The Value of Smarter Teachers: International Evidence on Teacher Cognitive Skills and Student Performance

We would like to thank William Thorn, Veronica Borg, Vanessa Denis, and Francois Keslair for access to and help with the international PIAAC data. We further thank Lisa Leschnig, Guido Schwerdt, and Katarina Zigova for making their international data on central exit examinations available to us. Kirabo Jackson and three anonymous referees provided a variety of insightful comments and suggestions. We are also indebted to David Deming, Thomas Dohmen, Bernhard Enzi, Oliver Falck, Josh Goodman, Brian Jacob, Susanna Loeb, Daniel Münich, Paul Peterson, Jesse Rothstein, Johannes Schmieder, Guido Schwerdt, Dick Startz, Marty West, Ludger Woessmann, and participants at the CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education, the annual conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik, the RWI Research Network Conference on the “Economics of Education,” the Applied Micro Research Seminar at CERGE-EI, the annual conference of the European Economic Association, the Third International PIAAC Conference, and seminars in Konstanz and Munich for providing valuable comments. Piopiunik is indebted to the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard University, in particular to Paul Peterson and Antonio Wendland, for their support and hospitality during his research visit. Wiederhold is thankful for the hospitality provided by the Center for International Development at Harvard University, especially to Ricardo Hausmann, Ljubica Nedelkoska, and Frank Neffke. Wiederhold also gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• December 4, 2014
• March 31, 2016
• April 20, 2017