School quality and the return to schooling in Britain: New evidence from a large-scale compulsory schooling reform
利用英国1947年义务教育改革（离校年龄从14岁提高到15岁）带来的准实验变化，发现受影响学生（超95%进入低轨学校）的额外教育对劳动力市场结果影响近乎为零，并归因于低轨学校的低质量。
What is the causal effect of schooling on subsequent labor market outcomes? In this paper I contribute evidence on this question by re-examining a British compulsory schooling reform that yields large-scale and quasi-experimental variation in schooling. First, I note that this reform was introduced in 1947, when British students attended higher-track (for the “top” 20%) or lower-track (for the rest) secondary schools. The reform increased the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15 and I show that the vast majority (over 95%) of affected students attended lower-track schools. Second, I show that the additional schooling induced by the reform had close to zero impact on a range of labor market outcomes. Third, I attribute these findings to the quality of these lower-track schools, which I argue was low along several dimensions.