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on Education |
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Issue of 2008‒06‒21
seventeen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Szilvia Hamori (PhD student, Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics, University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | The study estimates the effect of school starting age on academic performance for Hungarian grade four students using the "Progress in International Reading Literacy Study" (PIRLS) and the "Trends in Mathematics and Science Study" (TIMMS). The study uses the control function approach, exploiting the exogenous variation in school starting age driven by the children's month of birth and the cut-off date regulation for enrolment. The results indicate a positive age effect on Reading, Mathematics and Science performance. |
| Keywords: | Education, student test scores, enrolment age, identification |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:0702&r=edu |
| By: | Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo |
| Abstract: | The belief that both the behavior and outcomes of students are affected by their peers is important in shaping education policy. I analyze two polar education systems -tracking and mixing- and propose several criteria for their comparison. I find that tracking is the system that maximizes average human capital in societies where the distribution of pre-school achievement is not very dispersed. I also find that when peer effects and individuals’ pre-school achievement are close substitutes, all risk averse individuals prefer mixing. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital; Efficiency; Peer Effects; Tracking, Mixing |
| JEL: | D63 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:08/18&r=edu |
| By: | E. Anthon Eff |
| Abstract: | Policy makers need accurate measures of school district-level costs for a variety of reasons, including salary equity efforts and state-level funding of local schools. Since salaries constitute most of the operating costs for local education providers, teacher salary data provide a ready resource for constructing school cost indices. This paper provides an example of such an index, using year 2000 data for over 60,000 teachers employed by Tennessee public schools. The index is constructed using the parameters from a hedonic wage regression, and the resulting figures are published in the tables in the appendix. |
| Keywords: | school cost, hedonic regression, teacher salary, Tennessee |
| JEL: | I22 I28 J45 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:wpaper:200805&r=edu |
| By: | Hessel Oosterbeek (University of Amsterdam); Mirjam C. van Praag (University of Amsterdam); Auke IJsselstein (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of a leading entrepreneurship education program on college students’ entrepreneurship competencies and intentions using an instrumental variables approach in a difference-in-differences framework. We exploit that the program was offered to students at one location of a school but not at another location of the same school. Location choice (and thereby treatment) is instrumented by the relative distance of locations to parents’ place of residence. The results show that the program does not have the intended effects: the effect on students’ self-assessed entrepreneurial skills is insignificant and the effect on the intention to become an entrepreneur is even significantly negative. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education; program evaluation; entrepreneur competencies; entrepreneur intentions |
| JEL: | A20 C31 H43 H75 I20 J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2008–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080038&r=edu |
| By: | Richard Akresh (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign); Damien de Walque (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | To examine the impact of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide on children’s schooling, the authors combine two cross-sectional household surveys collected before and after the genocide. The identification strategy uses pre-war data to control for an age group’s baseline schooling and exploits variation across provinces in the intensity of killings and which children’s cohorts were school-aged when exposed to the war. The findings show a strong negative impact of the genocide on schooling, with exposed children completing one-half year less education representing an 18.3 percent decline. The effect is robust to including control variables, alternative sources for genocide intensity, and an instrumental variables strategy. |
| Keywords: | War, Human capital investment, Education, Genocide, Africa |
| JEL: | I20 J13 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:47&r=edu |
| By: | Petter Lundborg (Free University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the health returns to education, using data on identical twins. I adopt a twin-differences strategy in order to obtain estimates that are not biased by unobserved family background and genetic traits that may affect both education and health. I further investigate to what extent within-twin-pair differences in schooling correlates with within-twin-pair differences in early life health and parent-child relations. The results suggest a causal effect of education on health. Higher educational levels are found to be positively related to self-reported health but negatively related to the number of chronic conditions. Lifestyle factors, such as smoking and overweight, are found to contribute little to the education/health gradient. I am also able to rule out occupational hazards and health insurance coverage as explanations for the gradient. In addition, I find no evidence of heterogenous effects of education by parental education. Finally! , the results suggest that factors that may vary within twin pairs, such as birth weight, early life health, parental treatment and relation with parents, do not predict within-twin pair differences in schooling, lending additional credibility to my estimates and to the general vailidy of using a twin-differences design to study the returns to education. |
| Keywords: | health production; education; schooling; twins; siblings; returns to education; ability bias |
| JEL: | I12 I11 J14 J12 C41 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080027&r=edu |
| By: | Francis Green; Yu Zhu |
| Abstract: | Increasing dispersion in the returns to graduate education is found, using quantile regression. This trend is related to rising overqualification. We distinguish between and validate measures of Real and Formal overqualification, according to whether it is or is not accompanied by underutilisation of skill; and using a unique data series in Britain we report the trend in overqualification types between 1992 and 2006. The distinction between types is relevant because employees in the Real Overqualification group experience greater, and more sharply rising, pay penalties than those in the Formal Overqualification group. Real Overqualification, but not Formal Overqualification, is associated with job dissatisfaction. Formal Overqualification has been increasing over time, and in 2006 characterised nearly one in four graduates. Real Overqualification has been steady or rising only slowly; in 2006 it affected less than one in ten graduates. Conditioning on graduates being matched to graduate jobs, it is found that there is no significant increase in the dispersion of returns to graduate education. The normative implication drawn is that the state should provide regular public information on the distribution of the returns to graduate education. |
| Keywords: | pay; job satisfaction; job dissatisfaction; overeducation; overqualification; skill utilisation; returns to college education; returns to graduate education |
| JEL: | I20 J24 J28 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0803&r=edu |
| By: | Szilvia Hamori (Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines adult education in Hungary for the years 1999, 2001 and 2003 along three dimensions: (a) the fraction of individuals participating in adult education, (b) their demographic and socio-economic characteristics and (c) the probability of participating in adult education / adult education lasting less than one year in the framework of a logit model. In a second step the paper focuses on a cross-country comparison of the three areas described above based on the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS). The international comparison covers nine EU Member States, namely, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of education, adult education, logit model |
| JEL: | I21 C35 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:0802&r=edu |
| By: | C. Calero; Arjun S. Bedi; R. Sparrow |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade Ecuador has experienced a strong increase in financial transfers from migrated workers. This paper investigates how remittances via trans-national networks affect human capital investments through relaxing resource constraints and facilitate households in consumption smoothing by reducing vulnerability to economic shocks. Our results show that remittances increase school enrolment and decrease incidence of child work, especially for girls and in rural areas. Furthermore, we find that aggregate shocks are associated with increased work activities, while remittances are used to finance education when households are faced with these shocks. |
| Keywords: | migration, remittances, transnational networks, human capital, Latin America, Ecuador. |
| JEL: | I20 J22 O15 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iss:wpaper:458&r=edu |
| By: | Helena Skyt Nielsen; Nina Smith; Aycan Celikaksoy (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of immigrants’ marriage behavior on dropout from education. To identify the causal effect, we exploit a recent Danish policy reform which generated exogenous variation in marriage behavior by a complete abolishment of spouse import for immigrants below 24 years of age. We find that the abrupt change of marriage behavior following the reform is associated with improved educational attainment of young immigrants. The causal impact of marriage on dropout for males is estimated to be around 20 percentage points, whereas the effect for females is small and mostly insignificant. We interpret the results as being consistent with a scenario where family investment motives drive the behavior of males, while the association between marriage and dropout for females is driven by selection effects. The estimated causal effect varies considerably across subgroups. |
| Keywords: | Education, dropout, immigrants, spouse import, marriage migration, family investment model |
| JEL: | I21 J12 |
| Date: | 2007–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2007-07&r=edu |
| By: | Maria Knoth Humlum; Kristin J. Kleinjans; Helena Skyt Nielsen (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Standard economic models which focus on pecuniary payo¤s cannot explain why there are highly able individuals who choose careers with low pecuniary re- turns. Therefore, financial incentives are unlikely to be effective in influencing career choices of these individuals. Based on Akerlof and Kranton (2000), we con- sider a model of career choice and identity where individuals derive non-pecuniary identity payoffs. Using factor analysis on a range of attitude questions, we find two factors related to identity (career orientation and social orientation), which are important for educational choices. The implication is that policymakers and institutions of higher education need to focus on identity related issues rather than just improved financial incentives if they aim at attracting the high ability youth to occupations with excess demand for labor. |
| Keywords: | career choice, choice of higher education, identity,self-image |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2007–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2007-14&r=edu |
| By: | Lans, T.; Hulsink, W.; Baert, H.; Mulder, H.M. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | The concept of competence, as it is brought into play in current research, is a potentially powerful construct for entrepreneurship education research and practice. Although the concept has been the subject of strong debate in educational research in general, critical analysis of how it has been used, applied and experienced in entrepreneurship education practice is scarce. This article contributes specifically to the discussion of entrepreneurial competence by theoretically unfolding and discussing the concept. Subsequently, the implications of applying a competence-based approach in entrepreneurship education are illustrated and discussed based on analysis of two cases that were aimed at identifying, diagnosing and eventually developing entrepreneurial competence in small businesses in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). The cases show that the added value of focussing on competence in entrepreneurship education lies in making the (potential) small business owner aware of the importance of certain entrepreneurial competencies and in providing direction for competence development. In this process it is fundamental that competence is treated as an item for discussion and interpretation, rather than as a fixed template of boxes to be ticked. Furthermore the cases highlight that a competence-based approach does not determine the type of educational and instructional strategies to be used. Its consequential power in that respect is limited. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship;education;competence-based training;small business;entrepreneurial learning;competence |
| Date: | 2008–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765012466&r=edu |
| By: | Monique de Haan (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a relatively new approach to investigate the effect of parents' schooling on child's schooling; a nonparametric bounds analysis based on Manski and Pepper (2000), using the most recent version of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We start with making no assumptions and then add some relatively weak and testable assumptions to tighten the bounds. Although the bounds on the treatment effects include a zero effect, the upper bounds are informative especially for the effect of increasing parents' schooling from a high school degree to a bachelor's degree. Both for the effect of mother's schooling as for the effect of father's schooling the nonparametric upper bounds are significantly lower than the OLS results. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility; nonparametric bounds analysis; education |
| JEL: | I2 J62 C14 |
| Date: | 2008–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080061&r=edu |
| By: | Cyril Pasche (Department of Economics and “Leading House on the Economics of Education”, University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | Research on determining what it is about schooling that the labor market rewards is scarce. This paper shows that when speci…cally controlling for schooling cognitive skills (i.e. the capacity to process information and apply knowledge) and not cognitive skills as a whole, a considerable share of the return to schooling is constituted of cognitive skills. This contrasts with previous research that strongly favored noncognitive skills (i.e. behavioral and personality traits) as the key component of the return to schooling. Results show schools are a place where one acquires, or is sorted, on a knowledge and a behavioral criteria in similar shares. Findings also suggest that cognitive skills acquired in school are considerably more likely to be rewarded than their non-schooling counterpart. This e¤ect may be attributed to the signaling value of schooling. Such conclusions give weight to current policies that employ cognitive skill tests to asses schooling quality. |
| Keywords: | Schooling, Cognitive and noncognitive skills, Wages, Rate of return, Omitted variable bias, Signaling |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0029&r=edu |
| By: | Broström, Anders (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The issue of through what processes R&D collaboration with universities affects a firms’ innovation performance remains under-researched. In particular, university relationships have not been fully integrated in the open innovation framework. This study explores the relationship between firms’ collaboration with universities and their capabilities for innovation, as perceived by R&D managers. Drawing on a series of interviews with R&D managers at 45 randomly selected firms collaborating with two research universities in Sweden, we explicitly recognise mechanisms through which university relationships contribute to successful R&D management. |
| Keywords: | University-Industry Link; Innovation; Technology transfer; R&D; Research collaboration |
| JEL: | I23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2008–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0131&r=edu |
| By: | Saccone Donatella (University of Turin) |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:200808&r=edu |
| By: | Prejmerean, Mihaela Cornelia (Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest); Vasilache, Simona (Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest) |
| Abstract: | The paper is structured in two main chapters, the first presenting a literature review on lifestyle, underlining the main themes approached in recent scientific papers, and conducting factorial analysis as to discriminate the most relevant research directions, and the second dedicated to studying, on the data provided by the European Social Survey, the lifestyle patterns of post-2000 European graduates. The methodological perspective included probit regression and log-linear models, as well as cluster analysis. The main results refer to testing the concept of lifestyle calibration, that we proposed in the paper, on the selected population of young European graduates. A total of four groups, two exhibiting a good lifestyle calibration, and the other two a poor lifesyle calibration, were obtained. Each family of two groups constitutes a lifestyle type, which is characterized in the paper according to values-behaviours coordination, time allocation and its relation to life satisfaction, defined as an estimator of lifestyle calibration. The conclusions include discussions on the inclusion and exclusion of the European graduates population from these groups, which resulted from our analysis. |
| Keywords: | lifestyle; university graduates ; European society ; values ; behaviours |
| JEL: | J2 I2 Z13 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2008-05&r=edu |