|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2010‒09‒03
seven papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Paco Martorell (RAND); Damon Clark (University of Florida, NBER, IZA) |
| Abstract: | Although economists acknowledge that various indicators of educational attainment (e.g., highest grade completed, credentials earned) might serve as signals of a worker’s productivity, the practical importance of education-based signaling is not clear. In this paper we estimate the signaling value of a high school diploma, the most commonly held credential in the U.S. To do so, we compare the earnings of workers that barely passed and barely failed high school exit exams, standardized tests that, in some states, students must pass to earn a high school diploma. Since these groups should, on average, look the same to firms (the only difference being that "barely passers" have a diploma while "barely failers" do not), this earnings comparison should identify the signaling value of the diploma. Using linked administrative data on earnings and education from two states that use high school exit exams (Florida and Texas), we estimate that a diploma has little effect on earnings. For both states, we can reject that individuals with a diploma earn eight percent more than otherwise-identical individuals without one; combining the state-specific estimates, we can reject signaling values larger than five or six percent. While these confidence intervals include economically important signaling values, they exclude both the raw earnings difference between workers with and without a diploma and the regression-adjusted estimates reported in the previous literature. |
| Keywords: | education, productivity, earnings, income, |
| JEL: | J00 J24 E24 D19 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:indrel:1248&r=edu |
| By: | Lennart Hoogerheide (Econometric Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam); Joern H. Block (CASBEC, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany); Roy Thurik (CASBEC, Erasmus University Rotterdam, EIM Business and Policy Research, Zoetermeer, and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The validity of family background variables instrumenting education in income regressions has been much criticized. In this paper, we use data of the 2004 German Socio-Economic Panel and Bayesian analysis in order to analyze to what degree violations of the strong validity assumption affect the estimation results. We show that, in case of moderate direct effects of the instrument on the dependent variable, the results do not deviate much from the benchmark case of no such effect (perfect validity of the instrument). The size of the bias is in many cases smaller than the standard error of education’s estimated coefficient. Thus, the violation of the strict validity assumption does not necessarily lead to strongly different results when compared to the strict validity case. This provides confidence in the use of family background variables as instruments in income regressions. |
| Keywords: | education; family background variables; earnings; income; instrumental variables; Bayesian analysis |
| JEL: | C11 C13 C15 J24 J30 |
| Date: | 2010–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20100075&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa M. Dickson (UMBC); Matea Pender (Optimal Solutions Group) |
| Abstract: | In 2001, the Texas state legislature passed House Bill 1403 and became the first state to offer in-state tuition rates at public universities for non-citizens who attended high school in the state for three years. As a result of the policy change, the cost of attending college at public universities in Texas fell dramatically for non-citizens. Using administrative data from six universities in Texas, we employ a quasi-experimental design to identify the effects of the policy change on the probability of enrollment. The results demonstrate a large and significant positive effect of lowering tuition on the enrollment of non-citizens at the University of Texas at Pan American and a positive and marginally significant effect on the probability of enrollment at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The results also suggest that the policy had a negative effect on enrollment at Southern Methodist University, a private university whose tuition was unchanged by the policy.</p> |
| Keywords: | financial aid; non-citizens; in-state tuition benefits. |
| JEL: | I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umb:econwp:10125&r=edu |
| By: | Jason Fletcher; David Frisvold |
| Abstract: | Large literatures have shown important links between the quantity of completed education and health outcomes on one hand and the quality of schooling on a host of adult outcomes, such as wages, on the other hand. However, little research has been targeted to producing evidence of the link between school quality and health. The paper presents the first evidence in the literature on the potential short and intermediate term effects of attending a selective college on health behaviors during and following college attendance. Using a variety of empirical methods, this paper shows strong evidence that college quality reduces tobacco and marijuana use but has small and possibly positive effects on binge drinking. The effects on weight behaviors are suggestive of reduced weight, potentially through diet but not exercise change. |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emo:wp2003:1007&r=edu |
| By: | Wagura Ndiritu, Simon; Nyangena, Wilfred |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical study of schooling attendance and collection of environmental resources using cross-sectional data from the Kiambu District of Kenya. Because the decision to collect environmental resources and attend school is jointly determined, we used a bivariate probit method to model the decisions. In addition, we corrected for the possible endogeneity of resource collection work in the school attendance equation by using instrumental variable probit estimation. One of the key findings is that being involved in resource collection reduces the likelihood of a child attending school. The result supports the hypothesis of a negative relationship between children working to collect resources and the likelihood that they will attend school. The results further show that a child’s mother’s involvement in resource collection increases school attendance. In addition, there is no school attendance discrimination against girls, but they are overburdened by resource collection work. The study recommends immediate policy interventions focusing on the provision of public amenities, such as water and fuelwood. |
| Keywords: | environmental goods collection, firewood, water, children, schooling, Kenya |
| JEL: | O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-10-18-efd&r=edu |
| By: | Mauricio Armellini; Parantap Basu |
| Abstract: | An optimal education subsidy formula is derived using an overlapping generations model with parental altruism. The model predicts that public education subsidy is greater in economies with lesser parental altruism because a benevolent government has to compensate for the shortfall in private education spending of less altruistic parents with a finite life. On the other hand, growth is higher in economies with greater parental altruism. Cross-country regressions using the World Values Survey for altruism lend support to our model predictions. The model provides insights about the reasons for higher education subsidy in richer countries. |
| Keywords: | Altrusim, Education Subsidy, Human Capital, Growth. |
| JEL: | D9 |
| Date: | 2010–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2010_21&r=edu |
| By: | Gicheva, Dora (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper links a worker's propensity to change jobs to her schooling choices. A model of the choice of graduate management program type based on job search theory predicts that more mobile workers are more likely to enroll in a full-time Master of Business Administration program. The study also adds to the literature on employer-sponsored general training; the model predicts that employers are more likely to provide tuition assistance to workers who find quits costly. I use a four-wave panel survey of GMAT registrants to show that these predictions hold true empirically. Observable characteristics that are correlated with stronger job attachment are also positively correlated with the probability of attending a part-time program and, conditional on part-time attendance, with the likelihood of receiving employer-provided tuition reimbursement. |
| Keywords: | job mobility; employer-provided general training; MBA education |
| JEL: | J24 J32 J62 M53 |
| Date: | 2010–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2010_004&r=edu |