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on Education |
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Issue of 2005‒01‒02
twenty papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Ruth Lupton |
| Abstract: | Both educational attainment and school quality are typically lower in disadvantaged areas than others and much recent policy attention has been focused on each. This paper looks at the quality problem, exploring the relationships between disadvantaged contexts, what schools do, and the quality of schooling that they provide. The findings suggest that disadvantaged contexts impact on the organisation and processes of schools and that these effects differ significantly from one area to another, in ways that are not reflected by the usual indicators of disadvantage. School managers respond by adapting organisational design and processes. They are, however, constrained in these responses by the limited and short-life funding available, by the lack of evidence of good practice in specific contexts, and by lack of flexibility over major issues of organisation design and curriculum. Challenging contexts and the constraints on school responses together exert a downward pressure on quality. The paper argues that because school processes and quality are affected by context, school improvement in disadvantaged areas will not be achieved by generic measures, but only by policies tailored to disadvantaged areas and sensitive to differences between these areas. It suggests ways in which school improvement policies could be contextualised in order to raise quality in the poorest areas. |
| Keywords: | education, schools, poverty, area deprivation, neighbourhoods, quality, OFSTED, educational attainment, context |
| JEL: | I28 R00 |
| Date: | 2004–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:76&r=edu |
| By: | Anne Power |
| Abstract: | This paper is about low-income neighbourhoods, their organisation and management. It is not a study in deprivation, but is about problem-solving, about the reforms in delivery underway in Britain, about long run attempts to change neighbourhood conditions and environments, about the central role of local government and housing organisations in tackling ground-level problems. It addresses environmental and social problems within neighbourhoods as part of a wider understanding of social exclusion, sustainable development and the need for greater care of our urban communities. Although its perspective is shaped by British examples, many of the issues are relevant to other countries. Although its focus is on low-income urban neighbourhoods of predominantly rented housing, the ideas can be applied to any neighbourhood of whatever tenure, size or location. This revised up-dated edition takes account of the ODPM's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, and the Neighbourhood Management and Neighbourhood Warden Schemes they are supporting. |
| Keywords: | social housing, neighbourhoods, area regeneration |
| JEL: | I30 |
| Date: | 2004–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:77&r=edu |
| By: | Wendy Sigle-Rushton |
| Abstract: | This study used data from the British Cohort Study to examine the relationships between childhood background experiences and a variety of indicators of adult well-being. Similar to an earlier study that analyses the National Child Development Study, we use a rich array of childhood background information and examine the associations for men and women separately. Similar to findings for the earlier cohort, there is evidence of inter-generational transmission of certain outcomes. Cohort members who lived in social housing as children are more likely to live in social housing as adults. Those with fathers who were manually employed are more likely to be manually employed themselves, and those whose families were poor are more likely to have low incomes. Academic test scores and parental housing tenure stand out as two of the strongest and most consistent correlates of adult disadvantage. For males, in particular, evidence of childhood aggression is also a consistent and fairly strong predictor of poor outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Disadvantage, social exclusion, longitudinal, inter-generational |
| JEL: | I30 J10 |
| Date: | 2004–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:78&r=edu |
| By: | John A. Rigg; Tom Sefton |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that our understanding of income and poverty dynamics benefits from taking a life cycle perspective. A person¿s age and family circumstances ¿ the factors that shape their life cycle ¿ affect the likelihood of experiencing key life events, such as partnership formation, having children, or retirement; this in turn affects their probability of experiencing rising, falling, or other income trajectories. Using ten waves of the British Household Panel Survey, we analyse the income trajectories of people at different stages in their lives in order to build a picture of income dynamics over the whole life cycle. We find that particular life events are closely associated with either rising or falling trajectories, but that there is considerable heterogeneity in income trajectories following these different events. Typically, individuals experiencing one of these life events are around twice as likely to experience a particular income trajectory, but most individuals will not follow the trajectory most commonly associated with that life event. This work improves our understanding of the financial impact of different life events and provides an indication of how effectively the welfare state cushions people against the potentially adverse impact of certain events. |
| Keywords: | income dynamics, life cycle, poverty |
| JEL: | D31 I32 J18 |
| Date: | 2004–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:81&r=edu |
| By: | Simon Burgess; Carol Propper; John A. Rigg |
| Abstract: | There is a growing literature that shows that higher family income is associated with better health for children. Wealthier parents may have more advantaged children because they have more income to buy health care or because parental wealth is associated with beneficial behaviours or because parental health is associated with both income and children¿s health. The policy implications of these transmission mechanisms are quite different. We attempt to unpick the correlation between income and health by examining routes by which parental disadvantage is transmitted into child disadvantage. Using a UK cohort study that has rich information on mother¿s early life events, her health, her behaviours that may affect child health, and her child¿s health, we examine the impact of being in low income compared to that of mother child health related behaviours and mother¿s own health on child health. We find children from poorer households have poorer health. But we find the direct impact of income is small. A larger role is played by mother¿s own health and events in her early life. No clear role is played by mother child health production behaviours. |
| Keywords: | child health, income, maternal health, tranmission mechanisms |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2004–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:85&r=edu |
| By: | Bingqin Li; David Piachaud |
| Abstract: | Despite prolonged economic growth, poverty has become a more notable and noted feature of Chinese society. The paper examines three phases of development since the foundation of the People's Republic: the central planning era (1949 -1978); the pro-urban growth model (1978 - 1999); and more recent changes (1999 - 2004). For each phase the nature of the economic and social policies are described and the effects on poverty and inequality are examined. The limitations of a social policy that is subservient to the economic strategy are considered. The alternative of a model of social development based on the livelihood approach is analysed and its potential to reduce poverty and inequality are considered. |
| Keywords: | poverty, inequality, social policy, China, livelihoods, social development |
| JEL: | I3 |
| Date: | 2004–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:87&r=edu |
| By: | Elise S. Brezis; François Crouzet |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to examine the evolution of recruitment of elites and to investigate the nature of the links between recruitment of elites and economic growth. The main change that occurred in the way the Western world trained its elites is that meritocracy became the basis for their recruitment. Although meritocratic selection should result in the best being chosen, we show that meritocratic recruitment actually leads to class stratification and auto-recruitment. We analyze the consequences of stratification resulting from meritocratic selection for the development of a country, and show that these consequences are dependent upon the type of technological changes occurring in the country. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, education, elites, meritocracy, recruitment, social mobility, stratification |
| JEL: | I21 O15 O40 |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1360&r=edu |
| By: | Daniela Andren (University of Gothenborg); John S. Earle (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Central European University); Dana Sapatoru (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of schooling on monthly earnings from 1950 to 2000 in Romania. Nearly constant at about 3-4 percent during the socialist period, the coefficient on schooling in a conventional earnings regression rises steadily during the 1990s, reaching 8.5 percent by 2000. Our analysis finds little evidence for either the standard explanations of such an increase in the West (labor supply movements, product demand shifts, technical change) or the transition-specific accounts sometimes offered (wage liberalization, border opening, increased quality of education). But we find some support for institutional and organizational explanations, particularly the high productivity of education in restructuring and entrepreneurial activities in a disequilibrium environment. |
| Keywords: | returns to schooling, human capital, education, wage differentials, transition, Romania |
| JEL: | I20 J23 J24 J31 O15 P23 P31 |
| Date: | 2004–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:04-108&r=edu |
| By: | Robert B. Archibald (Department of Economics, College of William and Mary); David H. Feldman (Department of Economics, College of William and Mary) |
| Abstract: | State policies resulting from the tax revolt of the late 1970s play an important role in determining the timing and magnitude of the decline in state tax effort for higher education. An understanding of the fiscal environment caused by these provisions is critical for the future of state-supported higher education. |
| Keywords: | State higher education spending, Tax revolt, Tax and expenditure limits |
| JEL: | I22 H71 |
| Date: | 2004–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:10&r=edu |
| By: | Jennifer M. Mellor (Department of Economics, College of William and Mary); Jeffrey Milyo (Department of Economics and Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri) |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have found that two state-level measures of social capital, average levels of civic participation and trust, are associated with improvements in individual health status. In this study we employ these measures, together with the Putnam (2000) index, to examine several key aspects of the relationship between state social capital and individual health. We find that for all three measures, the association with health status persists after carefully adjusting for household income, and that for two measures, mistrust and the Putnam index, the size of this association warrants further attention. Using the Putnam index, we find particular support for the hypothesis that social capital has a more pronounced salutary effect for the poor. Our findings generate both support for the social capital and health hypothesis and a number of implications for future research. |
| Keywords: | health status, social capital |
| JEL: | I12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2004–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:5&r=edu |
| By: | David Mather (Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University); Cynthia Donovan; T. S. Jayne; Michael Weber; Edward Mazhangara; Linda Bailey; Kyeongwon Yoo; Takashi Yamano; Elliot Mghenyi |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes and synthesizes across the results of a set of country studies on the effects of prime-age adult mortality on rural households in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia. Each study is based on large representative rural household surveys. These findings have implications for the design of efforts to mitigate some of the most important effects of rural adult mortality, and for key development policies and priorities. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, sub-Saharan Africa, mortality |
| JEL: | I11 |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:idpwrk:082&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Kenneth Troske; William J. Carrington |
| Abstract: | Welfare reform has transformed the U.S. cash assistance program for single parents and their children. Although there remains substantial uncertainty about the importance of reform in producing the subsequent decline in the welfare caseload, even less is known about its impact on the experiences and well being of former welfare recipients. The analysis here focuses on the characteristics and employment of welfare recipients in the state of Missouri over the period 1990-1999. We find that there has been little change in the observable characteristics of those entering, on, or leaving welfare, but there has been a dramatic growth in the importance of employment for all these groups. We also examine the dynamics of employment and welfare recidivism comparing cohorts of leavers prior to and after welfare reform. We find that after welfare reform leavers are much more likely to be working, have higher total earnings, work for employers with similar characteristics, and are less likely to return to welfare. These results suggest that welfare reform has not materially harmed welfare recipients. |
| JEL: | I38 I32 |
| Date: | 2004–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0205a&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Kenneth Troske; William J. Carrington |
| Abstract: | Welfare reform has transformed the U.S. cash assistance program for single parents and their children. Although there remains substantial uncertainty about the importance of reform in producing the subsequent decline in the welfare caseload, even less is known about its impact on the experiences and well being of former welfare recipients. The analysis here focuses on the characteristics and employment of welfare recipients in the state of Missouri over the period 1990-1999. We find that there has been little change in the observable characteristics of those entering, on, or leaving welfare, but there has been a dramatic growth in the importance of employment for all these groups. We also examine the dynamics of employment and welfare recidivism comparing cohorts of leavers prior to and after welfare reform. We find that after welfare reform leavers are much more likely to be working, have higher total earnings, work for employers with similar characteristics, and are less likely to return to welfare. These results suggest that welfare reform has not materially harmed welfare recipients. |
| JEL: | I38 I32 |
| Date: | 2004–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0205&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Kenneth Troske (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Alexey Gorislavsky |
| Abstract: | This paper uses administrative data from Missouri to examine the sensitivity of job training program impact estimates based on alternative nonexperimental methods. In addition to simple regression adjustment, we consider Mahalanobis distance matching and a variety of methods using propensity score matching. In each case, we consider estimates based on levels of post-program earnings as well as difference-in-difference estimates based on comparison of pre and post-program earnings. Specification tests suggest that the difference-in-difference estimator may provide a better measure of program impact. We find that propensity score matching is generally most effective, but the detailed implementation of the method is not of critical importance. Our analyses demonstrate that existing data available at the state level can be used to obtain useful estimates of program impact. |
| JEL: | H43 I38 I28 |
| Date: | 2004–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0309a&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser; Kenneth Troske (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Carolyn J. Heinrich |
| Abstract: | We explore the effects of temporary help employment on welfare recipients’ subsequent employment and welfare dynamics. We find that any employment–in temporary help services or other sectors–yields substantial benefits compared to no employment. Although welfare recipients who go to work for temporary help service firms have lower initial wages than those with jobs in other sectors, they experience faster subsequent wage growth. Two years later, they are no less likely to be employed, their wages are close to those of other workers, and they are only slightly more likely to remain on welfare. |
| JEL: | I38 J68 |
| Date: | 2004–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0308&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Kenneth Troske (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Alexey Gorislavsky |
| Abstract: | This paper uses administrative data from Missouri to examine the sensitivity of job training program impact estimates based on alternative nonexperimental methods. In addition to simple regression adjustment, we consider Mahalanobis distance matching and a variety of methods using propensity score matching. In each case, we consider estimates based on levels of post-program earnings as well as difference-in-difference estimates based on comparison of pre and post-program earnings. Specification tests suggest that the difference-in-difference estimator may provide a better measure of program impact. We find that propensity score matching is generally most effective, but the detailed implementation of the method is not of critical importance. Our analyses demonstrate that existing data available at the state level can be used to obtain useful estimates of program impact. |
| JEL: | H43 I38 I28 |
| Date: | 2004–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0309&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Christopher T. King |
| Abstract: | Our study examines the dynamic structure of welfare participation and the labor market involvement of recipients starting in the early 1990s and extending through 1999 in the core counties containing six major urban areas: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, and Kansas City. By focusing on six major cities, we can examine the extent to which differences in state and local policy, administrative directives, and local labor market conditions contribute to observed trends. |
| JEL: | I38 I31 H43 |
| Date: | 2004–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0409&r=edu |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser; Myoung Lee; Michael Podgursky (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia) |
| Abstract: | The A+ Schools Program was initiated to offer financial incentives to students to attend Missouri’s public 2-year post-secondary schools. Under the program, the state government provides eligible students with college expenses, but only students in specially designated schools are eligible. It also promotes high school institutional change through the provision of grants to high schools. The program was initiated in 1997 and continues to be phased in gradually. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of the A+ Program on Missouri high schools and post-secondary institutions. The use of administrative data provided by the Missouri state government assures greater reliability of the measures of program participation and postsecondary school attendance than obtained in studies using survey data. Program impacts are based on difference-in-differences estimators using the high school as the unit of analysis. Outcome measures include high school dropout rates, college enrollment rates, average test performance, and grades of high school seniors. The results suggest that high schools that initially have greater enrollments in 2-year colleges are more likely to participate in the program. Schools participating in the A+ program experience declines in dropout rates and A+ designation also increases the number of graduates who enroll in Missouri 2-year public colleges. This increase in enrollment in 2-year public colleges is the result of behavioral changes in two types of students: those who would not have gone to college at all and those who would have gone to other types of post-secondary institutions. Enrollment in 4-year public post-secondary institutions has decreased as a result of the program |
| JEL: | I21 J24 I28 |
| Date: | 2004–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0411b&r=edu |
| By: | John Schmitt; Jonathan Wadsworth |
| Abstract: | If personal computers (PCs) are used to enhance learning and information gathering across avariety of subjects, then a home computer might reasonably be considered an input in aneducational production function. Using data on British youths from the British HouseholdPanel Survey between 1991 and 2001, this paper attempts to explore the link betweenownership of a home computer at ages 15 and 17 and subsequent educational attainment inthe principal British school examinations taken at ages 16 (GCSEs) and 18 (A levels). Thedata show a significant positive associatio n between PC ownership and both the number ofGCSEs obtained and the probability of passing five or more GCSEs. These results survive aset of individual, household, and area controls, including using other household durables and\"future\" PC ownership as proxies for household wealth and other unobservable householdlevel effects. Home computer ownership is also associated with a significant increase in theprobability of passing at least one A level conditional on having passed five and increase inthe probability of successfully completing three or more A levels, conditional on havingpassed at least one A level. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Economic Impact, Personal Computers |
| JEL: | I2 J2 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2004–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0625&r=edu |
| By: | Hilary Steedman; Sheila Stoney |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an overview of our current state of knowledge regarding poor motivation of 14-16 year oldschool pupils in the UK. A number of experts in the field from a variety of disciplines presented papers on thistopic to a series of seminars held at the London School of Economics between 2002 and 2003. These papers,summarised here, present evidence from a historical, comparative, and social science perspectives and report theresults of evaluation of government intervention programmes to improve motivation. International comparisons(PISA) show UK disengagement below the OECD average but the UK has the strongest link between socioeconomicdisadvantage and disengagement. We identify a very small 'out of touch' group who have practicallylost touch with school and a larger group - around one fifth of the cohort - who could be characterised as'disaffected but in touch'. Finally, we identify a further group - perhaps 15 per cent of the cohort who gainbetween 1 and 4 GCSE passes at Grades A*-C but who have not reached full potential as a result of loss ofinterest in learning. The 'out of touch' group often requires intensive one-on-one mentoring outside the schoolcontext. Evaluation of government intervention programmes has not so far shown an obvious way forward forthe 'disaffected but in touch' group, targeted principally by workplace learning measures. For the '1-4 Grade C'group, there may be something of a magic bullet - namely better vocational options. |
| Keywords: | disengagement, motivation, under-achievement |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2004–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0654&r=edu |