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on Education |
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Issue of 2007‒10‒20
fifteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Brian Jacob; Lars Lefgren |
| Abstract: | Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade in order to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. This practice is highly controversial, with many researchers claiming that it leads to higher dropout rates although selection issues have complicated previous analyses. In this paper, we use a regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of grade retention on high school completion. We find that grade retention leads to a modest increase in the probability of dropping out for older students, but has no significant effect on younger students. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J01 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13514&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 develop a multicommunity model where public mixed finance and private schools coexist. Students are differentiated by income, ability and social capital. Schools maximize their profits under a quality constraint; the pricing function is dependent on the cost of producing education and on the position of an individual relatively to mean ability and mean social capital. Income plays an indirect role since it determines the type of schools and communities that can be afforded by a student given his ability and social capital.<br />Three dimensional stratification results from schools’ profit maximization and individuals’ utility maximization. This stratification is the corner stone of the distribution of students across communities and schools. Finally, we study majority voting over tax rates; property tax is used to finance educational quality not only in pure public schools but also in mixed finance schools. We provide the necessary conditions for the existence of a majority voting equilibrium determined by the median voter. |
| Keywords: | Education market; Majority voting equilibrium; Peer group effects; Social Capital; Students; Formation of communities; School choice |
| Date: | 2007–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00177630_v1&r=edu |
| By: | Luca Flabbi; Daniele Checchi (Department of Economics, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Intergenerational mobility in income and education is affected by the influence of parents on children's school choices. Our focus is on the role played by different school systems in reducing or magnifying the impact of parents on children's school choices and therefore on intergenerational mobility in general. We compare two apparently similar educational systems, Italy and Germany, to see how the common feature of separate tracks at Secondary School level may produce different impacts on children choices. Using data from a cross-country survey (PISA 2003), we study the impact of parental education on track choice, showing that the greater flexibility of the Italian system (where parents are free to choose the type of track) translates into greater dependence from parental background. These effects are reinforced when moving to post-secondary education, where the aspiration to go to college is affected not only by the school type but also (in the case of Italy only) by parental education. We then move to country-specific data sets (ISTAT 2001 for Italy and GSOEP 2001 and 2002 for Germany) to study the impact of family background on post-secondary school choices: we find this impact is greatly reduced when we control for secondary school tracks. Overall, we estimate large asymmetries by gender, with women's behavior more independent from family backgrounds than men's behavior. Classification-JEL Codes: I2, J1 |
| Keywords: | gender Secondary School tracks; Education; Intergenerational Mobility |
| Date: | 2007–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~07-07-08&r=edu |
| By: | Åse Gornitzka |
| Keywords: | networks; administrative adaptation; educational policy |
| Date: | 2007–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:arenax:p0232&r=edu |
| By: | Abadzi, Helen |
| Abstract: | Studies have shown that learning outcomes are related to the amount of time students engage in learning tasks. However, visits to schools have revealed that students are often taught for only a fraction of the intended time, particularly in lower-income countries. Losses are due to informal school closures, teacher absenteeism, delays, early departures, and sub-optimal use of time in the classroom. A study was undertaken to develop an efficient methodology for measuring instructional time loss. Thus, instructional time use was measured in sampled schools in Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, and the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The percentage of time that students were engaged in learning vis-à-vis government expectations was approximately 39 percent in Ghana, 63 percent in Pernambuco, 71 percent in Morocco, and 78 percent in Tunisia. Instructional time use is a mediator variable that is challenging to measure, so it often escapes scrutiny. Research suggests that merely financing the ingredients of instruction is not enough to produce learning outcomes; students must also get sufficient time to process the information. The quantity-quality tradeoff that often accompanies large-scale enrollments may be partly due to instructional time restrictions. Time wastage also distorts budgetary outlays and teacher salary rates. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals students must get more of the time that governments, donors, and parents pay for. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Secondary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning |
| Date: | 2007–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4376&r=edu |
| By: | Robert G. Myers; Hirokazu Yoshikawa; Kathleen McCartney; Kristen L. Bub; Julieta Lugo-Gil; Maria A. Ramos; Felicia Knaul; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | An accumulation of research across hundreds of studies shows the benefits of quality early childhood care and education for children’s later learning, school success and social development. In recognition of the value of providing early learning opportunities, many nations have expanded early childhood care and education in recent years. Mexico provides an interesting case in which expansion of early childhood care and education has occurred in the past 5 years, as have initiatives to improve quality and revise the national curriculum for preschoolers. This paper examines three policy initiatives that occurred in Mexico between 2000 and 2006 – preschool expansion, quality improvement and curricular reform. The preschool expansion included a mandate for all parents in Mexico to send their preschool-aged children (3, 4 and 5 years old) to preschool, with target dates of 2004, 2005 and 2008 for 100 per cent coverage of 5-year-olds, 4-yea-olds and 3-year-olds, respectively. The quality improvement initiative was part of a larger programme providing supplemental funds to select preschools and schools in Mexico’s public education system. Finally, the curricular reform instituted a new preschool curriculum to be implemented nationwide for all programmes across the 3- to 5-year-old age range. |
| Keywords: | child care; early childhood development; early childhood education; preschool education; right to care and protection; right to child care services; |
| JEL: | I29 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa07/40&r=edu |
| By: | Mueller, Normann |
| Abstract: | This article critically evaluates the current state of research on education externalities. It occurs that much of the confusion regarding their magnitude results from conceptual misunderstandings pertaining to their nature. The essay distinguishes the concepts education, teaching, and knowledge. Whereas pure teaching yields externalities on the primary and secondary level, only the generation of knowledge may produce the spillovers which are typically linked to the tertiary level. The accumulation of education itself does not have such an effect. Education is argued to be a private good with well defined property rights. Individuals may exploit those and provide the production sector with the efficient amount of human capital. Following this rationale, it is demonstrated that empirical studies, contrasting estimations of private and social returns to education, are unsuitable to substantiate the existence of externalities. As a consequence, subsidies to tertiary programs are called into question. |
| Keywords: | Public education finance; Education expenditures; Human capital externalities; Property rights; Endogenous economic growth; Private return; Social return; Public goods |
| JEL: | I22 H23 D62 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5331&r=edu |
| By: | Valadkhani,Abbas (University of Wollongong); Ville, Simon (University of Wollongong) |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies the major areas of research strengths and concentration across all Australian universities, as demonstrated by the number of PhDs and academic staff members (S) in ten broad fields of education using the average audited data (2001-2003). The ratio of PhD completions to S is then presented to provide a tentative basis for benchmarking and productivity analysis. Inter alia, we found a very interesting relationship between the number of PhD graduates (as the dependent variable) and S using a fixed-effect model with both disciplinespecific slope and intercept coefficients. The results provide policy implications for individual universities and government. |
| Keywords: | Australian universities, ranking, PhD completions, cross-sectional model |
| JEL: | A19 C23 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uow:depec1:wp07-12&r=edu |
| By: | Aliprantis, Dionissi |
| Abstract: | Many states in the United States have changed their enrollment cutoff dates in the past 30 years to increase the age at which children start school. As well, around 7% of parents are choosing to delay their children's enrollment in primary school. This paper estimates the average treatment effect (ATE) of delaying children's enrollment in the US by six months using the variation in birth dates that is exogenous in the ECLS-K data set. My estimates of the Math and Reading test score ATE start in the fall of kindergarten at 0.28 and 0.13 standard deviations and decline to 0.05 and 0.10 standard deviations by the spring of fifth grade. Estimating the ATE by demographic characteristics indicates that delayed enrollment could help explain the racial test score gap, and provides support for the hypothesis that the production of test scores is a cumulative process. |
| JEL: | I21 I2 |
| Date: | 2007–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5187&r=edu |
| By: | Marta Simões (GEMF and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra); Adelaide Duarte (GEMF and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | TThis paper investigates the education–growth link at the more disaggregate industry level in the Portuguese manufacturing sector with a focus on different levels of education. The insights from new growth theory and a modified and augmented version of the Benhabib and Spiegel (1994) specification are the basis for the empirical analysis of the role of education in innovation and imitation activities highlighting a role for specific schooling levels across industries according to their technological characteristics and its interaction with international trade. We use data for the period 1986–1997, fourteen Portuguese manufacturing industries and panel data econometric techniques. Our most robust finding concerns the relevance of technology spillovers embodied in imports for productivity growth, as long as manufacturing industries employ workers with skills provided by secondary education. The Portuguese manufacturing industry cannot rely on automatic technological catch up for productivity growth so active trade and education policies are crucial to recover from the present bottom position in the rank of OECD productivity levels. |
| Keywords: | education, innovation, technology diffusion, productivity growth, panel data |
| JEL: | C23 I20 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2007-03&r=edu |
| By: | Marta Simões (GEMF and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra); Adelaide Duarte (GEMF and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | Human capital acquired in the formal education sector is essential for knowledge creation and dissemination but the theoretical and empirical growth literature identifies other major determinants of innovation and imitation activities (R&D, international trade and FDI). This paper is an empirical investigation in a panel data framework of the effects of education and its sub-categories on economic growth emphasizing its complementarity with the other major determinants of technological change and growth. For this purpose we focus on a sample of OECD countries during the last decades of the twentieth century and use an extended and augmented version of the Benhabib and Spiegel (1994) growth specification that considers the role of education in innovation and imitation activities and that interacts education with the other major determinants of technological change. The results reveal the importance of education for growth through technology diffusion and domestic innovation activities. To fully exploit the benefits from R&D expenses in terms of growth the average OECD country needs a sufficient level of secondary and tertiary education and to benefit from the technology incorporated in imports of machinery countries need a sufficient level of overall education. |
| Keywords: | education, innovation, technological diffusion, panel data |
| JEL: | O33 O38 O47 C33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2007-02&r=edu |
| By: | John M. de Figueiredo; Brian S. Silverman |
| Abstract: | This paper examines academic earmarks and their role in the funding of university research. It provides a summary and review of the evidence on the supply of earmarks by legislators. It then discusses the role of university lobbying for earmarks on the demand side. Finally, the paper examines the impact of earmarks on research quantity and quality. |
| JEL: | H41 O38 P16 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13459&r=edu |
| By: | Silva, Maria José; Leitão, João |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to identify the nature of the relationships that are established amongst agents who co-operate in terms of innovation practices. It analyses whether the entrepreneurial innovation capability of firms is stimulated through the relationships developed with external partners. The data of 2nd Community Innovation Survey of EUROSTAT is used in a logistic model. In the estimation process of the Logit function, the entrepreneurial innovation capability is considered as the answer variable. The scientific agents who cooperate in terms of innovation activities impact, positively, on the propensity to engage in innovative advances revealed by the firms, at the level of product innovation. The paper presents policy implications, which may be used in the design of public policies for fostering open innovation networks between scientific agents and firms. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Networks; Entrepreneurial Innovation Capability. |
| JEL: | O32 I28 O31 I23 |
| Date: | 2007–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5215&r=edu |
| By: | Christian R. Østergaard |
| Abstract: | Knowledge spillovers from a university to the local industry play an important role in clusters, but we know little about these spillovers. This paper examines empirically the extent of university-industry informal contacts. Furthermore, it analyses the characteristics of an engineer that acquire knowledge from informal contacts with university researchers. The university-industry contacts are compared with results for interfirm contacts. The research shows that the interfirm informal contacts are more numerous than university informal contacts. Likewise, knowledge is more frequently acquired from other firms than through university-industry contacts. Engineers that have participated in formal projects with university researchers and engineers that are educated at the university have a higher likelihood of acquiring knowledge from informal contacts with university researchers. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge flows; informal contacts |
| JEL: | D83 O32 I23 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-19&r=edu |
| By: | Prufer, J.; Zetland, D. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Economic articles are published very slowly. We believe this results mainly from the poor incentives referees face. We recommend that an auction market replace the current system for submitting papers and demonstrate a strict Pareto-improvement of equilibrium. Besides the benefits of speed, this mechanism increases the average quality of articles and journals and rewards editors and referees for their effort. In addition, the "academic dollars" for papers sold at auction go to the authors, editors and referees of cited articles. This income indicates academic productivity (facilitating decisions on tenure and promotion); its recirculation to journals further stimulates quality competition. |
| Keywords: | Academic Journals;Academic Productivity;Market Design. JEL codes |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200779&r=edu |