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on Education |
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Issue of 2007‒05‒26
seven papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Vincenzo Caponi (Ryerson University, Rimini Center for Economic Analysis and IZA); Miana Plesca (University of Guelph) |
| Abstract: | Using the Canadian General Social Survey we compute returns to post-secondary education relative to high-school. Unlike previous research using Canadian data, our dataset allows us to control for ability selection into higher education. We find strong evidence of positive ability selection into all levels of post-secondary education for men and weaker positive selection for women. Since the ability selection is stronger for higher levels of education, particularly for university, the difference in returns between university and college or trades education decreases slightly after accounting for ability bias. However, a puzzling large gap persists, with university-educated men still earning over 20% more than men with college or trades education. Moreover, contrary to previous Canadian literature that reports higher returns for women, we document that the OLS hourly wage returns to university education are the same for men and women. OLS returns are higher for women only if weekly or yearly wages are considered instead, because university-educated women work more hours than the average. Nevertheless, once we account for ability selection into post-secondary education, we generally find higher returns for women than for men for all wage measures as a result of the stronger ability selection for men. |
| Keywords: | returns to university, returns to college, returns to trades, unobserved ability, selection bias |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I2 C31 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2784&r=edu |
| By: | Saïd Hanchane (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]); Tarek Mostafa (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the equilibrium on the market for schooling where both public and private schools coexist and where individuals are differentiated by income and ability. We introduce a non linear in means model of peer effect by shedding the light on the fact that school quality is not solely dependent on mean ability but also on the dispersion of abilities. We study the distribution of students across sectors while examining the conditions for the existence of a majority voting equilibrium in the context of non single peaked preferences. Finally, we examine the presence of a hierarchy of school qualities. In the paper we shed the light on equity problems related to the access to educational quality while analyzing the functioning of the educational system. |
| Keywords: | Education market; Majority voting equilibrium; Peer group effect; Pricing discrimination; Educational opportunity |
| Date: | 2007–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00009533_v3&r=edu |
| By: | Anders Böhlmark (SOFI, Stockholm University); Mikael Lindahl (SOFI, Stockholm University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates school choice at the compulsory-school level by assessing a reform implemented in Sweden in 1992, which opened up for publicly funded but privately operated schools. In many local school markets, this reform led to a significant increase in the quantity of such schools as well as in the share of pupils attending them. We estimate the impact of this increase in private enrolment on the average achievement of all pupils using withinmunicipality variation over time, and controlling for differential pre-reform municipality trends. We find that an increase in the private-school share by 10 percentage points increases average pupil achievement by almost 1 percentile rank point. We show that this total effect can be interpreted as the sum of a private-school attendance effect and a competition effect. The former effect, which is identified using variation in school choice among siblings, is found to be only a small part of the total effect. This suggests that the main part of the achievement effect is due to more competition in the school sector, forcing schools to improve their quality. We use grade point average as outcome variable. A comparison with test data suggests that our results are not driven by differential grade-setting standards in private and public schools. We further find that more competition from private schools increases school costs. There is also some evidence of sorting of pupils along socioeconomic and ethnic lines. |
| Keywords: | school-choice reform, private-school competition, pupil achievement, segregation |
| JEL: | I22 I28 H40 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2786&r=edu |
| By: | Hou, Feng; Myles, John |
| Abstract: | Whether or not relative rates of assortative marriage have been rising in the affluent democracies has been subject to considerable dispute. First, we show how the conflicting empirical findings that have fueled the debate are frequently an artifact of alternative methodological strategies for answering the question. Then, drawing on comparable census data for Canada and the United States, we examine trends in educational homogamy and intermarriage with log-linear models for all marriages among young adults under 35 over three decades. Our results show that educational homogamy, the tendency of like to marry like, has unambiguously risen in both countries since the 1970s, with no sign of the U-turn in levels of intermarriage reported in some earlier comparative studies. Rising levels of marital homogamy were the result of declining intermarriage at both ends of the educational distribution. However, while trends for men and women were quite similar in Canada, they differed significantly in the United States. The overall rise in marital homogamy In the United States was partially offset by an increased tendency of women with some college education to marry `down¿ the educational hierarchy. In Canada, the only sign of abatement in the trend toward greater educational homogamy was a slight increase in intermarriage among university-educated men and women during the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | Families, households and housing, Education, training and learning, Household characteristics, Outcomes of education, Marriage and common-law unions |
| Date: | 2007–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2007299e&r=edu |
| By: | Nil Demet Gungor (Economics Department, Atilim University); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | The emigration of skilled individuals from Turkey attracted greater media attention and the interest of policymakers in Turkey, particularly after the experience of recurrent economic crises that have led to an increase in unemployment among the highly educated young. This study estimates a model of return intentions using a dataset compiled from an Internet survey of Turkish students residing abroad. The findings of this study indicate that, as expected, higher salaries offered in the host country and lifestyle preferences, including a more organized environment in the host country, increase the probability of student non-return. However, the analysis also points to the importance of prior return intentions and the role of the family in the decision to return to Turkey or stay overseas. It is also found that the compulsory service requirement attached to government scholarships increases the probability of student return. Turkish Student Association membership also increases return intentions. Longer stay durations, on the other hand, decrease the probability of return. These findings have important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Student non-return, brain drain, return intentions, Turkey |
| JEL: | F20 F22 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:0701&r=edu |
| By: | Mahir Terzi |
| Keywords: | Information-Based Economy, Information Society, E-Government, Educational System |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:stpswp:0612&r=edu |
| By: | Sofia Pessoa e Costa; Stéphane Robin |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of a widely-used French training programme for youth on earnings. This programme is designed to increase labour market experience and education, validated by a formal diploma. It is not sure, however, whether this diploma and a similar diploma acquired through initial training have the same effect on post-training wages. To answer this question, we contrast the 2003 net wages of a group of participants enrolled in 1998 (the “treatment” group) to the 2003 net wages of a control group. The controls are individuals who completed their initial training in 1998 with diplomas similar to those obtained by the treated at the end of the programme. Using propensity score matching, we find a significantly positive effect of the treatment on the treated: participants in the programme benefit, five years after participation, from a positive wage premium. This suggests that firms do not simply value education: they value it more if it is coupled with some degree of labour market experience. |
| Keywords: | active labour market policies; training programmes for youth; propensity score matching. |
| JEL: | J68 I28 C14 C21 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2007-18&r=edu |