Links for 5/25/10

Robert Barro and Jong-Wha Lee

Our findings confirm that schooling has a significantly positive effect on output. Our estimates of rates of return for an additional year of schooling range from 5% to 12%. These estimates control for the simultaneous determination of human capital and output by using the 10-year lag of parents‘ education as an instrumental variable for the current level of schooling. These estimates are close to typical Mincerian return estimates found in the labour literature.

Estimates of rates of return to education vary across regions (Figure 2). The estimates for the group of advanced countries, East Asia and the Pacific, and South Asia are the highest at 13.3%. In contrast, the estimated rates of return are only 6.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 6.5% in Latin America...

JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ

starting July 1, only the government will provide Plus loans directly and as a result, Wells Fargo is launching the new loan to fill the gap in its product portfolio, said Kirk Bare, head of education financial services at Wells Fargo.

The new private loan has a number of differences from the federal option. For instance, while Wells Fargo’s current federal offering has a fixed rate of 8.5 percent, the rate on Wells Fargo’s loan will range from prime plus one percentage point to prime plus 7.49 percentage points, or 4.25 percent to 10.74 percent currently...

Tom Vander Ark

No more free money without some reforms that point the way to the system our kids deserve…

Another bailout just delays the inevitable shift to more learning online.

Forrest Hinton

More federal money for teachers must come with changes in how teachers are hired, fired, laid off, evaluated, and paid—if it comes at all.

[AG: I think I'm sensing a pattern here]