Professor Eric A. Hanushek

ifo/CESifo Visiting Researcher

Eric A. Hanushek, Stanford University - Hoover Institution, CESifo Guest from 15 to 21 November 2026.

Age and cognitive skills: Use it or lose it 

This widely published study was co-authored by Eric A Hanushek, Lavinia Kinne, Frauke Witthöft und Ludger Woessmann. Cross-sectional age-skill profiles suggest that cognitive skills start declining by age 30 if not earlier. If accurate, such age-driven skill losses pose a major threat to the human capital of societies with rapidly aging populations. The researchers estimate actual age-skill profiles from individual changes in literacy and numeracy skills at different ages. Their empirical approach separates age from cohort effects and corrects for measurement error from reversion to the mean. Two main results emerge. First, average skills increase strongly into the forties before decreasing slightly in literacy and more strongly in numeracy. Second, skills decline at older ages only for those with below-average skill usage. White-collar and higher-educated workers with above-average usage show increasing skills even beyond their forties. Women have larger skill losses at older age, particularly in numeracy.

Eric Hanushek has been a leader in the development of the economic analysis of educational issues. His research spans such diverse areas as the impacts of teacher quality, high stakes accountability and class size reduction on achievement and the role of cognitive skills in international growth and development. His pioneering analysis measuring teacher quality through student achievement forms the basis for current research into the value-added of teachers and schools. He remains highly active in these fields.

Mr Hanushek works together with researchers in the ifo Center for the Economics of Education on several projects dealing with the influencing factors and impact of international differences in pupil performance. This work involves the conducting of econometric studies using the extensive data sets of several comparable international pupil performance tests such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMMS. For work on these projects, Mr Hanushek is a frequent guest at the ifo Institute and advises the center in all the educational-economic issues it examines. Together with the Ludger Woessmann, he is editing past and forthcoming volumes of the Handbook of the Economics of Education.

Eric Hanushek is both Research Professor at the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as well as Co-Director, together with Ludger Woessmann, of the Economics of Education Area of the CESifo Research Network. He has also served on ifo’s Scientific Advisory Council. His visits to CESifo are aimed at increasing the interaction among researchers in the economics of education on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr Hanushek is a member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the International Academy of Education, the Society of Labor Economists and the American Education Research Association.

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and received his PhD in economics from MIT.