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on Education |
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Issue of 2009‒01‒31
twenty papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Takashi Oshio (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Shinpei Sano (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Yuko Ueno (Organization forEconomic Cooperationand Development, Paris, France); Kouichiro Mino (Cabinet Office of theJapanese Government, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | We examine how Japanese parents evaluate the current education system and assess possible reforms, based on a nationwide parent survey. Parents who have higher educational background, occupational status, and household income, and expect higher education attainment from their children tend to be less satisfied with the current system and more in favor of school choice and voucher programs. They are also more willing to pay for additional education provided by public schools. These findings point to the possibility of student sorting caused by the different responses of parents to marketorientedreforms, even if overall efficiency in education can be improved. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:0821&r=edu |
| By: | Romina Boarini |
| Abstract: | Traditionally, the Norwegian compulsory education system has focused strongly on the linked goals of equal opportunities to learn, comprehensive and inclusive education. While some of these objectives have been met successfully, a number of educational outcomes, notably measures of pupil performance at the end of compulsory schooling, are unsatisfactory. Given the significant resources devoted to education, Norway’s modest performance on certain measures suggests that resources are used inefficiently. There are many possible routes to improve efficiency. This paper focuses on teaching quality, school autonomy, accountability and the level and composition of spending. Consistent policy actions should be taken in these areas, taking into account the multi–level structure of governance of the Norwegian education system.<P>Optimiser la performance des établissements scolaires norvégiens<BR>Le système de la scolarité obligatoire en Norvège met traditionnellement l’accent sur deux objectifs liés : l’égalité des chances face à la formation et l’absence de rupture et de sélection dans le parcours éducatif. La Norvège enregistre un certain nombre de succès sur ces deux fronts ; mais certains résultats comme la performance des élèves mesurée en fin de cycle obligatoire laissent à désirer. Compte tenu du volume important de ressources consacrées à l’éducation, la modestie des résultats obtenus par rapport à certaines mesures suggère une utilisation inefficiente des ressources. Plusieurs voies sont envisageables pour améliorer la situation. La présente étude s’intéresse à la qualité de l’enseignement, à l’autonomie des établissements, à la transparence, ainsi qu’au niveau et à la composition des dépenses. Dans tous ces domaines, des mesures publiques cohérentes s’imposent, surtout si l’on prend en compte les niveaux multiples de gouvernance au sein du système éducatif norvégien. |
| Keywords: | Norway, Norvège, efficacité, cost-efficiency, PISA data, données PISA, school governance, gouvernance des écoles |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:661-en&r=edu |
| By: | Dottori, Davide (Catholic University of Louvain); Shen, I-Ling (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a political-economic model to study the impact of low-skilled immigration on the host country's education system, which is characterized by sources of school funding, the average expenditure per pupil, and the type of parents who are more likely to send their children to publicly or privately funded schools. Four main effects of immigration are considered: (1) greater congestion in public schools; (2) a lower average tax base for education funding; (3) reduced wages for low-skilled workers and so more dependence by low-skilled locals on public education; (4) a greater skill premium, which makes it easier for high-skilled locals to afford private education for their children, and hence weakens their support for financing public school. It is found that when the size of low-skilled immigrants is large, the education regime tends to become more segregated with wealthier locals more likely to opt out of the public system into private schools. The fertility differential between high and low-skilled locals increases due to a quantity/quality trade-off. The theoretical predictions are consistent with empirical evidence from both the U.S. census data and the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (2003). |
| Keywords: | voting, taxes and subsidies, education, fertility, migration |
| JEL: | H42 H52 I21 D72 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3946&r=edu |
| By: | Jonathan Kivell |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the current state of the market for charter school finance and will focus specifically on programs and financing structures for school facilities. |
| Keywords: | Education - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfcw:2008-03&r=edu |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Ecole Polytechnique, Département d'économie, Palaiseau, F-91128, France); François Poinas (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France; CNRS, GATE, UMR 5824, Ecully, F-69130, France) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a exible dynamic model of education choices and early ca- reer employment outcomes of the French population. Individuals are allowed to choose between 4 options: continue to the next grade, accept a perma- nent contract, accept a temporary contract, or withdraw from the labor force (a residual state). Our analysis focuses on the comparison between French Second-Generation Immigrants whose parents are born in Africa and French- natives. We nd that schooling attainments explain around two thirds of the dierences in access to early career employment stability. However, one third cannot be linked to observed investment in human capital. |
| Keywords: | Second-generation immigrants, schooling attainments, fixed term employment |
| JEL: | I2 J15 J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0836&r=edu |
| By: | Blunch, Niels-Hugo (Washington and Lee University) |
| Abstract: | Previous studies of labor market outcomes such as employment and wages have mostly been limited to investigating the impact of formal schooling only and, as a consequence, have seldom considered skills or alternative routes to acquiring skills, such as adult literacy programs, or other types of education. This paper examines these issues for Ghana, by estimating the joint effects of formal schooling, literacy and numeracy skills, and adult literacy programs on employment and wage outcomes. Wage and employment status equations are estimated jointly, allowing employment status to be endogenous. Substantial returns to basic cognitive skills are established, while the education system – especially the lower levels of formal education – is found to be relatively successful in creating these skills. At the same time the results hint at there being substantial returns to skills other than basic literacy and numeracy. These skills appear to be produced mostly from technical and vocational education and training and at higher levels of formal education. Adult literacy participants are less likely to be economically inactive and more likely to be self-employed, hinting at the income-generating activities component of these programs having indirect effects on wages through its effect on labor market participation, especially for females, individuals with no formal education, and in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | wage equations, employment status, human capital, literacy and numeracy, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, formal education, adult literacy programs, Ghana |
| JEL: | I31 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3906&r=edu |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X); François Poinas (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a flexible dynamic model of education choices and early career employment outcomes of the French population. Individuals are allowed to choose between 4 options: continue to the next grade, accept a permanent contract, accept a temporary contract, or withdraw from the labor force (a residual state). Our analysis focuses on the comparison between FrenchSecond-Generation Immigrants whose parents are born in Africa and French-natives. We find that schooling attainments explain around two thirds of thedifferences in access to early career employment stability. However, one third cannot be linked to observed investment in human capital. |
| Keywords: | Second-generation immigrants ; schooling attainments ; fixed term employment |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00355660_v1&r=edu |
| By: | Annie Donovan |
| Abstract: | This working paper examines the role that Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) play in supporting the successful growth of public charter schools. |
| Keywords: | Education - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfcw:2008-02&r=edu |
| By: | Christopher Ferrall (Queen's University); Natalia Mishagina (Analysis Group) |
| Abstract: | Based on a survey of graduating PhD students in the U.S., we study the determinants of location of their first jobs. We consider how locating in Canada versus the U.S. for all graduates is influenced by both their background and time-varying factors that affect international mobility. We also study the choice of European graduates between North America and returning to Europe. We find that in many cases macro factors have the expected effect of choices after controlling for biases for home, which depend upon background variables in expected ways. |
| Keywords: | Doctoral Education, International Mobility, Brain Drain |
| JEL: | J6 J44 I2 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1194&r=edu |
| By: | Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Non-random assignment of students to teachers can bias value added estimates of teachers' causal effects. Rothstein (2008a, b) shows that typical value added models indicate large counter-factual effects of 5th grade teachers on students' 4th grade learning, indicating that classroom assignments are far from random. This paper quantifies the resulting biases in estimates of 5th grade teachers' causal effects from several value added models, under varying assumptions about the assignment process. If assignments are assumed to depend only on observables, the most commonly used specifications are subject to important bias but other feasible specifications are nearly free of bias. I also consider the case where assignments depend on unobserved variables. I use the across-classroom variance of observables to calibrate several models of the sorting process. Results indicate that even the best feasible value added models may be substantially biased, with the magnitude of the bias depending on the amount of information available for use in classroom assignments. |
| JEL: | C12 C52 I21 J33 J45 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14666&r=edu |
| By: | Karine Marazyan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at explaining differences in education between foster-children and the biological children of their new household by differences in return to education as suggested by the human capital investment model. Defining this return by the amount of the old-age support the care-givers expect to receive, we assume that foster-children have a lower return to education than biological children, as the former might provide old-age support for both their host and biological parents while the latter to their biological parents only. Given this assumption and if the credit constraints are binding, the model suggests that foster-children will receive less human capital investment if there are in presence of host children than if they are not.In contrast, if parents have aversion against inequality, the prediction reverses: foster-children will receive more human capital investment if there are in presence of host children than if they are not.Using data from Indonesia, we provide some evidence in favor of the credit constraints hypothesis.This suggests that financial support to families who care for both biological and foster-children will enhance the latter education as it would reduce the credit constraints and thus, the induced sibling rivalry. |
| Keywords: | Foster-Children, Sibling Rivalry, Asia, Indonesia |
| Date: | 2008–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00290644_v2&r=edu |
| By: | Stenberg, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | At various political levels, including the OECD and the EU, it is repeatedly emphasized that upgrading the low skilled is an important area for the economic and social development of modern societies. Employers are typically reluctant to train low skilled, who in their turn are unwilling to participate due to financial constraints or a perception of low quality and/or returns to training. If this is a market imperfection, a possible remedy is suggested by public provision of formal education where enrollees are eligible for financial support. However, the costs may be large and the economic returns to formal adult education (AE) for low skilled, a crucial measure to assess if expenses should be increased or decreased, is a virtually unexplored issue. This study uses Swedish register data 1990-2004 of low skilled siblings aged 24-43 in 1994 to estimate difference-indifference- in-differences models which include family fixed effects. It is found that a year of AE improves earnings by 4.4 per cent, but calculations indicate that the private returns alone only roughly cover the costs incurred by society, implying that social returns to AE are needed to justify the expenses. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; adult education; earnings |
| JEL: | H30 H52 I20 J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2009–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2009_001&r=edu |
| By: | Haeringer, Guillaume; Iehlé, Vincent |
| Abstract: | Contrary to most countries, the recruitment of assistant professors in France is centralized: recruitment committees submit a ranking of candidates to the Ministry of Education, the candidates submit their own ranking over the faculties that rank them and the Ministry compute the final match accordingly to these lists. The strategic stakes of this procedure are not well known in France. We show that the procedure satisfies desirable properties of stability and optimality. In order to do so, we identify the matching rule used by the Ministry using the information available to the candidates. The structure of the algorithm that produce the final matching is also analyzed. Finally, we discuss the existence of quotas on Departments rankings, the new features of the next campaign of recruitment and their relationships with job mobility. |
| Keywords: | French academic job market; matching model; stability; strategic behavior |
| JEL: | C78 J41 C62 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13002&r=edu |
| By: | Germana Bottone (ISAE) |
| Abstract: | Human capital is usually defined as “The aggregation of investments, such as education and on the job training that improves the individual’s productivity in the labour market”. The initial definition did not take into account some central aspects of “human capital”, owing to a supposed analogy with physical capital. But even though, from an economic point of view, there are some similarities, human beings are more complex than automatic machines. More recently, it has been attempted to articulate a more extensive definition of “human capital” by considering all the attributes embodied in individuals relevant to economic activity”. Nevertheless, the evolution of human capital definition is in some way restricted to its economic meaning, neglecting the intrinsic complexity of the concept that demands an in-depth re-examination of its social and cultural value. In order to achieve deeper understanding of the multiplicity of aspects making up human capital, we are going to make use of the main concepts of institutional and evolutionary economics.. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Institutional Economics, lifelong learning, Institutional quality |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isa:wpaper:107&r=edu |
| By: | Phillip B. Levine; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of public health insurance expansions through both Medicaid and SCHIP on children's educational outcomes, measured by 4th and 8th grade reading and math test scores, available from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). We use a triple difference estimation strategy, taking advantage of the cross-state variation over time and across ages in children’s health insurance eligibility. Using this approach, we find that test scores in reading, but not math, increased for those children affected at birth by increased health insurance eligibility. A 50 percentage point increase in eligibility is found to increase reading test scores by 0.09 standard deviations. We also examine whether the improvements in educational outcomes can be at least partially attributed to improvements in health status itself. First, we provide further evidence that increases in eligibility are linked to improvements in health status at birth. Second, we show that better health status at birth (measured by rates of low birth-weight and infant mortality), is linked to improved educational outcomes. Although the methods used to support this last finding do not completely eliminate potentially confounding factors, we believe it is strongly suggestive that improving children's health will improve their classroom performance. |
| JEL: | I18 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14671&r=edu |
| By: | Vona, Francesco; Consoli, Davide |
| Abstract: | Empirical anomalies in the dynamics of earnings following the emergence of new ICT technologies are not consistent with various re-elaborations of the human capital theory. The first part of the paper reviews critically this literature and highlights an important gap concerning the role of institutional infrastructures for the systematisation and diffusion of new knowledge. The dynamic life-cycle approach elaborated in the second part provides a coherent account of the evidence, and indicates interesting implications for innovation and educational policies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Human Capital; Earning Distribution; |
| JEL: | J24 D8 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13032&r=edu |
| By: | De Silva, Dakshina G.; McComb, Robert P. |
| Abstract: | If localized knowledge spillovers are present in the university setting, higher rates of both start-ups and/or survival than in the broader economy would be observed in areas that are geographically proximate to the university. Using a fully-disclosed Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for Texas for the years 1999:3-2006:2, this paper analyzes start-ups and exit rates for high-tech firms in Texas. We find that there is evidence that the presence of a research institution will affect the likelihood of technology start-ups. However, results suggest that geographic proximity to knowledge centers does not reduce hazard rates. |
| Keywords: | Entry and Survival; R & D; Regional; Urban; and Rural Analyses. |
| JEL: | R53 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2009–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13022&r=edu |
| By: | Francisco Martínez-Mora |
| Abstract: | Population ageing has triggered concerns about the sustainability of public systems of education. The empirical evidence is still inconclusive, whereas some theoretical results present a somewhat optimistic view (Gradstein and Kaganovich, 2004; Levy, 2005). The present note re-examines the political economy of public education in an ageing society, using the classical median voter model. The normative analysis shows that elderly households introduce distortions that render political outcomes inefficient except in rare circumstances. It is then explained that the interplay among the political and financial consequences of ageing gives rise to a non-linear, and possibly non-monotonic (inverted-U shaped) relationship between spending per pupil and the share of childless households in the population. Income inequality is shown to play a crucial role of in the process, revealing that ageing has a stronger tendency towards underprovision in economies with high inequality. The implications for the empirical literature are discussed. |
| Keywords: | population ageing; income inequality; median voter model; public education |
| JEL: | I20 J10 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:09/3&r=edu |
| By: | Suciu, Marta Cristina |
| Abstract: | The main aim of the chapter is to provide the readers with a synthesis of the new international framework of debate dedicated to the topics of intangible assets and intellectual capital. Considering the topics of the whole book, this chapter is focussed on the role played by intangible assets and intellectual capital for attaining convergence and for increasing competitiveness. * Study within the CEEX Programme – Project No. 220/2006 “Economic Convergence and Role of Knowledge in Relation to the EU Integration”. |
| Keywords: | convergence, knowledge-based economy, competitiveness, competitive advantage, intangible assets, intellectual capital |
| JEL: | E24 I23 I28 J24 O15 O47 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ror:wpince:090109&r=edu |
| By: | Rino Bellocco (Università di Milano–Bicocca; Karolinska Institutet) |
| Abstract: | Stata is a software package that is currently widely used, and its utility is being recognized. This is leading to its increasing use worldwide in major departments of epidemiology and biostatistics, for both research and teaching purposes. The ability to use it at various levels of sophistication makes it an ideal package for introductory courses, where one is most likely to experience naïve users, as well as for researchers who tend to be more experienced and demanding in their requests for more esoteric calculations. The purpose of this talk is to describe how teaching at basic and intermediate levels of biostatistics, especially in epidemiological courses, has been facilitated during the years through the use of Stata, both how the package has grown and how this has impacted what can reasonably be taught in these courses. That is not to say that there is not room for improvement; I will also discuss some potential areas for progress and expansion. |
| Date: | 2009–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:isug08:08&r=edu |