This thesis includes three chapters which are all of very high standards, and it clearly shows that the author masters theoretical and empirical methods in analyses of issues which are of high relevance for both research and policy. The first two chapters are written jointly with O. Raaum and K.G. Salvanes.
The first chapter "The neighbourhood is not what it used to be" published in Economic Journal (2006) and the second chapter "The impact of primary school reform of educational stratification: A Norwegian study of neighbour and school mate correlations" published in Swedish Economic Policy Review (2003), study the effects of family characteristics and residential location, and the effects of primary schools and neighbourhoods on adult education and earnings in Norway. The studies are interesting and innovative and of high quality.
The third chapter entitled "Sectoral choice with human capital and accumulation of pension benefits" applies a sequential career choice model based on work of Keane and Wolpin to develop and estimate a life-cycle model of private- and public-sector employment. The model is applied to analyse the effect of a pension reform on sector specific supply of labour. The paper documents that the author is a creative and innovative researcher, and both the analysis and the results are very interesting.
Århus, December 2008
Torben M. Andersen Svend Hylleberg