nep-edu New Economics Papers
on Education
Issue of 2009‒08‒08
nine papers chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
Technical University of Lisbon

  1. Does Schooling Affect Health Behavior? Evidence from the Educational Expansion in Western Germany By Jürges, Hendrik; Reinhold, Steffen; Salm, Martin
  2. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008 By Parliamentary Research Service PRS
  3. Pro-Poor Progress in Education in Developing Countries? By Kenneth Hartgen; Stephan Klasen; Mark Misselhorn
  4. Deprivation of Education in Urban Areas: A Basic Profile of Slum Children in Delhi, India By Tsujita, Yuko
  5. The role of geographic mobility in reducing education-job mismatches in the Netherlands By Hensen Maud M.; Vries M. Robert de; Cörvers Frank
  6. Does Education Reduce Blood Pressure? Estimating the Biomarker Effect of Compulsory Schooling in England By Nattavudh Powdthavee; ;
  7. The Impact of Demographic Change on Human Capital Accumulation By Michael Fertig; Christoph M. Schmidt; Mathias G. Sinning
  8. Count Your Hours: Returns to Education in Poland By Myck, Michal; Nicinska, Anna; Morawski, Leszek
  9. The Americanization of European Higher Education and Research By Borghans Lex; Cörvers Frank

  1. By: Jürges, Hendrik (University of Mannheim); Reinhold, Steffen (MEA, University of Mannheim); Salm, Martin (Tilburg University)
    Abstract: During the postwar period German states pursued policies to increase the share of young Germans obtaining a university entrance diploma (Abitur) by building more academic track schools, but the timing of educational expansion differed between states. This creates exogenous variation in the availability of higher education, which allows estimating the causal effect of education on health behaviors. Using the number of academic track schools in a state as an instrumental variable for years of schooling, we investigate the causal effect of schooling on health behavior such as smoking and related outcomes such as obesity. We find large negative effects of education on smoking. These effects can mostly be attributed to reductions in starting rates rather than increases in quitting rates. We find no causal effect of education on reduced overweight and obesity.
    Keywords: education, smoking, obesity
    JEL: I12 I20
    Date: 2009–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4330&r=edu
  2. By: Parliamentary Research Service PRS
    Abstract: A bill to provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
    Keywords: parents, guardian, elementary, compulsory, education, children, school, government,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2140&r=edu
  3. By: Kenneth Hartgen (University of Göttingen); Stephan Klasen (University of Göttingen); Mark Misselhorn (University of Göttingen)
    Abstract: Spurred by international commitments and expanded funding at the national and international level, attendance in education and associated years of schooling have expanded substantially in developing countries in recent years. But has this expansion in enrolments reduced existing inequalities in educational access and achievements? This paper analyzes differences in improvements in the access to the education system and in educational outcomes across the welfare distribution between and within countries, and also by gender and regions for a sample of 37 developing countries using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). For the analysis, the toolbox of pro-poor growth analysis is applied to several educational indicators. We find drastic inequalities in educational attendance across the income distribution. Interestingly, inequalities in attendance declines with rising average attendance, while inequality in completion rates or schooling years increases with rising completion rates or schooling years. We find great heterogeneity in the distribution of progress of education, with very little pro-poor progress in educational achievement indicators. Also, progress appears to be less pro-poor in countries with low initial educational achievement and high overall educational progress. We find no correlation between pro-poor progress and free education policies or initial inequality in education. At the regional level, educational progress was generally more pro-poor in Asia and Latin America, while in Africa the experience is very heterogeneous. While gender inequality has decreased slightly, large differences by region tend to persist over time.
    Keywords: education; human capital; inequality; pro-poor growth
    JEL: I20 I29 I31 I32
    Date: 2009–07–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:008&r=edu
  4. By: Tsujita, Yuko
    Abstract: This paper showed the basic educational status of slum children between 5 and 14 years old. The attendance ratio of slum children is much lower than that of children in Delhi as a whole. Parental perception of education and financing education are the major constraints. Even if children are attending schools, the majority of them are over-aged. There are both demand and supply side reasons for discouraging slum children from attending schooling. As opposed to school-based surveys in previous literature, children in slums are more likely to go to government schools rather than low-fee paying private schools. Some policies are suggested.
    Keywords: Education, Slum, India, Children, Poverty
    JEL: I20 I21
    Date: 2009–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper199&r=edu
  5. By: Hensen Maud M.; Vries M. Robert de; Cörvers Frank (ROA rm)
    Abstract: In this article we investigate the relationship between geographic mobility andeducation-job mismatch in the Netherlands. We focus on the role of geographicmobility in reducing the probability of graduates working (i) jobs below theireducation level; (ii) jobs outside their study fi eld; (iii) part-time jobs; (iv) fl exiblejobs; or (v) jobs paid below the wage expected at the beginning of the career. For thispurpose we use data on secondary and higher vocational education graduates in theperiod 1996–2001. We show that graduates who are mobile have higher probabilityof fi nding jobs at the acquired education level than those who are not. Moreover,mobile graduates have higher probability of fi nding full-time or permanent jobs.Th is suggests that mobility is sought to prevent not only having to take a job belowthe acquired education level, but also other education-job mismatches; graduates arespatially fl exible particularly to ensure full-time jobs.
    Keywords: education, training and the labour market;
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2009012&r=edu
  6. By: Nattavudh Powdthavee; ;
    Abstract: This paper is the first of its kind to estimate the exogenous effect of schooling on reduced blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension. Using the changes of the minimum school-leaving age in the United Kingdom from age 14 to 15 in 1947, and from age 15 to 16 in 1973, as instruments, the IV-probit estimates imply that completing an extra year of schooling reduces the probability of developing subsequent hypertension by approximately 5%-11% points. The correct estimates of the LATE for schooling indicate the presence of a large and negative bias in the least square/probit estimates of schooling-health relationship.
    Keywords: blood pressure; compulsory schooling; biomarker; IV; hypertension; health
    JEL: H1 I1 I2
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:09/14&r=edu
  7. By: Michael Fertig; Christoph M. Schmidt; Mathias G. Sinning
    Abstract: This paper investigates whether and to what extent demographic change has an impact on human capital accumulation. The effect of the relative cohort size on educational attainment of young adults in Germany is analyzed utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for West-German individuals of the birth cohorts 1966 to 1986. These are the cohorts which entered the labor market since the 1980's. Particular attention is paid to the effect of changes in labor market conditions, which constitute an important channel through which demographic change may affect human capital accumulation. Our findings suggest that the variables measuring demographic change exert a considerable though heterogeneous impact on the human capital accumulation of young Germans. Changing labor market conditions during the 1980's and 1990's exhibit a sizeable impact on both the highest schooling and the highest professional degree obtained by younger cohorts.
    Keywords: Demographic Change, Schooling, Vocational Training
    JEL: J11 J24 C25
    Date: 2009–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:608&r=edu
  8. By: Myck, Michal (DIW Berlin); Nicinska, Anna (Warsaw University); Morawski, Leszek (Warsaw University)
    Abstract: We show how significant may be the difference in the estimated returns to education in Poland conditional on the measure of wages used and the estimation approach applied. Combining information from two different Polish surveys from 2005 and taking advantage of the Polish microsimulation model (SIMPL) we demonstrate how different the results can be depending on whether we use net or gross, and monthly or hourly wages, and show how important selection correction is for the conclusion. While there are several papers examining the wage equation in Poland, so far none of them has provided a comprehensive analysis of the effects of using different methods and the issue of selection-correction in the estimation of the wage equation in Poland has not been examined in detail. Annual rates of return to university education for men vary from 6.7% to 9.7% and for women from 8.0% to 13.4% when we compare results using net monthly wages without correcting for labor market selection to those from a selection corrected specification using gross hourly wages. We also demonstrate that simple linear estimation performs relatively well for men in comparison to our preferred selection corrected estimation, while using family demographics as exclusion restrictions seems to be the "second best" in the case of the wage equation estimation for women.
    Keywords: returns to education, wage equation, selection models, instrumental variables
    JEL: J31 J21
    Date: 2009–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4332&r=edu
  9. By: Borghans Lex; Cörvers Frank (ROA rm)
    Abstract: Over the past two decades there has been a substantial increase in the mobility ofstudents in Europe, while also research has become much more internationallyoriented. In this paper we document changes in the structure of research and highereducation in Europe and investigate potential explanations for the strong increase inits international orientation. While higher education started to grow substantiallyaround 1960, only a few decades later, research and higher education transformedgradually to the American standard. Decreased communication costs are likely causesfor this trend. Th is transformation is most clearly revealed in the change of languageused in research from the national language, Latin, German and French to English.Smaller language areas made this transformation earlier while there are also cleartiming diff erences between research fi elds. Sciences and medicine tend to switch toEnglish fi rst, followed by economics and social sciences, while for law and arts onlythe fi rst signs of such a transformation are currently observed. Th is suggests thatreturns to scale and the transferability of research results are important infl uences inthe decision to adopt the international standard.
    Keywords: education, training and the labour market;
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2009013&r=edu

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