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on Education |
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Issue of 2010‒03‒13
fourteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Van Bouwel, Linda; Veugelers, Reinhilde |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the (research) quality of a country’s higher education system drives macro-flows of foreign tertiary students in Europe. We use various measures on the quality of a country’s higher education system in an extended gravity model. We find that quality has a positive and significant effect on the size and direction of flows of students exchanged between 18 European countries. |
| Keywords: | international student mobility; higher education; university rankings; quality indicators; |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/256921&r=edu |
| By: | Rob French (Depatment of Quantitative Social Science - Institute of Education, University of London.); Geeta Kingdon (Depatment of Quantitative Social Science - Institute of Education, University of London.) |
| Abstract: | One of the many changes in India since economic liberalisation began in 1991 is the increased use of private schooling. There has been a growing body of literature to assess whether this is a positive trend and to evaluate the effects on child achievement levels. The challenge is to identify the true private school effect on achievement, isolating the effect of the schools themselves from other variables that might boost private school outcomes, such as a superior (higher ability) student intake. Using the ASER data for 2005 to 2007 a number of methodologies are used to produce a cumulative evidence base on the effectiveness of private schools relative to their government counterparts. Household fixed effects estimates yield a private school achievement advantage of 0.17 standard deviations and village level 3-year panel data analysis yields a private school learning advantage of 0.114 SD. Length: 39 pages |
| Keywords: | Student achievement, private and public schooling, India |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1003&r=edu |
| By: | Dhuey, Elizabeth; Lipscomb, Stephen |
| Abstract: | This study extends recent findings of a relationship between the relative age of students among their peers and their probability of disability classification. Using three nationally representative surveys spanning 1988-2004 and grades K-10, we find that an additional month of relative age decreases the likelihood of receiving special education services by 2-5 percent. Relative age effects are strong for learning disabilities but not for other disabilities. We measure them for boys starting in kindergarten but not for girls until 3rd grade. We also measure them for white and Hispanic students but not for black students or differentially by socioeconomic quartiles. Results are consistent with the interpretation that disability assessments do not screen for the possibility that relatively young students are over-referred for evaluation. Lastly, we present suggestive evidence that math achievement gains due to disability classification may differentially benefit relatively young students. |
| Keywords: | Education, Relative Age, Special Education |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2010–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-7&r=edu |
| By: | Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville) |
| Abstract: | Parents and policy makers often wonder whether, and how, the choice between a tracked or a mixed educational system affects the efficiency and equity of national educational outcomes. This paper analyzes this question taking into account their impact on educational results at later stages and two main results are found. First, it shows that tracking can be the efficient system in societies where the opportunity cost of college attendance is high or the pre-school achievement distribution is very dispersed. Second, this paper shows that tracking is the most equitable system for students with intermediate levels of human capital required to attend college. |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects, Tracking, Mixing, College attendance gap |
| JEL: | D63 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2010-162&r=edu |
| By: | E. Anthon Eff; Christopher C. Klein; Reuben Kyle |
| Abstract: | Consumers of higher education face a bewildering array of product and price combinations. We compare U. S. institutions with a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) multi-factor frontier using 2000-2001 data for 1,188 four-year institutions of higher education. The input is net price or tuition, fees, room, and board less per student financial aid. Outputs include SAT score, athletic expenditures, instructional expenditures, value of buildings, dorm capacity, and student body characteristics. The DEA efficiency scores indicate the distance of each institution from the “best buy” frontier, providing an objective means of ranking institutions as the best buys in higher education. |
| Keywords: | Education, Data Envelopment Analysis, Comparative advantage |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:wpaper:201004&r=edu |
| By: | Peter Nurnberg; Morton Schapiro; David Zimmerman |
| Abstract: | The college choice process can be reduced to three questions: 1) Where does a student apply? 2) Which schools accept the students? 3) Which offer of admission does the student accept? This paper addresses question three. Specifically, we offer an econometric analysis of the matriculation decisions made by students accepted to Williams College, one of the nation’s most highly selective colleges and universities. We use data for the Williams classes of 2008 through 2012 to estimate a yield model. We find that—conditional on the student applying to and being accepted by Williams—applicant quality as measured by standardized tests, high school GPA and the like, the net price a particular student faces (the sticker price minus institutional financial aid), the applicant’s race and geographic origin, plus the student’s artistic, athletic and academic interests, are strong predictors of whether or not the student will matriculate. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15772&r=edu |
| By: | Anne Drumaux (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.); Robert Fouchet (Institut de Management Public et Gouvernance Territoriale, Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III.); Emil Turc (Institut de Management Public et Gouvernance Territoriale, Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III.) |
| Abstract: | The Framework Law on Finance Acts (Loi Organique sur les Lois de Finance - LOLF) was passed by the French Parliament in 2001 and came into force in January 2006. As budget legislation it refocuses the relationship between rulers and ruled by modifying the connection between the state budget and operation of public structures, especially universities. These effects are interpreted in the present contribution with the help of a neo-institutionalist reference framework. In the first part, we set out a panoramic view of sectoral and organizational changes in higher education prior to LOLF. Despite various legislations during the 80s and 90s, the vast majority of universities failed to gain greater autonomy and to strengthen themselves as institutions, each with its own university-wide policies and governance. It is only with the LMD (licence-master-doctorate) reform that these professional bureaucracies started to destabilize. The study conducted at a pilot university experimenting with LOLF shows that the memory of earlier waves of reform is a structuring factor in players’ understanding of LOLF, paving the way for a deeper transformation. In the second part, the effects of LOLF are analysed in terms of their impact on information systems and of the tools put in place by universities. These include local management tools and those, like the four-year contact, introduced by the previous reforms of the sector. Based on a survey at two different universities, we point to a reorganization of interactions between the different bodies responsible for higher education, a reorganization that also is reflected within the university, particularly in relation to its component parts. At the heart of this process we observe a refocusing on the four-year contract, but "lolf-icized", and an impact on internal management tools, albeit highly dependent on local initiatives and internal capabilities. Part three discusses the possible extension of these results by bringing into the analysis the context created by the 2007 Law on University Freedoms and Responsibilities (Libertés et responsabilités universitaires - LRU). |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:10-018&r=edu |
| By: | Teles, Vladimir Kuhl; Joiozo, Renato |
| Abstract: | Panel cointegration techniques applied to pooled data for 27 economies forthe period 1960-2000 indicate that: i) government spending in education andinnovation indicators are cointegrated; ii) education hierarchy is relevant whenexplaining innovation; and iii) the relation between education and innovation canbe obtained after an accommodation of a level structural break. |
| Date: | 2010–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:245&r=edu |
| By: | Diane M. Harnak Hall (Department of Family Studies and Community Development, Towson University); Juergen Jung (Department of Economics, Towson University); Thomas Rhoads (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | The present study examines whether the college enrollment decision of young individuals (Student full-time, Student part-time, Non-student) depends on the availability of health insurance from their parents. Our findings indicate that the availability of parental health insurance has strong significant effects on the probability that a young individual enrolls as a full-time student. A young individual who has access to health insurance via a parent is up to 17.5 percent more likely to enroll as a full-time student than a student without parental health insurance. |
| Keywords: | Occupational choice, health insurance, educational choice, survey of income and program participation (SIPP). |
| JEL: | C35 I23 I10 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2010-05&r=edu |
| By: | Siri Borlaug (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo); Merle Jacob (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a qualitative study of commercialisation activities in Swedish universities from the perspective of researchers. Our goal is twofold: (i) to elucidate researchers’ understanding of the meaning of concept of commercialisation and (ii) their reasons for engaging in this activity. By providing insight into researchers understanding and rationale for engaging in commercialisation activities, we hope to contribute to deepening understanding of commercialisation and ultimately improving practice. Our findings are that there is a significant amount of activity with respect commercialisation of research taking place within the Swedish universities studied. We found that contrary to the received view which has it that the social sciences and the humanities are also involved in commercialisation activities although researchers in this part of the academy rarely reported themselves as engaging in the commercialisation. We also found that regardless of disciplinary background, firm formation is the aspect of commercialisation to which researchers are most ambivalent. |
| Keywords: | Commercialisation, humanities, social science, firm formation, third stream, outreach |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20100225&r=edu |
| By: | Mark L. Hoekstra; Scott Carrell; James West |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of alcohol consumption on student achievement by exploiting the discontinuity in drinking at age 21 at a college in which the minimum legal drinking age is strictly enforced. We find that drinking causes significant reductions in academic performance, particularly for the highest-performing students. This suggests that the negative consequences of alcohol consumption extend beyond the narrow segment of the population at risk of more severe, low-frequency, outcomes. Thus, our results indicate policies that combat drinking—particularly binge drinking that occurs around age 21—may well have large positive effects that are broader than previously known. |
| JEL: | I18 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pit:wpaper:356&r=edu |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Hussinger, Katrin; Schneider, Cédric |
| Abstract: | Against the background of the so-called “European paradox”, i.e. the conjecture that EU countries lack the capability to transfer science into commercial innovations, knowledge transfer from academia to industry has been a central issue in policy debates recently. Based on a sample of German scientists we investigate which academic inventions are patented by a scientific assignee and which are owned by corporate entities. Our findings suggest that faculty patents assigned to corporations exhibit a higher short-term value in terms of forward citations and a higher potential to block property rights of competitors. Faculty patents assigned to academic inventors or to public research institutions, in contrast, are more complex, more basic and have stronger links to science. These results may suggest that European firms lack the absorptive capacity to identify and exploit academic inventions that are further away from market applications. |
| Keywords: | academic inventors; university-industry technology transfer; intellectual property rights; |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/254004&r=edu |
| By: | Louis N. Christofides and Robert Swidinsky |
| Abstract: | In a country with two official languages, such as Canada, the demand for bilingualism may lead individuals born with one mother tongue to acquire the second official language. Knowledge of an additional official language may be associated with enhanced earnings for two reasons; its actual value in the workplace, or its value as a screening mechanism for ability. Previously available data did not indicate whether bilingual language skills were actually being used at work. However, the 2001 Census reports, for the first time, the primary and the secondary languages that an individual uses at work. Conditioning on both language knowledge and language use allow us to estimate the additional earnings that can be attributed to the use of a second official language. We find very substantial, statistically significant, rewards to second official use in Quebec and much smaller, not statistically significant, effects in the Rest-of-Canada. |
| Keywords: | Wages, language knowledge, language use |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:4-2010&r=edu |
| By: | Monteleone, Simona; Torrisi, Benedetto |
| Abstract: | Contrary to current thinking which views the European brain drain as a transitory phenomenon, this paper shows, using a micro-data analysis, that, as far as Italy is concerned, such migration is permanent. The present study provides new empirical evidence on the propensity to return. The empirical approach and analytical models used outline the profile of the emigrants, their reasons for flight, the drawing factors and the aspects governing return. Our findings are robust and statistics significant in the results and to the choice of instruments and the empirical model we apply. |
| Keywords: | Permanent migration; Propensity of return; OLS; GLM. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:20995&r=edu |