Economics of Education
The Economics of Education area is headed by Eric A. Hanushek (Hoover Institution of Stanford University) and Ludger Woessmann (ifo Institute and LMU Munich). The area brings together the world's best economists studying issues of schooling at all levels. A major goal is providing scientific input into policy discussions about the improvement of education..
My goal as area director is facilitating scholarly interaction that leads to new and improved ways to bring rigorous analysis to the study of education. The economics of education is a very dynamic area of research, and the network provides a mechanism for transmitting state of the art approaches to the analysis of educational performance.
High-quality education is the foundation for long-run economic prosperity at the micro and macro level. The CESifo area explores which aspects of education are crucial for prosperity and equity and which policies work to improve education. The international network allows us to learn from different countries’ experiences.
Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues. He has authored numerous, highly cited studies on the effects of class size reduction, high stakes accountability, value-added assessments of teacher quality, and other education-related topics. His pioneering analysis measuring teacher quality through the growth in student achievement forms the basis for current research into the value-added of teachers and schools. His book with Ludger Woessmann, The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth, identifies the close link between the skills of the people and the economic growth of the nation and shows the economic impact of high-quality schools. He has authored or edited 23 books along with over 200 articles. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and completed his PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ludger Woessmann is Director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education and Professor of Economics at the University of Munich. He is also Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Being interested in the determinants of long-term prosperity of mankind, his main research focus is on the economics of education, especially the importance of education for economic prosperity and the effects of school systems on educational achievement and equality of opportunity. His work was rewarded, among others, with the Hermann Heinrich Gossen Award and the Gustav Stolper Award of the German Economic Association and the Young Economist Award of the European Economic Association. He is co-editor of the Handbook of the Economics of Education and a Fellow of the Academia Europaea, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academic Advisory Council of the German Federal Ministry of Economics, and the International Academy of Education. His work has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Economic Literature, and Science, among many others, and is regularly covered by the national and international media.
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Wageningen UniversityView Profile -
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Tulane UniversityView Profile -
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The University of Texas at AustinView Profile -
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The Norwegian Ministry of FinanceView Profile -
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University of TorontoView Profile -
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RiksrevisjonenView Profile -
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UCL Institute of EducationView Profile -
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Aarhus UniversityView Profile -
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Stanford UniversityView Profile -
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University of MichiganView Profile -
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Statistics NorwayView Profile -
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Australian House of RepresentativesView Profile -
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University of Western OntarioView Profile -
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Brown UniversityView Profile -
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Lunds UniversitetView Profile -
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Yale UniversityView Profile -
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University of Western OntarioView Profile -
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Stockholms UniversitetView Profile -
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RAND CorporationView Profile -
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Aarhus UniversityView Profile -
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Texas A&M UniversityView Profile -
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Allianz Deutschland AGView Profile -
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Universiteit van AmsterdamView Profile -
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University of MissouriView Profile -
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Northeastern UniversityView Profile -
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University of OxfordView Profile -
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LMU MunichView Profile -
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University of EssexView Profile -
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Tel Aviv UniversityView Profile -
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Stanford UniversityView Profile -
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University of StavangerView Profile -
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University of ErfurtView Profile -
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Università degli Studi di PadovaView Profile -
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University of Illinois at ChicagoView Profile -
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Dartmouth CollegeView Profile -
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NHH Norwegian School of EconomicsView Profile -
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Aarhus UniversityView Profile -
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University of OsloView Profile -
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Koç UniversityView Profile -
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Aalto UniversityView Profile -
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London School of Economics and Political ScienceView Profile -
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Stockholm School of EconomicsView Profile -
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Uppsala UniversitetView Profile -
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Harvard Graduate School of EducationView Profile -
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Queen Mary University LondonView Profile -
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University College LondonView Profile -
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Stockholms UniversitetView Profile -
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University of VirginiaView Profile -
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University of ChicagoView Profile -
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Union UniversityView Profile -
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London School of Economics and Political ScienceView Profile -
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Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID)View Profile -
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University College LondonView Profile -
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Pforzheim UniversityView Profile -
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Harvard UniversityView Profile -
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Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)View Profile -
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NHH Norwegian School of EconomicsView Profile -
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ifo InstitutView Profile -
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Universität BernView Profile -
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Syracuse UniversityView Profile -
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The London School of Economics and Political ScienceView Profile -
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University of MichiganView Profile -
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Tel-Aviv UniversityView Profile -
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University of ZurichView Profile -
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Goethe University FrankfurtView Profile -
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Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education PolicyView Profile -
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RAND CorporationView Profile
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The Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award, aimed at encouraging talented young scholars, is awarded to the best paper presented by a young author at each of the CESifo Area conferences. Accepted candidates are invited to attend the Area Conference to which they have been nominated and present their paper. An award committee will judge the papers (and presentations) and select a winner. Nominations will be considered for candidates who are either close to completion of the PhD, or who have completed their PhD in the previous five years. The same limit applies to co-authors in the case of papers with multiple authors. The criteria for the award are scientific originality, policy relevance and quality of exposition. The winning paper will appear in the CESifo Working Paper Series.
| Year | Distinguished Affiliate(s) | Title of the paper |
| 2026 | Petter Berg | Schooling for Profit: Long-run Effects of Private Providers in Public Education |
| 2025 | Anaïs Fabre | The Geography of Higher Education and Spatial Inequalities |
| 2024 | Emily Cook | Market Structure and College Access in the US |
| 2023 | Adam Altmejd | Inheritance of Fields of Study |
| 2022 | Mikko Silliman | Childcare, Social Skills, and the Labor Market |
| 2021 | Barbara Biasi | The Education-Innovation Gap |
| Alexander L.P. Willén | When Parents Decide: Gender Differences in Competitiveness | |
| 2019 | Camille Terrier | Fiscal and Education Spillovers from Charter School Expansion |
| 2018 | Jason B. Cook | Racial Segregation, Student Achievement, and Postsecondary Attainment: Evidence from the Introduction of Race-Blind Magnet School Lotteries |
| Ulf Zölitz | Peers from Venus and Mars – Higher-Achieving Men Foster Gender Gaps in Major Choice and Labor Market Outcomes | |
| 2017 | Will S. Dobbie | Racial Bias in Bail Decisions |
| Simon Jäger | How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths | |
| Jens Ruhose | International Emigrant Selection on Occupational Skills | |
| 2016 | Sarah R. Cohodes | The Long-Run Impacts of Tracking High-Achieving Students: Evidence from Boston’s Advanced Work Class |
| 2015 | Lesley J. Turner | All or Nothing? The Impact of School and Classroom Gender Composition on Effort and Academic Achievement |
| 2014 | Andrew Christopher Barr | Fighting for Education: Veterans and Financial Aid |
| 2013 | Peter Leopold S. Bergman | Parent-Child Information Frictions and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from a Field Experiment |
| 2012 | Monique De Haan | The Effect of Additional Funds for Low-ability Pupils: A Nonparametric Bounds Analysis |
| 2011 | Karthik Muralidharan |
Long-Term Effects of Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India |
| 2010 | Katja Maria Kaufmann | Educational Choices and Subjective Expectations of Returns: Evidence on Intra-Household Decisions and Gender Differences |
CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education 2021
CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education 2022
CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education 2023
CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education 2024
CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education 2025
All CESifo research network members are invited to submit papers to the annual CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education. Organized by Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford University, Area Director) and Ludger Woessmann (Ifo Institute), the conference brings together network members to discuss their recent research and to encourage broader interactions, particularly on both sides of the Atlantic.
CESifo Research Network
CESifo is a global network of more than 2000 members, each of whom is selected for their expertise and extensive experience in the CESifo research areas.