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on Education |
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Issue of 2010‒12‒23
thirteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | C. Kirabo Jackson |
| Abstract: | Using exogenous secondary school assignments to remove self-selection bias to schools and peers, I obtain credible estimates of (1) the effect of attending schools with higher-achieving peers, and (2) the direct effect of peer quality improvements within schools, on the same population. While students at schools with higher-achieving peers have better academic achievement, within-school increases in peer achievement improve outcomes only at high-achievement schools. Peer quality can account for about one tenth of school value-added on average, but over one-third among the top quartile of schools. The results reveal large and important differences by gender. |
| JEL: | H0 I2 J0 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16598&r=edu |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Edin, Per-Anders (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Fredriksson, Peter (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Grönqvist, Hans (SOFI) |
| Abstract: | We examine to what extent immigrant school performance is affected by the characteristics of the neighborhoods that they grow up in. We address this issue using a refugee place¬ment policy which provides exogenous variation in the initial place of residence in Sweden. The main result is that school performance is increasing in the number of highly educated adults sharing the subject’s ethnicity. A standard deviation increase in the fraction of high-educated in the assigned neighborhood raises compulsory school GPA by 0.9 percentile ranks. Particularly for disadvantaged groups, there are also long-run effects on educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; Ethnic enclaves; Immigration; School performance |
| JEL: | I20 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2010_018&r=edu |
| By: | Machin Stephen; Marie Olivier; Vujić Sunčica (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the crime reducing potential of education, presenting causalstatistical estimates based upon a law that changed the compulsory school leaving agein England and Wales. We frame the analysis in a regression-discontinuity setting anduncover significant decreases in property crime from reductions in the proportion ofpeople with no educational qualifications and increases in the age of leaving school thatresulted from the change in the law. The findings show that improving education canyield significant social benefits and can be a key policy tool in the drive to reduce crime. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2010013&r=edu |
| By: | Falch , Torberg (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Sandgren Massih, Sofia (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes information on cognitive ability at age ten and earnings information from age 20 to 65 to estimate the return to ability over the life-cycle. Cognitive ability measured at an early age is not influenced by the individual’s choices of schooling. We find that most of the unconditional return to early cognitive ability goes through educational choice. The conditional return is increasing for low levels of experience and non-increasing for experience above about 15-25 years. The return is similar for men and women, and highest for individuals with academic education. Only a small part of the return can be explained by higher probability to have a supervisory position. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive ability; life-cycle; earnings; IQ; employer learning * |
| JEL: | I29 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2010_002&r=edu |
| By: | Wennberg, Karl (The Ratio Institute and Stockholm School of Economics); Wiklund, Johan (Whitman School of Management and Jönköping International Business School, Sweden); Wright, Mike (Centre for Management Buy-out Research, Nottingham University Business School and University of Ghent) |
| Abstract: | While much prior research has focused upon how the Technology Transfer Offices and other contextual characteristics shape the level of university spin-offs (USO), there is little research on entrepreneurial potential among individual academics, and to the best of our knowledge, no comparative studies with other types of spin-offs exist to date. In this paper we suggest that knowledge transfer from academic research may flow indirectly to entrepreneurship by individuals with a university education background who become involved in new venture creation by means of corporate spin-offs (CSO) after gaining industrial experience, rather than leaving university employment to found a new venture as an academic spinoff. In fact, the commercial knowledge gained by industry experience is potentially more valuable for entrepreneurial performance compared to the academic knowledge gained by additional research experience at a university. This leads us to posit that not only will the average performance of CSOs be higher than comparable USOs, but the gains from founder’s prior experiences will also be higher among CSOs. We investigate these propositions in a comparative study tracking the complete population of USOs and CSOs among the Swedish knowledge-intensive sectors between 1994 and 2002. |
| Keywords: | Spill-Overs |
| JEL: | L53 M13 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2010–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0160&r=edu |
| By: | Marcel Gerard (FuCAm, UCLouvain) |
| Abstract: | The current system for financing cross-border students, based on the host country, is neither sustainable nor efficient: it produces too little cross-border education. On that background, and motivated as well by a recent decision of the European Court of Justice, we explore two alternative solutions. the first one substitutes to the financing by the host country, a financing by the country of origin, through vouchers that the student may use at home or abroad provided it is in a recognized institution. The second one, potentially an efficient design, combines that substitution with a reimbursement of education costs through interjurisdictional transfers or the change of vouchers into contingent loans |
| Keywords: | Bologna process, Higher Education, Contingent loan, Bhagwati tax |
| JEL: | I22 I23 H77 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxpap:0026&r=edu |
| By: | Tyrefors Hinnerich, Björn (Department of Economics, Stockholm University); Höglin, Erik (Swedish Fiscal Policy Council); Johannesson, Magnus (Department of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Girls typically have higher grades than boys in school and recent research suggests that part of this gender difference may be due to discrimination of boys. We rigorously test this in a field experiment where a random sample of the same tests in the Swedish language is subject to blind and non-blind grading. The non-blind test score is on average 15 % lower for boys than for girls. Blind grading lowers the average grades with 13 %, indicating that personal ties and/or grade inflation are important in non-blind grading. But we find no evidence of discrimination against boys. The point estimate of the discrimination effect is close to zero with a 95 % confidence interval of ±4.5 % of the average non-blind grade. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination; Field experiments; Grading; Education; Gender |
| JEL: | C93 I20 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2010_014&r=edu |
| By: | Reyn van Ewijk (VU University Amsterdam, and Netspar) |
| Abstract: | Previous research shows that ethnic minority students perform poorer in school when they are taught by ethnic majority teachers. Why this is the case was unclear. This paper focuses on one important potential explanation: I examine whether ethnic majority teachers grade minority and majority students differently for the same work. Using an experiment, I rule out the existence of such a direct grading bias. I do find indirect evidence for alternative explanations: teachers report lower expectations and unfavorable attitudes that both likely affect their behavior towards minority students, potentially inducing them to perform below their ability level. Effects of having majority teachers on minority students' grades hence seem more likely to be indirect than direct. |
| Keywords: | Ethnicity; Discrimination; Grading; Experiment |
| JEL: | I2 J15 |
| Date: | 2010–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20100127&r=edu |
| By: | Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Ahmed, Shamsuddin; Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim; Taha, Zahari |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present our more than two years research experiences on virtual R&D teams in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and draws conclusions, giving special attention to the structure of virtual teams required to support education-industry collaboration. We report the relevant results of an online survey study. The online questionnaire was emailed by using a simple random sampling method to 947 manufacturing SMEs. The findings of this study show that SMEs in Malaysia and Iran are willing to use virtual teams for collaboration and the platform for industry-education collaboration is ready and distance between team members or differences in time zones, are not barriers to industry-education collaborations. |
| Keywords: | Collaboration; virtual teams; SMEs; Education |
| JEL: | M12 O32 A2 L17 L1 O1 M11 M1 L15 O3 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27414&r=edu |
| By: | Blanca ZULUAGA |
| Abstract: | All individuals belong to a social network with certain quality level. This paper analyzes the role of the quality of the social network in the educational decision making process. We propose a measure for quality of network based on the schooling level and the labor position of the members of the net. Our analysis compares individuals who are similar in at least two characteristics: socioeconomic level and intellectual ability. Although they belong to the same type of community (poor), they differ in the composition of their social network. The higher the quality of the network, the higher the probability of investing in education. Hence, socially disadvantaged and equally intelligent individuals may end up acquiring different schooling levels. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces10.29&r=edu |
| By: | Mallika Chawla |
| Abstract: | How are prices determined in an open, unregulated market? The answer is simple and straight forward: the interaction between forces of demand and supply establish prices. Are customers exploited in such a market? The answer would be an obvious ‘no’. Then why are we still living in an age where it takes around fifteen certificates, all acquired from varied bureaucrats, to operate a school? Moreover, in the process, one has to comply with their demand for bribes. It’s very evident that unlike other sectors, the education sector from time immemorial has been left at the mercy of our bureaucracy. [CCS Working Paper no. 181] |
| Keywords: | market, demand and supply, establish prices, bureaucrats, certificates, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3309&r=edu |
| By: | Dapi N., Léonie; Rocklov, Joacim; Nguefack-Tsague, Georges; Tetanye, Ekoe; Kjellstrom, Tord |
| Abstract: | Background: Health impacts related to climate change are potentially an increasing problem in Cameroon, especially during hot seasons when there are no means for protective and adaptive actions. Objective: To describe environmental conditions in schools and to evaluate the impact of heat on schoolchildren’s health during school days in the Cameroon cities of Yaounde´ and Douala. Methods: Schoolchildren (N285) aged 1216 years from public secondary schools completed a questionnaire about their background, general symptoms, and hot feelings in a cross-sectional study. In Yaounde´, 50 schoolchildren were individually interviewed during school days about hourly symptoms (fatigue, headache, and feeling very hot) and performance. Lascar dataloggers were used to measure indoor classroom temperatures and humidity. Results: There was a significant correlation between daily indoor temperature and the percentages of schoolchildren who felt very hot, had fatigue, and headaches in Yaounde´. A high proportion of schoolchildren felt very hot (48%), had fatigue (76%), and headaches (38%) in Yaounde´. Prevalences (%) were higher among girls than boys for headaches (58 vs 39), feeling ‘very hot overall’ (37 vs 21), and ‘very hot in head’ (21 vs 18). Up to 62% were absentminded and 45% had slow writing speed. High indoor temperatures of 32.58C in Yaounde´ and 36.68C in Douala were observed in school. Conclusions: Headache, fatigue, and feeling very hot associated with high indoor air temperature were observed among schoolchildren in the present study. Longitudinal data in schools are needed to confirm these results. School environmental conditions should be improved in order to enhance learning. |
| Keywords: | heat; fatigue; headache; very hot; indoor temperature; Cameroon; schoolchildren |
| JEL: | I18 I10 |
| Date: | 2010–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27335&r=edu |
| By: | Catherine HAECK; Frank VERBOVEN |
| Abstract: | Based on a rich personnel data set of a large university we .nd strong evidence for the existence of an internal labor market. First, the lowest academic rank is a strong port of entry and the highest rank is a port of exit. Second, wages do not follow external wage developments, since they follow administrative rules that have not been modi.ed for a long time. We subsequently look at internal promotion dynamics to assess the relevance of alternative internal labor market theories. A unique feature of our data is that we have good measures of performance. Consistent with incentive theories of internal labor markets, research and teaching performance turn out to be crucial determinants of promotion dynamics. Learning theories of internal labor markets appear to have support when we do not account for observed performance, but the evidence becomes much weaker once we control for performance. Finally, we .nd that administrative rigidities play an important role in explaining promotion dynamics. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces10.18&r=edu |