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on Education |
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Issue of 2005‒03‒06
three papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Wendy Janssens (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Impact evaluations of development programmes usually focus on a comparison of participants with a control group. However, if the programme generates externalities for non-participants such an approach will capture only part of the programme’s impact. Based on a unique large-scale quantitative survey we estimate the direct as well as the spillover effects of a women’s empowerment programme in rural India on child immunization and school enrolment. The survey covers both participants and non-participants living in programme villages, as well as respondents in control villages where the programme is not yet active. We account for participation selection bias using instrumental variables. The control villages allow us to test the exclusion restriction and provide us with an effective control group to analyze programme impact. We find both direct effects and significant spillovers on non-participants. The impact of interventions might be substantially underestimated if such external effects were not taken into account. |
| Keywords: | program evaluation; externalities; education; immunization; India; women's empowerment |
| JEL: | I12 I21 O12 Z13 C31 |
| Date: | 2005–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20050017&r=edu |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Fredriksson, Peter (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | We examine peer effects in welfare use among immigrants to Sweden by exploiting a governmental refugee placement policy. We distinguish between the quantity of contacts – the number of individuals of the same ethnicity – and the quality of contacts – welfare use among members of the ethnic group. OLS regressions suggest that both these factors are positively related to individual welfare use. Instrumental variables estimations yield the conclusion that only the quality of contacts matter. An increase of the fraction of the ethnic group on welfare by 10 percent raises the individual probability of welfare use by almost 7 percent. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic enclaves; welfare use; immigrants |
| JEL: | I38 J15 J18 |
| Date: | 2005–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2005_008&r=edu |
| By: | Fertig, Michael (RWI Essen and IZA Bonn); Kluve, Jochen (RWI Essen and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Determining the optimal age at which a child should enter school is a controversial topic in education policy. In particular, German policy makers, pedagogues, parents, and teachers have since long discussed whether the traditional, established age of school entry at 6 years remains appropriate. Policies of encouraging early school entry or increased consideration of a particular child's competency for school ("Schulfähigkeit") have been suggested. Using a dataset capturing children who entered school in the late 1960s through the late 1970s, a time when delaying enrolment was common, we investigate the effect of age at school entry on educational attainment for West and East Germany. Empirical results from linear probability models and matching suggest a qualitatively negative relation between the age at school entry and educational outcomes both in terms of schooling degree and probability of having to repeat a grade. These findings are likely driven by unobserved ability differences between early and late entrants. We therefore use a cut-off date rule and the corresponding age at school entry according to the regulation to instrument the actual age at school entry. The IV estimates suggest there is no effect of age at school entry on educational performance. |
| Keywords: | schooling, matching, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1507&r=edu |