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on Education |
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Issue of 2007‒10‒27
fourteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Mohamad Fahmi (Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews and presents the concise history of higher education Indonesia from pra-colonial period to the latest era when the Government of Republic Indonesia proposed the Educational Legal Entity Bill and the Law on National Education System. |
| Keywords: | higher education; Indonesia; history, legal entity |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:200710&r=edu |
| By: | Mohamad Fahmi (Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University) |
| Abstract: | This paper discussed the e_ect of recent trend in higher education such as massification, the emergence role of private sector and cost sharing in higher education in Indonesia to the access of low SES group. Some evidence particularly from developing countries is reported to get a bigger picture about the problem of access in higher education in Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | higher education; access; Indonesia; developing countries |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:200709&r=edu |
| By: | Andrew Leigh |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 2001-2005 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, and taking account of existing estimates of ability bias and social returns to schooling, I estimate the economic return to various levels of education. Raising high school attainment appears to yield the highest annual benefits, with per-year gains as high as 30 percent (depending on the adjustment for ability bias). Some forms of vocational training also appear to boost earnings, with significant gains from Certificate Level III/IV qualifications (for high school dropouts only), and from Diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications. At the university level, Bachelor degrees and postgraduate qualifications are associated with significantly higher earnings, with each year of a Bachelor degree raising annual earnings by about 15 percent. For high school, slightly less than half the gains are due to increased productivity, with the rest due to higher levels of participation. For vocational training, about one-third of the gains are from productivity, and two-thirds from greater participation. For university, most of the gains are from productivity. I find some evidence that the productivity benefits of education are higher towards the top of the distribution, but the participation effects are higher towards the bottom of the conditional earnings distribution. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, ability bias, high school, vocational training, university |
| JEL: | I28 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:561&r=edu |
| By: | Robert Moffitt |
| Abstract: | A long-standing issue in the literature on education is whether marginal returns to education fall as education rises. If the population differs in its rate of return, a closely related question is whether marginal returns to higher education fall as a greater fraction of the population enrolls. This paper proposes a nonparametric method of estimating marginal treatment effects in heterogeneous populations, and applies it to this question, examining returns to higher education in the UK. The results indicate that marginal returns to higher education fall as the proportion of the population with higher education rises, consistent with the Becker Woytinsky Lecture hypothesis. |
| JEL: | C21 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13534&r=edu |
| By: | Arulampalam, Wiji (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Naylor, Robin A. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Jeremy Smith (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We exploit a rich administrative panel data-set for cohorts of Economics students at a UK university in order to identify causal effects of class absence on student performance. We exploit the panel properties of the data to control for unobserved heterogeneity across students and hence for endogeneity between class absence and academic performance of students stemming from the likely influence of effort and ability on both absence and performance. Our estimations also exploit features of the data such as the random assignment of students to classes and information on the timetable of classes, which provides potential instruments in our identification strategy. Among other results we find, from a quantile regression specification, that there is a causal effect of absence on performance for students : missing class leads to poorer performance. There is evidence that this is particularly true for better-performing students, consistent with our hypothesis that effects of absence on performance are likely to vary with factors such as student ability. |
| Keywords: | Randomised experiments ; quantile regression ; selection correction ; panel data ; education ; student performance ; class absence |
| JEL: | C41 J24 I2 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:820&r=edu |
| By: | Paolo Buonanno; Dario Pozzoli |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at estimating early labour market returns (i.e. participation probability, employment probability and log hourly earnings) of Italian university graduates across college subjects. We devote great attention to endogenous selection issues using alternative methods to control for potential self-selection associated with the choice of the degree subject in order to unravel the causal link between college major and subsequent outcomes in the labour market. We use both a propensity score matching-average treatment on the treated method and the polychotomous selectivity model introduced by Lee (1983) to investigate the existence of unobserved heterogeneity. Our results suggest that "quantitative" fields (i.e. Sciences, Engineering and Economics) increase not only participation to the labour market and employment probability but also early earnings, conditional on employment. |
| Keywords: | University to work transition, college subject, self-selection, returns to education |
| JEL: | C34 J24 I21 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brg:wpaper:0705&r=edu |
| By: | Robert Bifulco (University of Connecticut); Helen F. Ladd (Duke University); Stephen Ross (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Using evidence from Durham, North Carolina, we examine the impact of school choice programs on racial and class-based segregation across schools. Theoretical considerations suggest that how choice programs affect segregation will depend not only on the family preferences emphasized in the sociology literature but also on the linkages between student composition, school quality and student achievement emphasized in the economics literature, and on the availability of schools of different types. Reasonable assumptions about how these factors differ for students of different races and socio-economic status suggest that the segregating choices of students from advantaged backgrounds are likely to outweigh any integrating choices by disadvantaged students. The results of our empirical analysis are consistent with these theoretical considerations. Using information on the actual schools students attend and on the schools in their assigned attendance zones, we find that schools in Durham are more segregated by race and class as a result of school choice programs than they would be if all students attended their geographically assigned schools. In addition, we find that the effects of choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by race. |
| JEL: | H31 I20 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2007-41&r=edu |
| By: | Steve Bradley; Jim Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which exam performance at the end of compulsory education has been affected by three major education reforms: the introduction of a quasi-market following the Education Reform Act (1988); the specialist schools initiative introduced in 1994; and the Excellence in Cities programme introduced in 1999. We use data for all state-funded secondary schools in England over the period 1992-2006. The empirical analysis, which is based on the application of panel data methods, indicates that the government and its agencies have substantially overestimated the benefits flowing from these three major reforms. Only about one-third of the improvement in GCSE exam scores during 1992-2006 is directly attributable to the combined effect of the education reforms. The distributional consequences of the policy, however, are estimated to have been favourable, with the greatest gains being achieved by schools with the highest proportion of pupils from poor families. But there is evidence that resources have not been allocated efficiently. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:005141&r=edu |
| By: | Edmark, Karin (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | This study tests for strategic competition in public spending on childcare and primary education, and care for the elderly, using panel data on Swedish municipalities over 1996-2005. The high degree of decentralization in the organization of the public sector implies that Swedish data is highly suitable for this type of study. The study is not limited to interactions in the same type of expenditure, but also allows for effects across expenditures. The results give no robust support for the hypothesis that municipalities react on the spending policy of neighbouring municipalities in the decision on own spending on care of the elderly, childcare and education. |
| Keywords: | Strategic interactions; spatial econometrics; decentralization; local public spending |
| JEL: | C31 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2007–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2007_022&r=edu |
| By: | Philippe Belley; Lance Lochner |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth cohorts (NLSY79 and NLSY97) to estimate changes in the effects of ability and family income on educational attainment for youth in their late teens during the early 1980s and early 2000s. Cognitive ability plays an important role in determining educational outcomes for both NLSY cohorts, while family income plays little role in determining high school completion in either cohort. Most interestingly, we document a dramatic increase in the effects of family income on college attendance (particularly among the least able) from the NLSY79 to the NLSY97. Family income has also become a much more important determinant of college 'quality' and hours/weeks worked during the academic year (the latter among the most able) in the NLSY97. Family income has little effect on college delay in either sample. To interpret our empirical findings on college attendance, we develop an educational choice model that incorporates both borrowing constraints and a 'consumption' value of schooling - two of the most commonly invoked explanations for a positive family income - schooling relationship. Without borrowing constraints, the model cannot explain the rising effects of family income on college attendance in response to the sharply rising costs and returns to college experienced from the early 1980s to early 2000s: the incentives created by a 'consumption' value of schooling imply that income should have become less important over time (or even negatively related to attendance). Instead, the data are more broadly consistent with the hypothesis that more youth are borrowing constrained today than were in the early 1980s. |
| JEL: | H52 I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13527&r=edu |
| By: | Wolfgang Eggert (University of Paderborn & CESifo); Tim Krieger (University of Paderborn); Volker Meier (Ifo Institute for Economic Research, University of Munich & CESifo) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a two-region model in which unemployment, education decisions and interregional migration are endogenous. The poorer region exhibits both lower wages and higher unemployment rates, and migrants to the richer region are disproportionally skilled. The brain drain from the poor to the rich region is accompanied by stronger incentives to acquire skills even for immobile workers. Regional shocks tend to affect both regions in a symmetric fashion, and skilled-biased technological change reduces wages of the unskilled. Both education and migration decisions are distorted by a uniform unemployment compensation, which justifies a corrective subsidization. |
| Keywords: | Education, Unemployment, Interregional migration, Externalities, Brain drain |
| JEL: | H23 I20 J61 J64 R10 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:7&r=edu |
| By: | NATICCHIONI PAOLO; RICCI ANDREA; RUSTICHELLI EMILIANO |
| Abstract: | In this paper we apply quantile regressions to investigate the evolution of Educational Wage Premia (EWP) in Italy from 1993 to 2004. Using SHIW data (Bank of Italy) and different classifications for educational attainments, we show that EWP have generally decreased over time across the wage distribution. In particular, the falling of EWP in the private sector is striking, considering both continuous and categorical specifications for education, at all quantiles of the distribution. Different patterns are observed in the public sector, where EWP remain basically stable over time. A number of robustness checks and various econometric specifications are also applied in order to address sample selection issues. Our findings also provide additional evidence in favour of the thesis that the increasing patterns in inequality and EWP, and the related interpretations concerning skill-biased changes, are much less pronounced in continental Europe than in Anglo Saxon countries. |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceiswp:260&r=edu |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (London School of Economics); Vassilis Tselios (London School Of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The geography of education, especially at subnational level, is a huge black box. Basically nothing is known about the distribution of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by mapping educational attainment and inequality in 102 regions in western Europe, using data extracted from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering more than 100,000 individuals over the period 1995-2000. The results of this Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) reveal a strong correlation between levels of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. Regions with similar educational conditions tend to cluster, often within national borders. In addition a North-South and an urban-rural dimension is evident. Northern regions and large European metropoli have not only the most educated labour force, but also the lowest levels of inequality. Educational inequality seems to be, in any case, a fundamentally within region phenomenon. 90 percent of the educational inequality in Europe takes place among individuals living in the same region. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment; educational inequality; regions; exploratory spatial data analysis; Europe; urbanisation; EU North-South divide |
| Date: | 2007–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2007-18&r=edu |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (London School of Economics); Vassilis Tselios (London School Of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical study of the determinants of income inequality across regions of the EU. Using the European Community Household Panel dataset for 102 regions over the period 1995-2000, it analyses how microeconomic changes in human capital distribution affect income inequality for the population as a whole and for normally working people. The different static and dynamic panel data analyses conducted reveal that, while the relationship between income inequality and income per capita is positive, the relationship between income inequality and educational attainment is not clear. Across European regions high levels of inequality in educational attainment are associated with higher income inequality. This may be interpreted as the responsiveness of the EU labour market to differences in qualifications and skills. The above results are robust to changes in the definition of income distribution. Other results indicate that population ageing and inactivity are sensitive to the specification model, while work access and latitude are negatively associated to income inequality. Urbanisation has a negative impact on inequality, but for the population as a whole only, and the relationship between unemployment and income inequality is positive. Female participation in the labour force is negatively associated with inequality and explains a major part of the variation in inequality. Finally, income inequality is lower in social-democratic welfare states, in Protestant areas, and in regions with Nordic family structures. |
| Date: | 2007–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2007-17&r=edu |