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Christopher Jepsen

University College Dublin, Ireland, and IZA, Germany

I was delighted to be asked to contribute to this project. IZA World of Labor should be a valuable resource on all major topics in labor economics. It will be useful for a wide audience including policymakers and researchers

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Lecturer, University College Dublin, Ireland

Research interest

Economics of education, labor economics, demographic economics

Website

https://people.ucd.ie/christopher.jepsen

Past positions

Research fellow, Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco (2000–2006); Assistant Professor of Economics and the Associate Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky (2006–2012)

Qualifications

PhD Economics, Northwestern University, 2000

Selected publications

  • “Class size reduction and student achievement: The potential tradeoff between teacher quality and class size.” Journal of Human Resources 44:1 (2009): 223–250 (with S. Rivkin).

  • “Labor-market returns to the GED using regression discontinuity analysis.” Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming (with P. Mueser and K. Troske).

  • “The labor-market returns for community college degrees, diplomas, and certificates.” Journal of Labor Economics 32:1 (2014): 95–121 (with K. Troske and P. Coomes).

  • “Teacher characteristics and student achievement: Evidence from teacher surveys.” Journal of Urban Economics 57:2 (2005): 302–319.

article(s)

  • Class size: Does it matter for student achievement?

    Smaller classes are often associated with increased achievement, but the evidence is far from universal

    Christopher Jepsen, September 2015
    Numerous economic studies have considered the relationship between class size and student achievement, the majority of which have focused on elementary schools in the US and Europe. While the general finding is that smaller classes are associated with increased student achievement, a few high-quality studies find no relationship. Further, empirical research on the costs and benefits of smaller classes concludes that other education policies, such as tutoring, early childhood programs, or improving teacher quality would be better investments.
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