An Alternative to the Human Capital Framework.- Chapter 6 The Returns to Education Investment.- Chapter 7 How Knowledge is Produced: The Education Production Function.- III. Elementary and Secondary Education Policy.- Chapter 8. The Financing of Local Public Schools.- Chapter 9 Does Money Matter? The Effect of Resource and Input-Based Policies.- Chapter 10 School Choice: A Market-based Approach to Education Reform.- Chapter 11 Test-Based School Accountability Programs.- Chapter 12 Teacher Labor Markets.- Chapter 13 Market Dimensions of Higher Education.- Chapter 14 Student Aid Policy and Collegiate Outcomes.- Chapter 15 The Economics of College Admission and College Life.- Appendix: Description of Data Sets Commonly Used in the Economics of Education.- Glossary.- References.- Index.

About the Author

Michael Lovenheim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University and is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the Economics of Education and Public Economics working groups. He received both a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in 2006 and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spencer Foundation and the National Academy of Education in 2011. 
Sarah Turner is a University Professor of Economics & Education and the Souder Family Professor at the University of Virginia, where she holds appointments in the Department of Economics, the Curry School of Education, and the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She is also a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economics Research.