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on Education |
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Issue of 2006‒01‒29
nineteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Annika Evälä |
| Keywords: | educational attainment levels, investment in education, labour force participation, PISA |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2004–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:922&r=edu |
| By: | Ana I Moro-Egido; Santiago Budría |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use the European Community Household Panel to explore the connection between education, over-education, and wage inequality in Spain for the period 1994-2001. Our central approach is based on quantile regression. We find that higher education is associated with higher wage dispersion. This indicates that an educational expansion towards higher education is expected, ceteris paribus, to increase overall wage inequality. We find that over-education contributes to enlarge wage differentials within university graduates. Still, over-education itself can not account for the positive association between higher education and wage dispersion. Finally, we show that over the last years the wage distribution of over-educated workers with university education became more dispersed. This process, together with an increasing proportion of over-educated workers, contributed to rise overall wage inequality through the within dimension. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:211&r=edu |
| By: | Banerjee, Abhijit; Cole, Shawn; Duflo, Esther; Linden, Leigh |
| Abstract: | Many efforts to improve school quality by adding school resources have proven to be ineffective. This paper presents the results of two experiments conducted in Mumbai and Vadodara, India, designed to evaluate ways to improve the quality of education in urban slums. A remedial education program hired young women from the community to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children lagging behind in government schools. We find the program to be very effective: it increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.14 standard deviations in the first year, and 0.28 in the second year, relative to comparison schools. A computer-assisted learning program provided each child in the fourth grade with two hours of shared computer time per week, in which students played educational games that reinforced mathematics skills. The program was also very effective, increasing math scores by 0.35 standard deviations the first year, and 0.47 the second year. These results were not limited to the period in which students received assistance, but persisted for at least one year after leaving the program. Two instrumental variable strategies suggest that while remedial education benefited the children who attended the remedial classes, their classmates, who did not attend the remedial courses but did experience smaller classes, did not post gains, confirming that resources alone may not be sufficient to improve outcomes. |
| Keywords: | computer aided education; India; program evaluation; remedial education |
| JEL: | I21 O11 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5446&r=edu |
| By: | Liisa Leijola |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2004–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:909&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Haupt |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses political forces that cause an initial expansion of public spending on higher education and an ensuing decline in subsidies. Growing public expenditures increase the future size of the higher income class and thus boost future demand for education. This demand shift implies that the initial subsidy per student becomes too expensive to be politically sustainable. Despite a voters’ backlash that curbs education subsidies, overall enrolments continue to rise. But the participation rate of the children of lower income families, that went up in the expansion period, declines over time, both in absolute terms and relative to the rate of their counterparts from higher income households. |
| Keywords: | higher education, voting, social stratification, social mobility, overlapping generations |
| JEL: | D72 H52 I22 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1631&r=edu |
| By: | Hartmut Egger; Peter Egger; Josef Falkinger; Volker Grossmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of capital market integration (CMI) on higher education and economic growth. We take into account that participation in higher education is non-compulsory and depends on individual choice. Integration increases (decreases) the incentives to participate in higher education in capital-importing (-exporting) economies, all other things equal. Increased participation in higher education enhances productivity progress and is accompanied by rising wage inequality. From a national policy point of view, education expenditure should increase after integration of similar economies. Using foreign direct investment (FDI) as a measure for capital flows, we present empirical evidence which largely confirms our main hypothesis: An increase in net capital inflows in response to CMI raises participation in higher education and thereby fosters economic growth. We apply a structural estimation approach to fully track the endogenous mechanisms of the model. |
| Keywords: | capital mobility, capital-skill complementarity educational choice, education policy, economic growth, wage income inequality |
| JEL: | F20 H52 J24 O10 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1630&r=edu |
| By: | Booth, Alison L; Kee, Hiau Joo |
| Abstract: | We use unique retrospective family background data from the 2003 wave of the British Household Panel Survey to explore the degree to which family size and birth order affect a child’s subsequent educational attainment. Theory suggests a trade off between child quantity and ‘quality’. Family size might adversely affect the production of child quality within a family. A number of arguments also suggest that siblings are unlikely to receive equal shares of the resources devoted by parents to their children’s education. We construct a composite birth order index that effectively purges family size from birth order and use this to test if siblings are assigned equal shares in the family’s educational resources. We find that they are not, and that the shares are decreasing with birth order. Controlling for parental education, parental age at birth and family level attributes, we find that children from larger families have lower levels of education, that there is a separate negative birth order effect, and that the family size effect does not vanish once we control for birth order. Our findings are robust to a number of specification checks. |
| Keywords: | birth order; education; family size; inter-generational effects |
| JEL: | I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5453&r=edu |
| By: | Duflo, Esther; Hanna, Rema |
| Abstract: | In the rural areas of developing countries, teacher absence is a widespread problem. This paper tests whether a simple incentive program based on teacher presence can reduce teacher absence, and whether it has the potential to lead to more teaching activities and better learning. In 60 informal one-teacher schools in rural India, randomly chosen out of 120 (the treatment schools), a financial incentive program was initiated to reduce absenteeism. Teachers were given a camera with a tamper-proof date and time function, along with instructions to have one of the children photograph the teacher and other students at the beginning and end of the school day. The time and date stamps on the photographs were used to track teacher attendance. A teacher’s salary was a direct function of his attendance. The remaining 60 schools served as comparison schools. The introduction of the program resulted in an immediate decline in teacher absence. The absence rate (measured using unannounced visits both in treatment and comparison schools) changed from an average of 42% in the comparison schools to 22% in the treatment schools. When the schools were open, teachers were as likely to be teaching in both types of schools, and the number of students present was roughly the same. The program positively affected child achievement levels: a year after the start of the program, test scores in program schools were 0.17 standard deviations higher than in the comparison schools and children were 40% more likely to be admitted into regular schools. |
| Keywords: | education; financial incentives; India |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J13 J30 O10 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5426&r=edu |
| By: | Gould, Eric D; Lavy, Victor; Paserman, Marco Daniele |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant concentration during elementary school on the long-term academic outcomes of native students in high school. To identify the causal effect of immigrant children on their native peers, the empirical strategy must address two sources of bias: the endogenous sorting of immigrants across schools, and the endogenous grade placement of immigrants within schools. We control for the endogeneity of immigrant placement across schools by conditioning on the total number of immigrants in a school and exploit random variation in the number of immigrants across grades within the same school. To address the endogenous grade placement of immigrants within schools, we use the immigrants' dates of birth as an instrument for their actual grade placement. The results suggest that the overall presence of immigrants in a grade had a significant and large adverse effect on two important outcomes for Israeli natives: the dropout rate and the chances of passing the high school matriculation exam which is necessary to attend college. |
| Keywords: | dropout rates; immigrant absorption; natural experiment; peer effects; school quality |
| JEL: | I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5439&r=edu |
| By: | Sami Napari |
| Keywords: | occupational segregation, education, work experience |
| JEL: | J11 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2005–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:976&r=edu |
| By: | Stolowy, Hervé |
| Abstract: | This article reviews the reactions of the French accounting profession and academia following the collapse of both Enron and Andersen. It considers the general impact on University accounting education programmes and the value of using corporate scandals in the teaching process. |
| Keywords: | Enron; accounting eductation; ethics; France |
| JEL: | K41 K42 M41 |
| Date: | 2005–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:0815&r=edu |
| By: | De Fraja, Gianni |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests that human capital externalities are important in determining whether goods and services should be privately or publicly provided. We study situations where that the cost incurred by an individual provider for providing quality is affected by the human capital of her colleagues. This is the case for goods such as health, education, legal services, police protection, and so on. The mode of provision (private or public) affects a supplier’s incentive to acquire human capital and therefore her colleagues’ cost of provision. The paper shows that either mode of provision may be preferable, depending on the nature of the human capital externality: private provision of the final goods and services provides stronger incentives to human capital acquisition (and may therefore be socially preferable) if own human capital and one’s colleagues’ human capital are substitutes, and suppliers with high human capital benefit more benefit more than suppliers with low human capital from their colleagues’ human capital, but not excessively so. |
| Keywords: | education; health; human capital externality; public provision of private goods; public-private partnership; training |
| JEL: | H23 H42 J24 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5471&r=edu |
| By: | Panu Poutvaara |
| Abstract: | Katz and Rapoport (2005) conclude that with linear production technology and the possibility of unilateral migration, region-specific shocks may increase the average level of education. Previously, Poutvaara (2000) derived a corresponding result with Cobb-Douglas technology and migration which may go in both directions. This paper shows that the exit option may reduce human capital formation with a quadratic production technology. |
| Keywords: | human capital formation, migration, economic volatility |
| JEL: | F22 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1648&r=edu |
| By: | Erumban, Abdul Azeez; Jong, Simon B. de (Groningen University) |
| Abstract: | The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed a surge in the recent years; nevertheless, the rate of adoption across countries diverges considerably. This divergence is observed regardless of the income levels of countries. In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences in ICT adoption rates across countries using Hofstede?s cultural framework. The results suggest that national culture does influence the ICT adoption rate of a country. The results are robust even after controlling for levels of education and income. |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:rugsom:05c01&r=edu |
| By: | Jurajda, Stepan; Münich, Daniel |
| Abstract: | One's position in an alphabetically sorted list may be important in determining access to rationed goods or oversubscribed public services. Motivated by anecdotal evidence, we investigate the importance of the position in the alphabet of the last name initial of Czech students for their admission chances into oversubscribed schools. Empirical evidence based on the population of students applying to universities in 1999 suggests that, among marginal applicants, moving from the top to the bottom of the alphabet decreases admission chances by over 2%. The implication of such admission procedures for student ability sorting across differently oversubscribed schools is then confirmed by evidence based on a national survey of secondary students' test scores. |
| Keywords: | admission procedures; alphabet |
| JEL: | I2 J7 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5427&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Brunner (Quinnipiac University); Jennifer Imazeki (San Diego State University); Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Opponents of school vouchers often argue that school vouchers will lead to “white flight†from public schools that are disproportionately nonwhite, creating more racially segregated schools. However, recent studies that examine white flight from public schools into private schools have produced conflicting evidence on whether or not white flight actually exists. In this paper, we present new evidence on whether universal vouchers will lead to more racially segregated schools. Specifically, we use data on vote outcomes from a state-wide universal voucher initiative to estimate the likelihood that white households with children currently in public schools will use vouchers to switch out of more-integrated schools. Our results indicate that white households with children attending schools with large concentrations of nonwhite schoolchildren are significantly more likely to support school vouchers, an effect that is absent for non-white households with children and households without children. However, it also does not appear to be race, per se, that is the primary concern, but other school factors that are correlated with race, such as test scores and limited English proficiency. |
| JEL: | H3 I2 R2 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2006-01&r=edu |
| By: | Alessandro Cigno |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the scope for mutually beneficial intergenerational cooperation, and looks at various attempts to theoretically explain the emergence of norms and institutions that facilitate this cooperation. After establishing a normative framework, we examine the properties of the laissez-faire solution in a pure market economy, and in one where reproductive decisions and intergenerational transfers are governed by self-enforcing family constitutions. We then show that first and second-best policies include a pension and a child benefit scheme. Finally, we look at the possibility that intergenerational redistribution might be supported by either a constitution, or some kind of voting equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational cooperation, family, fertility, saving, private transfers, education, child benefits, pensions, self-enforcing constitutions, direct democracy, representative democracy, constitutions |
| JEL: | D70 D82 D91 H20 H31 H50 I20 J10 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1632&r=edu |
| By: | Edlund, Lena Cecilia; Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter |
| Abstract: | Marrying individuals' consent has been requirement for marriage in Europe since the Middle Ages - in most of the rest of the world parental consent reigned until at least until the 1950s. This paper investigates the role of consent in marriage for intra-household allocation of resources and growth. We argue that a shift from parental to individual consent moves resources in the same direction, favouring young men and young women over old men. If young adults have greater incentives to invest in child human capital than the old (who will be around fewer periods), this may impact on growth. We formulate a simple endogenous growth model capturing these aspects. |
| Keywords: | arranged marriage; endogenous growth; individual consent; love marriage; parental consent |
| JEL: | J12 O17 O40 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5474&r=edu |
| By: | van Ours, Jan C |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the reading of fiction books by 15-year-olds in 18 OECD countries. It appears that girls read fiction books more often than boys, whereas boys read comic books more often than girls. The intensity by which children read fiction books is influenced by parental education, family structure, and the number of books and TVs at home. Reading comic books does not affect the reading of fiction books. Parents who want their children to read fiction books frequently should have a lot of books at home and at most one television. |
| Keywords: | books; PISA-data; reading |
| JEL: | L82 Z11 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5472&r=edu |