By exploiting the opening of the Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, we examine the impact of access to larger labor markets on wages and employment. We show that the bridge generated a substantial increase in the cross-country commuting behavior of Swedes and a 13.5% increase in the average wage of workers in the region. We further show that the wage gains are unevenly distributed: the effect is largest for high-educated men and smallest for low-educated women. Thus, the wage gains come at the cost of increased income inequality and a widening of the gender wage gap, both within and across households.

This paper provides novel evidence on the causal effect of high school Grade Point Average (GPA) on the human capital development and labor market trajectory of individuals. Causal identification is achieved by exploiting a unique feature of the Norwegian education system that produces exogenous variation in GPA among high school students. We find little effect on the number of completed years of higher education, but significant effects on the number and quality of higher education programs available to students after high school. Most importantly, we find persistent effects on students' long-run labor market outcomes, most notably market wage.

We use exogenously assigned general practitioners to study the effects of female role models on girls' educational outcomes. Girls who are exposed to female general practitioners are more likely to sort into male-dominated education programs in high school, most notably science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). These effects persist as they enter college and select majors. The effects are larger for high-ability girls with low-educated mothers, suggesting that female role models improve intergenerational mobility and narrow the gifted gap. This demonstrates that role model effects in education need not involve individuals in the classroom but can arise due to everyday interactions with medical professionals.