This document considers two possible changes to the Air Force compensation system: skill pay and capability pay. Skill pay is pay for designated skills, and capability pay is pay based on individual capability. The Air Force asked RAND to consider these pay concepts and bring to bear information on whether the Air Force should adopt them and in what form. To learn more about what role these pay...

The debate over merit pay can be summed up as follows: economists like it, voters love it, and teachers are divided. Can merit pay be made to work? I survey three sets of data that are relevant to answering this question: impact studies of teacher merit-pay schemes, evidence on teacher attitudes to merit pay, and surveys of attitudes in the general public to merit pay. Looking at the existing m...