|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2012‒01‒03
25 papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Schwerdt, Guido (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); West, Martin R. (Harvard Graduate School of Education) |
| Abstract: | We use statewide administrative data from Florida to estimate the impact of attending public schools with different grade configurations on student achievement through grade 10. Based on an instrumental variable estimation strategy, we find that students moving from elementary to middle school suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. These achievement drops persist through grade 10. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students' performance trajectories. |
| Keywords: | educational production, public schools, grade configuration, middle schools, high schools |
| JEL: | H52 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6208&r=edu |
| By: | Yona Rubinstein; Sheetal Sekhri |
| Abstract: | Public college graduates in many developing countries outperform graduates of private ones on the college exit exams. This has often been attributed to the cutting edge education provided in public colleges. However, public colleges are highly subsidized, suggesting that the private-public education outcome gap might reflect the pre-determined quality of the students who sort into public colleges rather than the causal impact of the public tertiary education on students' outcomes. We evaluate the impact of public colleges using a newly assembled unique data set that links admission data with the educational outcomes on a set of common exit exams in India. Admission to general education public colleges is strictly based on the results of the Senior Secondary School examinations. We exploit this feature in a Regression Discontinuity Design, and find that the public colleges have no added value in the neighborhood of the admission cut off scores. |
| Keywords: | private education, public education, India |
| JEL: | O15 I21 H41 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0130&r=edu |
| By: | Avdic, Daniel (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Gartell, Marie (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | In 2001, the Swedish system of student aid for college students was substantially re-formed; the grant-share of the total aid was increased, students were allowed to earn more without a reduction in student aid, and the repayment schedule of the loans was significantly tightened. In this paper, we examine the effects of the reform on individual study efficiency, measured as the number of credit points achieved each semester. We use all program students with a first registration at a Swedish college between 1995 and 2001(before the reform) and estimate a linear regression model including individual fixed effects. There is a slightly positive and significant effect of the reform on the ag-gregate level. However, dividing the sample conditionally on the parental educational level reveals that the individual study efficiency has increased only for students from a strong academic background. In other words, the relative study efficiency has decreased for students from a weak academic background. The different results between students from different parental backgrounds appear to be related to the reallocation of time be-tween work and studies. |
| Keywords: | study efficiency; time-to-graduation; university education; student aid |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2011–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2011_015&r=edu |
| By: | Maria Olivares (University of Zuerich, Department of Business Administration, Switzerland); Heike Wetzel (University of Cologne, Institute of Energy Economics, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Since the late 1990s, the European higher education system has had to face deep structural changes. With the public authorities seeking to create an environment of quasi-markets in the higher education sector, the increased competition induced by recent reforms has pushed all publicly financed higher education institutions to use their resources more efficiently. Higher education institutions increasingly now aim at differentiating themselves from their competitors in terms of the range of outputs they produce. Assuming that different market positioning strategies will have different effects on the performance of higher education institutions, this paper explores the existence of economies of scale and scope in the German higher education sector. Using an input-oriented distance function approach, we estimate the economies of scale and scope and the technical efficiency for 154 German higher education institutions from 2001 through 2007. Our results suggest that comprehensive universities should indeed orientate their activities to the concept of a full-university that combines teaching and research activities across a broad range of subjects. In contrast, praxis-oriented small and medium-sized universities of applied sciences should specialise in the teaching and research activities they conduct. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education Production, Economies of Scale and Scope, Technical Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Input Distance Function |
| JEL: | L25 I23 D24 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:223&r=edu |
| By: | J. Ignacio García-Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); J. Antonio Robles-Zurita (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | Grade retention practices are at the forefront of the educational debate. In this paper, we use PISA 2009 data for Spain to measure the effect of grade retention on students’ achievement. One important problem when analyzing this question is that school outcomes and the propensity to repeat a grade are likely to be determined simultaneously. We address this problem by estimating a Switching Regression Model. We find that grade retention has a negative impact on educational outcomes, but we confirm the importance of endogenous selection, which makes observed differences between repeaters and non-repeaters appear 14.6% lower than they actually are. The effect on PISA scores of repeating is much smaller (-10% of non-repeaters’ average) than the counterfactual reduction that non-repeaters would suffer had they been retained as repeaters (-24% of their average). Furthermore, those who repeated a grade during primary education suffered more than those who repeated a grade of secondary school, although the effect of repeating at both times is, as expected, much larger. |
| Keywords: | Grade retention, educational scores, PISA |
| JEL: | D63 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:11.09&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Sandra McNally |
| Abstract: | Educational inequalities are evident even before children start school. Those connected to disadvantage widen out as children progress through the education system and into the labour market. We document various forms of educational inequality. We then review available evidence for England about the impact of school-level policies on achievement and their potential for reducing the socio-economic gap. We discuss evaluation evidence under four main themes: school resources; market incentives; school autonomy; and pedagogical approaches. |
| Keywords: | Educational inequality, evaluation, school policies |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0131&r=edu |
| By: | Dhuey, Elizabeth; Smith, Justin |
| Abstract: | As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as: hiring and firing teachers, monitoring instruction, and maintaining student discipline, among others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in student math and reading achievement between grades four and seven. We estimate that a one standard deviation improvement in principal quality can boost student performance by approximately 0.2 standard deviations in both math and reading. We also show that principal experience does not exert a significant influence on student performance. Our results imply that isolating the most effective principals and allocating them accordingly between schools can have a significant positive effect on reducing achievement gaps. |
| Keywords: | Economics of education, principals, education |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2011-33&r=edu |
| By: | Katrien Cuyvers; Gio De Weerd; Sanne Dupont; Sophie Mols; Chantal Nuytten |
| Abstract: | What is the impact of school infrastructure on the well-being of students in Flemish secondary schools? A study, commissioned by AGIOn (the Flemish agency that subsidises school buildings), investigated the impact of educational spaces on their users and set out to identify empirical evidence supporting the importance of school infrastructure on the well-being of students in secondary schools. |
| Keywords: | infrastructure, well-being, quality indicators, satisfaction levels |
| Date: | 2011–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2011/10-en&r=edu |
| By: | Hallberg, Daniel (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Lindh, Thomas (Institute for Futures Studies and Linnaeus University.); Zamac, Jovan (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore the composition of students, the study length towards diploma, and examine the likelihood of diploma, all with respect to parenthood. Few get children while enrolled in higher education, nevertheless one fourth of female university students in Sweden has children. In Sweden as in many other countries enrollment periods have been prolonged and allocated to later parts of life. Using a large longitudinal register micro data set containing educational achievement we find that students with children seem to be somewhat more efficient in their studies among those who have graduated. Becoming parent speeds up ongoing studies but not studies that are initiated after entry into parenthood. We also find an indication that students with children have a lower dropout rate since their probability to register a diploma is higher, compared to students without children. |
| Keywords: | Students; parenthood; education; study interruption |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2011_016&r=edu |
| By: | Grönqvist, Hans (Stockholm University); Hall, Caroline (Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies effects of education policy on early fertility. We study a major educational reform in Sweden in which vocational tracks in upper secondary school were prolonged from two to three years and the curricula were made more academic. Our identification strategy takes advantage of cross-regional and cross-time variation in the implementation of a pilot scheme preceding the reform in which several municipalities evaluated the new policy. The empirical analysis draws on rich population micro data. We find that women who enrolled in the new program were significantly less likely to give birth early in life and that this effect is driven by women with higher opportunity costs of child rearing. There is however no statistically significant effect on men’s fertility decisions. Our results suggest that the social benefits of changes in education policy may extend beyond those usually claimed. |
| Keywords: | Schooling reform; teenage childbearing; fertility |
| JEL: | I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2011_024&r=edu |
| By: | Julia Reilich |
| Abstract: | Looking at smoking-behavior it can be shown that there are differences concerning the time-preference-rate. Therefore this has an effect on the optimal schooling decision in the way that we assume a lower average human capital level for smokers. According to a higher time-preference-rate we suppose a higher return to education for smokers who go further on education. With our empirical fondings we can confirm the presumptions. We use interactions-terms to regress the average rate of return with the instrumentvariable approach. Therefore we obtain that smokers have a significantly higher average return to education than non-smokers. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, Human Capital, Smoking Effects |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp420&r=edu |
| By: | Juan F. Castro (Departamento de Economía, Universidad del Pacífico); Gustavo Yamada (Departamento de Economía, Universidad del Pacífico); Omar Arias (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the relative importance of short term financial constraints vis a vis skills and other background factors affecting schooling decisions when explaining access to higher education in Peru. We focus on college access disparities between rich and poor households. We use a novel household survey that includes special tests to measure cognitive and non-cognitive skills of the urban population age 14-50. These are complemented with retrospective data on basic education and family socioeconomic conditions in a multinomial model. We find that strong correlation between college enrollment and family income in urban Peru is not only driven by credit constraints, but also by poor college readiness in terms of cognitive skills and by poor family and educational backgrounds affecting preferences for schooling. Family income explains, at most, half of the college access gap between poor and non-poor households. The other half is related to differences in parental education, educational background and cognitive skills. Our results indicate that credit and/or scholarship schemes alone will not suffice to change the regressive nature of higher education enrollment in Peru, and that such programs will face strong equity-efficiency trade-offs. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, credit constraints, Peru. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pai:wpaper:11-14&r=edu |
| By: | Fort, Margherita (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy); Schneeweis, Nicole (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, and Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and fertility, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in Europe as source of exogenous variation in education. Using data from 8 European countries, we assess the causal effect of education on the number of biological kids and the incidence of childlessness. We find that more education causes a substantial decrease in childlessness and an increase in the average number of children per woman. Our findings are robust to a number of falsification checks and we can provide complementary empirical evidence on the mechanisms leading to these surprising results. |
| Keywords: | Instrumental variables, education, fertility |
| JEL: | I2 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:281&r=edu |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London and CReAM); Tommaso Frattini (Università degli Studi di Milano, CReAM, IZA and LdA); Gianandrea Lanzara (University College London and CReAM) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the educational achievements of second generation immigrants in several OECD countries in a comparative perspective. We first show that the educational achievement (measured as test scores in PISA achievement tests) of children of immigrants is quite heterogeneous across countries, and strongly related to achievements of the parent generation. The disadvantage considerably reduces, and even disappears for some countries, once we condition on parental background characteristics. Second, we provide novel analysis of cross-country comparisons of test scores of children from the same country of origin, and compare (conditional) achievement scores in home and host countries. The focus is on Turkish immigrants, whom we observe in several destination countries. We investigate both mathematics and reading test scores, and show that the results vary according to the type of skills tested. For mathematics, in most countries and even if the test scores achievement of the children of Turkish immigrants is lower than that of their native peers, it is still higher than that of children of their cohort in the home country - conditional and unconditional on parental background characteristics. The analysis suggests that higher school quality relative to that in the home country is important to explain immigrant children's educational advantage. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011025&r=edu |
| By: | Grönqvist, Hans (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University); Hall, Caroline (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies effects of education policy on early fertility. We study a major edu-cational reform in Sweden in which vocational tracks in upper secondary school were prolonged from two to three years and the curricula were made more academic. Our identification strategy takes advantage of cross-regional and cross-time variation in the implementation of a pilot scheme preceding the reform in which several municipalities evaluated the new policy. The empirical analysis draws on rich population micro data. We find that women who enrolled in the new program were significantly less likely to give birth early in life and that this effect is driven by women with higher opportunity costs of child rearing. There is however no statistically significant effect on mens ferti-lity decisions. Our results suggest that the social benefits of changes in education policy may extend beyond those usually claimed. |
| Keywords: | Schooling reform; teenage childbearing; fertility |
| JEL: | I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2011_020&r=edu |
| By: | Ohinata, Asako; van Ours, Jan C |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze how the share of immigrant children in the classroom affects the educational attainment of native Dutch children. Our analysis uses data from various sources, which allow us to characterize educational attainment in terms of reading literacy, mathematical skills and science skills. We do not find strong evidence of negative spill-over effects from immigrant children to native Dutch children. Immigrant children themselves experience negative language spill-over effects from a high share of immigrant children in the classroom but no spill-over effects on maths and science skills. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment; immigrant children; peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8718&r=edu |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (Department of Economics, University of Padua, Padov, Italy); Fort, Margherita (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy); Schneeweis, Nicole (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, and Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | We study the contribution of health-related behaviors to the health-education gradient by distinguishing between short-run and long-run mediating effects:while in the former only current or lagged behaviors are taken into account, in the latter we consider the entire history of behaviors. We use an empirical approach that addresses the endogeneity of education and behaviors in the health production function. Focusing on self-reported poor health as our health out-come, we find that education has a protective effect for European males and females aged 50+. We also find that the mediating effects of health behaviors - measured by smoking, drinking, exercising and the body mass index – account in the short run for 17% to 31% and in the long run for 23% to 45% of the entire effect of education on health, depending on gender. |
| Keywords: | Health, education, health behaviors, Europe |
| JEL: | I1 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:280&r=edu |
| By: | Giorgio Brunello; Margherita Fort; Nichole Schneeweis; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We study the contribution of health-related behaviors to the health-education gradient by distinguishing between short-run and long-run mediating effects: while in the former only current or lagged behaviors are taken into account, in the latter we consider the entire history of behaviors. We use an empirical approach that addresses the endogeneity of education and behaviors in the health production function. Focusing on self-reported poor health as our health outcome, we find that education has a protective effect for European males and females aged 50+. We also find that the mediating effects of health behaviors - measured by smoking, drinking, exercising and the body mass index - account in the short run for 17% to 31% and in the long run for 23% to 45% of the entire effect of education on health, depending on gender. |
| Keywords: | Health, education, health behaviors, Europe. |
| JEL: | I1 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2011_17&r=edu |
| By: | Pedro Carneiro (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Michael Lokshin; Cristobal Ridao-Cano; Nithin Umapathi (Institute for Fiscal Studies and World Bank) |
| Abstract: | <p>This paper estimates average and marginal returns to schooling in Indonesia using a non-parametric selection model. Identification of the model is given by exogenous geographic variation in access to upper secondary schools. We find that the return to upper secondary schooling varies widely across individuals: it can be as high as 50 percent per year of schooling for those very likely to enroll in upper secondary schooling, or as low as -10 percent for those very unlikely to do so. Average returns for the student at the margin are well below those for the average student attending upper secondary schooling.</p> |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:36/11&r=edu |
| By: | Braga, Michela (University of Milan); Checchi, Daniele (University of Milan); Meschi, Elena (Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse the effects of changes in the institutional design of the educational system on school attainment. In particular, we test whether alternative reforms have increased the average educational attainment of the population and whether various deciles of the education distribution have been differentially affected. We constructed a dataset of relevant reforms occurred at the national level over the last century, and match individual information to the most likely set-up faced when individual educational choices were undertaken. Thus our identification strategy relies on temporal and geographical variations in the institutional arrangements, controlling for time/country fixed effects, as well as for confounding factors. We also explore who are the individual most likely affected by the reforms. We also group different reforms in order to ascertain the prevailing attitudes of policy makers, showing that reforms can belong to either "inclusive" or "selective" in their nature. Finally we correlate these attitudes to political coalitions prevailing in parliament, finding support to the idea that left wing parties support reforms that are inclusive in nature, while right wing parties prefer selective ones. |
| Keywords: | education, institutions, reform, family background |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6190&r=edu |
| By: | Jason M. Lindo; Isaac D. Swensen; Glen R. Waddell |
| Abstract: | We consider the relationship between collegiate-football success and non-athlete student performance. We find that the team's success significantly reduces male grades relative to female grades. This phenomenon is only present in fall quarters, which coincides with the football season. Using survey data, we find that males are more likely than females to increase alcohol consumption, decrease studying, and increase partying in response to the success of the team. Yet, females also report that their behavior is affected by athletic success, suggesting that their performance is likely impaired but that this effect is masked by the practice of grade curving. |
| JEL: | H0 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17677&r=edu |
| By: | Theofanides, Faidon; Makri, Vasiliki; Mavroeidis, Vasileios; Iliopoulos, Dimitrios |
| Abstract: | The aim of the present study is to construct a coherent profile of student smokers in Greece, based on their behavioral and demographic characteristics. In this context, we collected data by administrating an anonymous self-completed questionnaire, which was answered by students of University and Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Patras. The final sample consists of 1,190 student smokers. For the purposes of the present study, principal component analysis was utilized to explore and detect the demographic and behavioral profiles of Greek student smokers. The factor solution identified 5 demographic factors and 14 behavioral factors. All factors were labeled, interpreted and discussed in the light of existing knowledge in order to understand better the consumer behavior of student smokers. |
| Keywords: | Student Smoking; factor analysis; consumer behavior |
| JEL: | M31 I18 C30 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35511&r=edu |
| By: | Gasparini, Leonardo; Galiani, Sebastian; Cruces, Guillermo; Acosta, Pablo |
| Abstract: | It has been argued that a factor behind the decline in income inequality in Latin America in the 2000s was the educational upgrading of its labor force. Between 1990 and 2010, the proportion of the labor force in the region with at least secondary education increased from 40 to 60 percent. Concurrently, returns to secondary education completion fell throughout the past two decades, while the 2000s saw a reversal in the increase in the returns to tertiary education experienced in the 1990s. This paper studies the evolution of wage differentials and the trends in the supply of workers by educational level for 16 Latin American countries between 1990 and 2000. The analysis estimates the relative contribution of supply and demand factors behind recent trends in skill premia for tertiary and secondary educated workers. Supply-side factors seem to have limited explanatory power relative to demand-side factors, and are only relevant to explain part of the fall in wage premia for high-school graduates. Although there is significant heterogeneity in individual country experiences, on average the trend reversal in labor demand in the 2000s can be partially attributed to the recent boom in commodity prices that could favor the unskilled (non-tertiary educated) workforce, although employment patterns by sector suggest that other within-sector forces are also at play, such as technological diffusion or skill mismatches that may reduce the labor productivity of highly-educated workers. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Inequality,Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2011–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5921&r=edu |
| By: | Marko Kuuskorpi; Nuria Cabellos González |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the conclusions of a study, carried out in collaboration with schools in six European countries, which focused on tomorrow’s physical learning environments. It resulted in the creation of a learning space model that is flexible, modifiable and sustainable while supporting the teaching and learning processes. |
| Keywords: | future, learning environment, qualitative factors, user-oriented, design features |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2011/11-en&r=edu |
| By: | Lindahl, Mikael (Department of Economics); Palme, Mårten (Stockholm University); Sandgren Massih, Sofia (Department of Economics); Sjögren, Anna (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | Most previous studies on intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations - between the parent and the child generation. In this paper we investigate if there is an independent effect of the grandparent and the great grandparent generations in this process. We use a dataset where we are able to link individual measures of life time earnings for three generation and data on educational attainments of four generations. We first do conventional regressions and transition matrices for life time earnings measures and educational attainments adding variables for the grandparent and great grandparent generations, respectively. We find that grandparents and even great grandparents significantly influence earnings and education. We then estimate the so called Becker-Tomes model using the educational attainment of the great grandparent generation as an instrumental variable. We fail to find support for the models predictions. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational income mobility; earnings distribution; income inequality |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2011_018&r=edu |