Education policy in the United States, while primarily the responsibility of the state governments, involves complicated decision making at the local, state, and federal levels. Federal involvement dramatically increased under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). But, reflecting resistance to various parts of this law, the involvement of federal policy making was substantially reduced when Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015. This change in policy allows estimation of the impact of altered federalism. By looking at how states reacted to their enhanced decision-making role, we see a retreat from the use of output-based policy toward teachers, and this retreat was associated with significantly lower student achievement growth. The snapshot of federalism impacts here is a lower bound on the effects as more states will very likely react to the flexibility of ESSA and as more school districts change their teacher force.

We evaluate the short- and long-run effects of a large conditional cash transfer program that paid students to remain in full-time education beyond the compulsory school-leaving age. The Education Maintenance Allowance paid teenagers from low-income families in the UK up to £30 per week (\$70 in 2024 prices). Exploiting the programme's staggered rollout across local areas in England, we find that participation in full-time education increased by two percentage points among the poorest students, and that the programme lowered crime amongst pupils with the lowest prior attainment. However, we find no improvements in test scores, no effect on qualifications beyond the lowest level, and a small negative effect on the labour market outcomes of eligible young people in their twenties. While the reductions in crime may have generated some social benefits, these are small relative to the programme's substantial costs.

This paper examines whether a nationwide policy mandating chess instruction in Armenian

elementary schools since 2011 enhances students’ cognitive skills and academic performance. Using a ’time-shifted’ Difference-in-Differences approach and individual-level data from the Kangaroo International Math Competition (2009–2019), I compare cohorts exposed to early chess training with those who were not. My findings reveal a small, marginally significant positive effect on math test scores, estimated at 0.32 points (a 0.9% improvement relative to the median). Students from regional areas benefit three times more from chess instruction, whereas students from public schools experience only slightly greater benefits relative to the average effect of 0.32. The results align with mixed evidence on the far-transfer benefits of cognitively demanding activities. These findings provide practical insights for policymakers considering the inclusion of chess in school curricula.

We study the effect of tuition on domestic enrolment in publicly funded Australian universities where domestic student defer tuition payments under an income-contingent loan system and federal regulation of domestic tuition. A single tuition rate was first introduced in 1989. In 1997, three different tuition fees or bands were introduced with all programs of studies assigned to one of the three bands by the federal government. Since 1997, various additional changes have occurred.

While domestic tuition is set, universities have discretion over program offerings and admissions. There is also flexibility on international student enrolment and tuition for these students.

We develop a theoretical framework to highlight the important role university decisions can have on domestic enrolment. Using individual and university level regressions the paper documents that domestic enrolments have moved in the same direction as tuition and that the effect for research universities is different than for non-research universities.