TY - RPRT AU - Schwerdt, Guido AU - Messer, Dolores AU - Woessmann, Ludger AU - Wolter, Stefan C. TI - Effects of Adult Education Vouchers on the Labor Market: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment PY - 2011/Jan/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 5431 UR - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp5431 AB - Lifelong learning is often promoted in ageing societies, but little is known about its returns or governments' ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of voucher-induced adult education on earnings, employment, and subsequent education one year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: Low- education individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing untargeted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education. KW - LATE KW - adult education KW - voucher KW - field experiment KW - Switzerland ER -