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on Education |
|
Issue of 2009‒11‒14
thirty papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Frenette, Marc |
| Abstract: | Do students know the education required to achieve their career objectives? Is this information related to their education pathways? To address these questions, the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), Cohort A is used to compare high school students' perceptions of the level of education they will require for the job they intend to hold at age 30, with the level required according to professional job analysts at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). The focus is on students intending to work in a job which requires a university degree, and examine the correlation between the knowledge of educational requirements and subsequent university enrolment. The results suggest that about three out of four students intending to work in a job requiring a university degree are aware of the education they will require. Evidence suggests that knowledge of educational requirements is related to academic performance and socio-economic background. Differences by intended occupation are quite small. Moreover, students who know that a university degree is required are more likely to attend university, even after accounting for differences in academic performance, sex, and socioeconomic background. In fact, the knowledge of educational requirements is as strongly related to university attendance as other well-documented correlates such as sex, academic performance and parental education. Finally, higher university attendance rates are observed when students learn earlier (rather than later), that a university degree is required for their intended job. |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Children and youth, Educational attainment, Education |
| Date: | 2009–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2009320e&r=edu |
| By: | Nadja Dwenger; Johanna Storck; Katharina Wrohlich |
| Abstract: | Several German states recently introduced tuition fees for university education. We investigate whether these tuition fees influence the mobility of university applicants. Based on administrative data of applicants for medical schools in Germany, we estimate the effect of tuition fees on the probability of applying for a university in the home state. We find a small but significant reaction: The probability of applying for a university in the home state falls by 2 percentage points (baseline: 69%) for high-school graduates who come from a state with tuition fees. Moreover, we find that students with lower high-school grades react more strongly to tuition fees. This might have important effects on the composition of students across states. |
| Keywords: | mobility of high-school graduates, tuition fees, natural experiment |
| JEL: | I22 I28 H75 R23 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp926&r=edu |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Larcinese, Valentino (London School of Economics); Rasul, Imran (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, many countries have experienced dramatic increases in university enrolment, which, when not matched by compensating increases in other inputs, have resulted in larger class sizes. Using administrative records from a leading UK university, we present evidence on the effects of class size on students’ test scores. We observe the same student and faculty members being exposed to a wide range of class sizes from less than 10 to over 200. We therefore estimate non-linear class size effects controlling for unobserved heterogeneity of both individual students and faculty. We find that (i) at the average class size, the effect size is -0.108; (ii) the effect size is however negative and significant only for the smallest and largest ranges of class sizes and zero over a wide range of intermediate class sizes; (iii) students at the top of the test score distribution are more affected by changes in class size, especially when class sizes are very large. We present evidence to rule out class size effects being due solely to the non-random assignment of faculty to class size, sorting by students onto courses on the basis of class size, omitted inputs, the difficulty of courses, or grading policies. The evidence also shows the class size effects are not mitigated for students with greater knowledge of the UK university system, this university in particular, or with greater family wealth. |
| Keywords: | class size, heterogeneity, university education |
| JEL: | A20 D23 I23 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4496&r=edu |
| By: | Smyth, Emer; McCoy, Selina |
| Keywords: | qec |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:rb2009/3/3&r=edu |
| By: | Frank M. Fossen; Daniela Glocker |
| Abstract: | Taxation changes the expectations of prospective university students about their future level and uncertainty of after-tax income. To estimate the impact of taxes on university enrollment, we develop and estimate a structural microeconometric model, in which a high-school graduate decides to enter university studies if expected lifetime utility from this choice is greater than that anticipated from starting to work right away. We estimate the ex-ante future paths of the expectation and variance of net income for German high-school graduates, using only information available to those graduates at the time of the enrollment decision, accounting for multiple nonrandom selection and employing a microsimulation model to account for taxation. In addition to income uncertainty, the enrollment model takes into account university dropout and unemployment risks, as well as potential credit constraints. The estimation results are consistent with expectations. First, higher risk-adjusted returns to an academic education increase the probability of university enrollment. Second, high-school graduates are moderately risk averse, as indicated by the Arrow-Pratt coefficient of risk aversion estimated within the model. Thus, higher uncertainty among academics decreases enrollment rates. A simulation based on the estimated structural model indicates that a revenue-neutral, flat-rate tax reform with an unchanged basic tax allowance would increase enrollment rates for men in Germany because of the higher expected net income in the higher income range. |
| Keywords: | University Enrollment, Income Taxation, Flat Tax, Income Risk, Risk Aversion |
| JEL: | H24 I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp934&r=edu |
| By: | Juliana Kikuchi Van Zaist; Luciano Nakabashi; Márcio A. Salvato |
| Abstract: | There are serious problems in educational system in Brazil and Paraná State. Thus, implementation of policies towards the educational system in these two spheres is indispensable. However, there are some uncertainties in relation to the allocation of the resources. Therefore, because resources are scarce, the educational level that must be given more importance is the one that have the greatest potential of rising productivity. Having this concern as the central question to be answered in the present study, we carried out an analysis of the workers’ schooling on their wage return in Parana´ State to evaluate which educational level (elementary school, secondary school or college) is more important in income generation and, therefore, in labor productivity. |
| Keywords: | returns of different levels of education; HECKMAN procedure; educational system investment |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fup:wpaper:0097&r=edu |
| By: | De Paola, Maria; Scoppa, Vincenzo |
| Abstract: | We analyse peer effects among students of a middle-sized Italian public university. We explain students’ average grade in exams passed during their Second Level Degree course on the basis of their pre-determined measures of abilities, personal characteristics and peer group abilities. Thanks to a rich administrative dataset, we are able to build a variety of definitions of peer groups, describing different kinds of students’ interaction, based on classes attended together or exams taken in the same session. Self-selection problems are handled through Two-Stage Least Squares estimations using as an instrument, the exogenous assigning of students to different teaching classes in the compulsory courses attended during their First Level Degree course. We find statistically significant positive peer group effects, which are robust to the different definitions of peer group and to different measures of abilities. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; Student performance; Educational production function; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I21 Z13 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:18428&r=edu |
| By: | Boudarbat, Brahim (University of Montreal); Chernoff, Victor (University of Montreal) |
| Abstract: | This study uses data from the Follow-up of Graduates Survey – Class of 2000, to look at the determinants of education-job for Canadian university graduates. From a public policy perspective, the question of education-job match is relevant given the substantial investment society puts into its post secondary institutions, and the role devoted to human capital in economic development. Our results indicate that one graduate out of three (35.1%) is in a job that is not closely related to his or her education. The most important result is that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (gender and family background) do not matter very much in the match. On the other hand, education characteristics significantly influence match, with field specific programs (such as "Health sciences" and "Education") having the highest likelihood of obtaining an education-job match. In addition, the level of education (i.e. graduates with a postgraduate degree vs. a bachelor degree), as well as good grades, strongly affect the match. Employment characteristics also affect the match, but to a mixed extent, with certain characteristics, such as industry, as well as working full-time (vs. part time) affecting the match to a strong extent, while others, such as the permanence of employment, as well as the method used to obtain employment not having a significant effect on match. |
| Keywords: | education-job match, university graduates, Canada, Follow-up of Graduates Survey |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4513&r=edu |
| By: | Andrea Doneschi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Victoria Novas (MEF,Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas); Cecilia Velázquez (CINVE, Centro de Investigaciones Económicas) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, Uruguay has experienced a process of increasing college tuition without a counterpart to increased expenditure, which has resulted in a decrease in expenditure per student and the consequent loss of quality. In this context, one wonders how it could finance the necessary increase in spending for higher education in an environment of macroeconomic constraints and fiscal stress. One option is for graduates to contribute funding towards a graduate tax, justified by the existence of a private return. This study is the analysis of the Solidarity Fund and its Additional, sources of extra budgetary funding of public higher education in Uruguay. The current design of the Solidarity Fund and Additional resources could be improved in terms of equity, linking the university's contribution to their income. Raised was the possibility of a deepening of the system, with the goal of increasing revenues, thus allowing for greater cost recovery and the provision of more scholarships. |
| Keywords: | higher education finance, graduate tax, income contingent loan. |
| JEL: | I22 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1409&r=edu |
| By: | Paul J Devereux (University College Dublin); Robert A Hart (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | Do students benefit from compulsory schooling? In an important article, Oreopoulos (2006) studied the 1947 British compulsory schooling law change and found large returns to schooling of about 15% using the General Household Survey (GHS). Reanalysing this dataset, we find much smaller returns of about 3% on average with no evidence of any positive return for women and a return for men of 4-7%. Additionally, we utilize the New Earnings Survey Panel Data-set (NESPD) that has earnings information superior to that in the GHS and find similar estimates: zero returns for women and returns of 3 to 4% for men. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory Schooling, Returns to Education |
| Date: | 2009–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:200924&r=edu |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Vassilis Tselios (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) |
| Abstract: | Relatively little attention has been paid to the role that externalities play in determining the pecuniary returns to migration. This paper addresses this gap, using microeconomic data for more than 100,000 individuals living in the European Union (EU) for the period 1994-2001 in order to analyse whether the individual economic returns to education vary between migrants and non-migrants and whether any observed differences in earnings between migrants and locals are affected by household and/or geographical (regional and interregional) externalities. The results point out that while education is a fundamental determinant of earnings, European labour markets – contrary to expectations – do not discriminate in the returns to education between migrants and non-migrants. The paper also finds that household, regional, and interregional externalities influence the economic returns to education, but that they do so in a similar way for local, intranational, and supra-national migrants. The results are robust to the introduction of a large number of individual, household, and regional controls. |
| Keywords: | individual earnings; migration; educational attainment; externalities; household; regions; Europe |
| Date: | 2009–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2009-15&r=edu |
| By: | Kristof DE WITTE; Nicky ROGGE |
| Abstract: | Students’ evaluations of teacher performance (SETs) are increasingly used by universities and colleges for teaching improvement and decision making (e.g., promotion or tenure). However, SETs are highly controversial mainly due to two issues: (1) teachers value various aspects of excellent teaching differently, and, to be fair, (2) SETs should be determined solely by the teacher’s actual performance in the classroom, not by other influences (related to the teacher, the students or the course) which are not under his or her control. To account for these two issues, this paper constructs SETs using a specially tailored version of the popular non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. In particular, in a so-called ‘Benefit of the doubt’ model we account for different values and interpretations that teachers attach to ‘good teaching’. Within this model, we reduce the impact of measurement errors and a-typical observations, and account explicitly for heterogeneous background characteristics arising from teacher, student and course characteristics. To show the potentiality of the method, we examine teacher performance for the Hogeschool Universiteit Brussel (located in Belgium). Our findings suggest that heterogeneous background characteristics play an important role in teacher performance. |
| Keywords: | Teacher performance, Data envelopment analysis, Conditional efficiency, Education. |
| JEL: | C14 C25 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces09.13&r=edu |
| By: | Geert Leemans |
| Abstract: | In the course of 2008, the Flemish Agency for Infrastructure in Education (AGIOn) evaluated the quality of school buildings in Flanders using a monitoring system based on international experience. The results showed that most school buildings satisfy the basic requirements of habitability and safety, but they often fall short when it comes to the new pedagogical and social challenges of the 21st century.<P>Contrôle de la qualité des bâtiments scolaires dans la communauté flamande de Belgique<BR>Au cours de l’année 2008, l’Office flamand pour l’infrastructure scolaire (AGIOn) a évalué la qualité des bâtiments scolaires en Flandres, en utilisant un système de contrôle basé sur l’expérience internationale. Les résultats ont démontré que la plupart des bâtiments scolaires répondent aux exigences de base en matière d’habitabilité et de sécurité, mais ne sont pas à la hauteur en ce qui concerne les défis pédagogiques et sociaux du XXI<sup>e</sup> siècle. |
| Keywords: | Belgium, educational buildings, educational architecture, school security, school building programme |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2009/8-en&r=edu |
| By: | Peter H. Lindert |
| Abstract: | This essay proposes a set of non-econometric tests using data on wage structure, school resource costs, public expenditures, taxes, and rates of return to explain anomalies in which richer political units deliver less education than poorer ones. Both the anomalies of education history, and its less surprising contrasts, fit broad patterns that can be revealed and partially explained using low-tech methods. Over most of human history, contrasts in the output of education were driven mainly by contrasts in the supply of tax support for mass education. Exogenous influences on the demand for, and the private supply of, education played only lesser roles. Pro-growth public education could have emerged a century or two earlier than it did, had the leading countries of Western Europe mustered the political will to fund it. Government underinvestment in mass education is demonstrated for England and Wales between 1717 and 1891. Differences in political support still account for most of today’s education anomalies where the contrasts involve less developed regions. In today’s highest-income settings, however, differences in tax funding lose their previous explanatory power. The postwar shift away from strong effects of school resources calls for a renewed introduction of historical context into the “does money matter†debate. |
| JEL: | H23 H52 N3 N30 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15491&r=edu |
| By: | Andrabi, Tahir (Pomona College); Das, Jishnu (World Bank); Khwaja, Asim Ijaz (Harvard University); Zajonc, Tristan (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Evaluations of educational programs commonly assume that what children learn persists over time. The authors compare learning in Pakistani public and private schools using dynamic panel methods that account for three key empirical challenges to widely used value-added models: imperfect persistence, unobserved student heterogeneity, and measurement error. Their estimates suggest that only a fifth to a half of learning persists between grades and that private schools increase average achievement by 0.25 standard deviations each year. In contrast, estimates from commonly used value-added models significantly understate the impact of private schools' on student achievement and/or overstate persistence. These results have implications for program evaluation and value-added accountability system design. |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp09-034&r=edu |
| By: | Hannah von Ahlefeld |
| Abstract: | CELE’s International Pilot Project on Evaluating Quality in Educational Spaces aims to assist education authorities, schools and others to maximise the use of and investment in learning environments. This article provides an update on the pilot project, which is currently being implemented in Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and the United Kingdom.<P>Évaluer la qualité des espaces éducatifs : Étude pilote du CELE/OCDE<BR>L’Étude pilote internationale du CELE pour l’évaluation de la qualité des espaces éducatifs a pour objectif d’aider les autorités éducatives, les écoles et d’autres à optimiser les investissements et leur utilisation dans les environnements pédagogiques. Cet article donne un aperçu de l’avancement de l’étude pilote, qui est actuellement mise en œuvre au Brésil, au Mexique, en Nouvelle-Zélande, au Portugal et au Royaume-Uni. |
| Keywords: | evaluation, learning environment, educational buildings, educational architecture, quality |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2009/9-en&r=edu |
| By: | Ann Huff Stevens; Jessamyn Schaller |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between parental job loss and children’s academic achievement using data on job loss and grade retention from the 1996, 2001, and 2004 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We find that a parental job loss increases the probability of children’s grade retention by 0.8 percentage points, or around 15 percent. After conditioning on child fixed effects, there is no evidence of significantly increased grade retention prior to the job loss, suggesting a causal link between the parental employment shock and children’s academic difficulties. These effects are concentrated among children whose parents have a high school education or less. |
| JEL: | J62 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15480&r=edu |
| By: | Rossana Patrón (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | Standard trade theory suggests that trade liberalization produces opposite effects on human capital accumulation in developed and developing countries, reducing the incentives to invest in education in skill-scarce countries. How would conventional wisdom be modified if we introduce public provision of education in the standard framework? This paper develops a simple model for this purpose, showing that when skills formation depends on public provision of education, trade liberalization affects the human capital accumulation process depending on the economic structure; thus, in contrast to the previous literature, this framework explains convergence or divergence in the accumulation of skills between trading countries. |
| Keywords: | public education, trade liberalization, Heckscher–Ohlin |
| JEL: | F11 I20 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1809&r=edu |
| By: | Rossana Patrón (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | The evidence of effects of education activities on growth is mixed. So, could education be good, neutral, or bad, depending on the case? While the model in this paper remains close to the Heckscher-Ohlin tradition, it is shown that, contrary to the standard results, it is the net effect of prices, taxation, and accumulation of endowments that determines the Rybczynski-type growth effects, which may help explain the lack of consensus in the empirical literature on education and growth. A central feature of the model is that the accumulation of endowments depends on the output of education, while the changes in labour supply, which determine the effective production possibilities frontier, also depend on individuals’ decisions on allocation of time. In the paper, the risks of a labour supplyreducing government intervention are discussed. The analysis has implications for policymakers in developing countries where education needs to be enhanced, as it reveals the possibility of a ‘bad tax reform’ where the intentions of reformers are not met by the results. A sufficient condition to avoid this situation is identified in the paper. |
| Keywords: | education, fiscal policy, developing countries |
| JEL: | I22 F16 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1709&r=edu |
| By: | Pierre de Villiers (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | he formal school system developed after the Europeans arrived in South Africa, but until South Africa became a Union in 1910 it was almost exclusively provided for white children. The other racial groups were incorporated into the system to a larger extent in the 20th century, but due to the higher per capita expenditure on white learners they did not receive an education of the same quality. The school system can be divided into the former Indian and white systems that operate well, while the former systems for blacks and coloureds do not operate well at all. This is confirmed in national and international studies done in the democratic era after 1994. Currently only a small part of the school system is operating efficiently. Die formele skoolstelsel het ontstaan met die aankoms van die Europeërs in Suid-Afrika, maar is tot Uniewording in 1910 bykans uitsluitlik aan Blanke leerders voorsien. In die 20ste eeu word die ander rassegroepe meer by die skoolstelsel betrek, maar omdat per capita veel meer op die Blanke stelsel spandeer is, ontvang die ander groepe nie onderwys van dieselfde kwaliteit nie. Die skoolstelsel kan opgedeel word in die voormalige stelsels vir Indiër en Blanke leerders wat goed opereer en die voormalige stelsels vir Swart en Bruin leerders wat swak funksioneer. Dit word in nasionale en internasionale studies in die demokratiese bestel na 1994 bevestig. Tans is daar net ‘n klein deel van die skoolstelsel wat effektief opereer. |
| Keywords: | History of education, Number of learners, Education finances, Flow through rates, International comparisons, Geskiedenis van onderwys, Leerdergetalle, Onderwysfinansiering, Deurvloeikoerse, Internasionale vergelykings |
| JEL: | H50 H52 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers95&r=edu |
| By: | Wayne Head; Richard Buckingham |
| Abstract: | This article recommends approaches to take in designing sustainable educational environments. The authors present recent examples of UK school buildings that reduce carbon emissions and capitalise on renewable energy sources, and predict how schools will respond to energy needs in the future.<P>Durabilité et innovation dans les écoles du Royaume-Uni<BR>Cet article émet des recommandations sur les approches à adopter en vue de la conception d’environnements pédagogiques durables. Les auteurs présentent des exemples récents de bâtiments scolaires britanniques qui réduisent leurs émissions de carbone et capitalisent sur les sources d’énergie renouvelables, et prédisent la manière dont les écoles répondront à leurs besoins énergétiques dans le futur. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development, United Kingdom, learning environment, educational buildings, school infrastructure |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2009/10-en&r=edu |
| By: | Cyrille Schwellnus |
| Abstract: | Despite progress over the past two decades Mexico?s health and education indicators remain well below the average of the OECD and some of its Latin American emerging market peers. Health insurance coverage is incomplete, especially for low-income families, and access to health services is highly uneven. There are several separate vertically integrated insurance networks, which increases administrative costs and results in an inefficient use of facilities. In education, lower secondary schools enroll only two thirds of the relevant age group and the quality of education is low, as indicated by poor PISA scores. This reflects poor teaching quality, a consequence of non-transparent teacher selection processes until recently, and limited school autonomy in budgeting, instruction and personnel decisions. Accountability to the government and parents is also low as there is no national exit exam after secondary education and the existing evaluation schemes are fragmented. Recent health and education reforms have started to address these issues, but more needs to be done to increase the efficiency of spending by increasing the coverage of health insurance, reducing the fragmentation of the health system, increasing enrolment in lower secondary education, and improving the quality of teaching.<P>Améliorer les performances : renforcer l’efficience des dépenses de santé et d’éducation au Mexique<BR>Malgré les progrès réalisés ces vingt dernières années, les indicateurs du Mexique dans les domaines de l’éducation et de la santé restent nettement inférieurs à la moyenne OCDE et aux indicateurs de certains pays émergents d’Amérique latine. La couverture par l’assurance-maladie est incomplète, en particulier pour les familles à bas revenu, et l’accès aux services de santé est très inégalitaire. Plusieurs systèmes d’assurance verticalement intégrés coexistent, ce qui accroît les coûts administratifs et empêche une utilisation efficiente des services. Dans le domaine de l’éducation, seuls deux tiers des enfants en âge d’être scolarisés dans le premier cycle de l’enseignement secondaire le sont effectivement et la qualité du système éducatif laisse à désirer, comme en témoignent les mauvais résultats obtenus dans le cadre de l’enquête PISA. Cette situation résulte d’une mauvaise qualité de l?enseignement, qui s’explique par le manque de transparence qui, jusqu’à une période récente, caractérisait les procédures de sélection des enseignants et par le manque d’autonomie des établissements scolaires sur les plans du budget, de l’enseignement et des décisions relatives au personnel. La responsabilité du système éducatif vis-à-vis du gouvernement et des parents est également limitée du fait qu’il n’y a pas d’examen de fin d’études au terme de la scolarité secondaire et que les systèmes d’évaluation existants sont fragmentés. Les réformes engagées récemment dans les domaines de la santé et de l’éducation ont commencé à remédier à ces faiblesses, mais des efforts supplémentaires s’imposent pour améliorer l’efficience des dépenses en étendant la couverture par l’assurance-maladie, en réduisant la fragmentation du système de santé, en augmentant le taux de scolarisation dans le premier cycle du secondaire et en améliorant la qualité de l’enseignement. |
| Keywords: | Mexico, Mexique, education policy, politique d'éducation, data envelopment analysis, health policy, politique de santé, analyse d'enveloppement des données |
| JEL: | C61 I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:732-en&r=edu |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Donata Favaro |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate wage differentials in Italy combining gender and education perspectives. The main goal of the article is to verify whether the extent of the gender pay gap varies between highly- and low-educated workers, and whether or not the role played by gender differences in characteristics and in market rewards is similar in the two groups. We apply quantile regression analysis and an adaptation of the procedure suggested by Machado and Mata (2005) to evaluate the predicted wage gap at different levels of education, at different points of the female wage distribution scale. The analysis is carried out on the Italian sample of the last available year of the European Community Household Panel (2001). We show that the extent and the trend of the gap predicted across the female distribution is sharply different between groups with diverse educational levels. In the case of low-educated workers, although the predicted gap is largely explained by differences in rewards, lower levels of education or experience are however responsible for the gap, especially on the right-hand side of the distribution. On the contrary, highly-educated females have better characteristics than highly-educated men that partially compensate the rather high difference in returns, in particular at the extremes of the distribution. It thus follows that the unexplained part of the predicted gap reveals a glass ceiling effect only for more highly-educated females. |
| Keywords: | human capital; gender wage differentials; quantile regressions |
| JEL: | J31 J71 C31 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:036&r=edu |
| By: | Pablo Brañas-Garza (Universidad de Granada- España); Juan C. Cárdenas (Universidad de los Andes- Colombia); Máximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | There is not general consensus about if women are more or less generous than men. Although the number of papers supporting more generous females is a bit larger than the opposed it is not possible to establish any definitive and systematic gender bias. This paper provides new evidence on this topic using a unique experimental dataset. We used data from a field experiment conducted under identical conditions (and monetary payoffs) in 6 Latin American cities, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, Montevideo and San José. Our dataset amounted to 3,107 experimental subjects who played the Trust Game. We will analyze the determinants of behavior of second movers, that is, what determines reciprocal generosity. In sharp contrast to previous papers we found that males are more generous than females. In the light of this result, we carried out a systematic analysis of individual features (income, education, age, etc.) for females and males separately. We found differential motivations for women and men. Third, we see that (individual) education enhances prosocial behavior. Lastly, we see that subjects’ expectations are crucial. |
| Keywords: | reciprocal altruism, gender, education |
| JEL: | C93 D64 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1609&r=edu |
| By: | Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Moon, Seong Hyeok (University of Chicago); Pinto, Rodrigo (University of Chicago); Savelyev, Peter A. (University of Chicago); Yavitz, Adam (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the rate of return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, an early intervention program targeted toward disadvantaged African-American youth. Estimates of the rate of return to the Perry program are widely cited to support the claim of substantial economic benefits from preschool education programs. Previous studies of the rate of return to this program ignore the compromises that occurred in the randomization protocol. They do not report standard errors. The rates of return estimated in this paper account for these factors. We conduct an extensive analysis of sensitivity to alternative plausible assumptions. Estimated social rates of return generally fall between 7-10 percent, with most estimates substantially lower than those previously reported in the literature. However, returns are generally statistically significantly different from zero for both males and females and are above the historical return on equity. Estimated benefit-to-cost ratios support this conclusion. |
| Keywords: | rate of return, cost-benefit analysis, standard errors, Perry Preschool Program, compromised randomization, early childhood intervention programs, deadweight costs |
| JEL: | D62 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4533&r=edu |
| By: | Marcelin Joanis (Université de Sherbrooke, GREDI and CIRANO) |
| Abstract: | While electoral accountability should be stronger when responsibilities are clearly assigned to one political office, the involvement of higher tiers of government is often associated with policies specifically designed to improve local accountability. This paper investigates the impact of centralization on local electoral accountability in the context of California's school finance system. Results show that voters are responsive to differences in dropout rates and pupil-teacher ratios, and that incumbents are less likely to be reelected when a districts degree of centralization is high. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 appears to have sharpened local electoral accountability. |
| Keywords: | centralization, accountability, school nance, local elections, shared responsibility,No Child Left Behind. |
| JEL: | H75 H77 D72 I2 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:09-21&r=edu |
| By: | Natalia Melgar (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Máximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | In 2004, Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index ranks Uruguay at 28, seven positions higher than in 2001, scores changed from 5.1 to 6.2 (a higher score means less perceived corruption). In addition, there were no relevant corruption scandals in that period. Hence, we should ask: what are the foundations of corruption perception? We assess this at the micro-level. Our dataset is the module on Citizenship of the International Social Survey Program (that was carried out in 2004) and we estimate ordered a probit model. We find that some economic variables are significant. In particular we show that those who work in private enterprises tend to perceive higher levels of corruption as do unemployed people. Hence those who may be on the supply side of the bribe “market” perceive a higher level of corruption than those on the demand side (civil servants). In addition, our main contribution to the existence literature is showing that socio-demographic variables play a relevant role. We show that those who belong to the youngest group, who took, at least, high school studies and those who belong to a religious group are more likely to perceive a higher level of corruption. |
| Keywords: | corruption, public opinion, microeconomic behavior, ISSP, Uruguay. |
| JEL: | D70 K42 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0909&r=edu |
| By: | James D. Adams; J. Roger Clemmons |
| Abstract: | Due to improving information technology, the growing complexity of research problems, and policies designed to foster interdisciplinary research, the practice of science in the United States has undergone significant structural change. Using a sample of 110 top U.S. universities observed during the late 20th century we find that knowledge flows, both in total and in their major components, are a significant and positive determinant of research output. Outside knowledge-flows from other universities have increased at a faster rate than inside flows from the same university. Over time, the importance of outside flows for research output has risen, and it has done so at a faster rate than the importance of inside flows has decreased. Thus the overall contribution of knowledge-flows has increased and has shifted towards outside flows. Turning to knowledge-flows by field, we find that interdisciplinary knowledge-flows have increased only slightly relative to same field flows, despite policy initiatives that favor interdisciplinary research. Moreover, the importance of interdisciplinary flows for research output, while positive and statistically highly significant, has stayed about the same, even as same field flows have become more important, probably because of growth in cyber infrastructure. Although a final verdict is yet to be reached, one interpretation is that interdisciplinary research is still in its early stages. While interdisciplinary flows have begun to increase, the resulting discoveries, and their influence on subsequent research, may still lie in the future. |
| JEL: | D24 D80 L31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15489&r=edu |
| By: | Olof Åslund (Uppsala University); Per-Anders Edin (IFAU and Uppsala University); Peter Fredriksson (IFAU and Uppsala University); Hans Grönqvist (Institute for social research (SOFI), University of Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants typically perform worse than other students in the OECD countries. We examine to what extent this is due to the population characteristics of the neighborhoods that immigrants grow up in. We address this issue using a governmental refugee placement policy which provides exogenous variation in the initial place of residence in Sweden. The main result is that, for a given share of immigrants in a neighborhood, immigrant school performance is increasing in the number of highly educated adults sharing the subject’s ethnicity. A standard deviation increase in the fraction of highly educated adults in the assigned neighborhood increases compulsory school GPA by 0.9 percentile ranks. This magnitude corresponds to a tenth of the gap in student performance between refugee immigrant and native-born children. We also provide tentative evidence that the overall share of immigrants in the neighborhood has a negative effect on GPA. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; Ethnic enclaves; Immigration; School performance. |
| JEL: | J15 I20 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200928&r=edu |
| By: | Alireza Abbasi; Jorn Altmann; Junseok Hwang (Technology Management, Economics and Policy Program(TEMEP), Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | Although there are many studies for quantifying the academic performance of researchers, such as measuring the scientific performance based on the number of publications, there are no studies about quantifying the collaboration activities of researchers. This study addresses this shortcoming by examining the collaboration network structure of researchers, the number of collaborations with other researchers, and the productivity index of co-authors. Based on the measures, two new indices, the RC-Index and CC-Index, are proposed for quantifying the collaboration activities of researchers and scientific communities. After applying these indices on a data set generated from publication list of five schools of information systems, we discuss the usefulness of these indices. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:200915&r=edu |