|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2012‒04‒17
fifteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Arnaud Chevalier (Royal Holloway, University of London, CEE & IZA); Orla Doyle (UCD Geary Institute & School of Economics, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | One of the most consistent findings in studies of electoral behaviour is that individuals with higher education have a greater propensity to vote. The nature of this relationship is much debated, with US studies generally finding evidence of a causal relationship, while European studies generally reporting no causal effect. To assess whether the US is an exception we rely on an international dataset incorporating 38 countries, the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme) from 1985 to 2010. Both instrumental variable and multi-level modelling approaches, reveals that the US is an outlier regarding the relationship between education and voter turnout. Moreover country-specific institutional and economic factors do not explain the heterogeneity in the relationship of interest. Alternatively, we show that disenfranchisement laws in the U.S. mediates the effect of education on voter turnout, such that the education gradient in voting is greater in U.S. States with the harshest disenfranchisement legislature. As such, the observed relationship between education and voting is partly driven by the effect of education on crime. |
| Keywords: | Voter turnout, Education, Disenfranchisement laws |
| JEL: | D72 I20 K42 |
| Date: | 2012–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201210&r=edu |
| By: | Monaco, Luisa |
| Abstract: | This work analyses the performance of Italian universities taking into account technical efficiency. The study provides an assessment of levels of technical efficiency taking into account also environmental factors. We focus on the relationship between levels of technical efficiency and university students dropouts. The efficiency analysis, using Data Envelopment Analysis, w.r.t. the 2009/10 academic year, shows that universities belonging to the private sector have higher efficiency scores than public owned universities. Moreover, a difference arises on a geographical basis where centre-northern universities are generally more efficient than southern ones. |
| Keywords: | Technical efficiency – DEA – Second stage analysis; Technical efficiency – DEA – Second stage analysis JEL Classification: |
| JEL: | C14 I23 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37949&r=edu |
| By: | Michael S. Delgado (Department of Economics, State University of New York at Binghamton); Daniel J. Henderson (Department of Economics, State University of New York at Binghamton); Christopher F. Parmeter (Department of Economics, University of Miami) |
| Abstract: | Empirical economic research typically uses education as a proxy for human capital. However, research aimed at validating the inclusion of education measures in growth regressions has yet to reach a consensus, often finding that the sign and significance of education depends on the sample of observations or the specification of the model. The goal of this paper is to reconcile the conflicting empirical evidence and validate (or invalidate) the inclusion of education in international growth regressions by providing a rigorous and systematic search for significance of education. Using methods which are largely immune to model misspecification, we examine six of the most comprehensive education databases in an attempt to identify a robust empirical link between mean years of schooling and economic growth rates. Contrary to a few recent papers that have identified significant nonlinearities between education and growth, our results show that the inclusion of mean years of schooling in growth regressions is not warranted. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, Education, Irrelevant Variables, Least-Squares Cross-Validation, Nonparametric |
| JEL: | C14 J24 I20 O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mia:wpaper:2011-13&r=edu |
| By: | Gregory A. Gilpin (Montana State University); Luke A. Pennig (Montana State University) |
| Abstract: | Minimum dropout age (MDA) laws have been touted as effective policies to bring dropouts off streets and into classrooms. One question to better understand the costs and benefits of these laws is: to what extent do MDA laws displace crime from streets to schools? This research expands the compulsory schooling literature and extends the sparse research on in-school crime by studying how MDA laws affect crimes committed in U.S. public high schools. The analysis is conducted using a difference-in-difference estimator exploiting variation in state-level MDA laws over time. The results indicate that an increase in the MDA to 18 significantly increases in-school crime by 0.434 incidences per 1,000 students or a 6.2% increase. Analyzing specific crime types, the results find that attacks without a weapon, threats without a weapon, and illegal drug incidences increase by 0.627, 0.588 and 0.437 incidences (or 12.2%, 36.3%, and 43.4% increase), respectively. An increase in the MDA to 17 is found to have no effect on in-school crime. The results are robust across different socioeconomic student bodies and control groups. Lastly, we find that in-school crime prevention resources do not increase with an increase in the MDA, but that utilization rates of suspensions and expulsions change in the direction of fortifying state policymakers efforts to keep juveniles in schools. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inu:caeprp:2012-005&r=edu |
| By: | Parlow, Anton |
| Abstract: | The experience of the Kashmir insurgency is used, to assess the impact of this armed conflict on educational outcomes of girls and boys who were of school age during the 90's. Girls and boys who went to primary and secondary schools in urban areas of Kashmir during 1990 and 1996 are affected the most by the insurgency. I compare their outcomes to women and men who finished their schooling before 1990 and girls and boys living in less affected regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Girls in urban Kashmir have up to 3.5 years less schooling compared to girls less affected by the violence. Boys and girls more affected by violence are less likely to complete their primary schooling, as well as enroll less in primary schooling, compared to boys and girls less-affected by the insurgency. Secondary education is not affected negatively by the insurgency. The results remain qualitatively robust once accounting for migration, different age cohorts, a different identification of Kashmiri and continuous measurements of violence. The first phase of the insurgency has a negative impact on education, especially for girls in primary schools. Literacy and employment programs should be designed to target these women. |
| Keywords: | Armed Conflicts; Education; Households |
| JEL: | D12 F51 O12 |
| Date: | 2011–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38010&r=edu |
| By: | Wadho, Waqar Ahmed |
| Abstract: | Empirical evidence suggests that natural resources breed corruption and reduce educational attainments, dampening economic growth. The theoretical literature has treated these two channels separately, with natural resources affecting growth either through human capital or corruption. In this paper, we argue that education and corruption are jointly determined and depend on the endowment of natural resources. Natural resources affect the incentives to invest in education and rent seeking that in turn affect growth. Whether natural resources stimulate growth or induce a poverty-trap crucially depends on inequality in access to education and political participation, as well as on the cost of political participation. For lower inequality and higher cost of political participation, a high-growth and a poverty-trap equilibrium co-exist even with abundant natural resources. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources; Resource curse; Growth; Human capital; Rent-seeking; Corruption |
| JEL: | O11 O41 O13 J24 D72 |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37831&r=edu |
| By: | Mark Gradstein; Denis Nikitin; Heng-fu Zou |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the vast expansion of schooling over the past several decades. It begins by considering international panel data and makes the observation that poor countries today have higher average education levels than countries at the same level of economic development used to have in the past. It is then argued that this trend can be attributed to the enhanced demand for schooling because of the increase in openness. The analysis of educational expansion in cross-country framework and in China's provinces provides support for the view that educational expansion is related to economy's openness. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cuf:wpaper:540&r=edu |
| By: | Cory Koedel (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Mark Ehlert (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Michael Podgursky (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Eric Parsons (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia) |
| Abstract: | We compare teacher preparation programs in Missouri based on the effectiveness of their graduates in the classroom. The differences in effectiveness between teachers from different preparation programs are very small. In fact, virtually all of the variation in teacher effectiveness comes from within-program differences between teachers. Prior research has overstated differences in teacher performance across preparation programs for several reasons, most notably because some sampling variability in the data has been incorrectly attributed to the preparation programs. |
| Keywords: | Teacher Training, Value Added, Data Clustering, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Preparation Program Effectiveness |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2012–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1204&r=edu |
| By: | Erika Farnstrand Damsgaard; Marie C. Thursby |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how institutional differences affect university entrepreneurship. We focus on ownership of faculty inventions, and compare two institutional regimes; the US and Sweden. In the US, the Bayh Dole Act gives universities the right to own inventions from publicly funded research, whereas in Sweden, the professor privilege gives the university faculty this right. We develop a theoretical model and examine the effects of institutional differences on modes of commercialization; entrepreneurship or licenses to established firms, as well as on probabilities of successful commercialization. We find that the US system is less conducive to entrepreneurship than the Swedish system if established firms have some advantage over faculty startups, and that on average the probability of successful commercialization is somewhat higher in the US. We also use the model to perform four policy experiments as suggested by recent policy debates in both countries. |
| JEL: | O3 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17980&r=edu |
| By: | Capellari, Saveria |
| Abstract: | Technology transfer or knowledge exchange? Which one of the two expressions better identifies the possible modes of interactions between Universities, market and firms? The paper addresses this question in the light of the advancements in the economic literature on the topic. It emerges that channels of interaction go far behind the technology transfer, including traditional output of university - scientific publications and graduates - and a variety of channels ranging from research in cooperation to consultancy. Moreover, it emerges that different channels are often complementary: a fact that has important implications for innovation policies and university long term strategies. The problem of the possible negative feed back of cooperation with private entities on production of open science by academics and on the traditional role of universities is the main concern of a growing stream of literature. Until now the results point, in a large majority, to a complementarity between academic research and market activities. Nonetheless, given the heterogeneity of academic production, and the possible different kinds of production functions, the conclusion can not be easily generalized. |
| Keywords: | University – industry interactions, knowledge transfer, economics of science, economics of innovation, University strategies |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tre:wpaper:3&r=edu |
| By: | Bervoets, Sebastian; Calvó-Armengol, Antoni; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We propose a dynastic model in which individuals are born in an educated or uneducated environment that they inherit from their parents. We study the role of social networks on the correlation in the parent-child educational status independent of any parent-child interaction. We show that the network reduces the intergenerational correlation, promotes social mobility and increases the average education level in the population. We also show that a planner that encourages social mobility also reduces social welfare, hence facing a trade off between these two objectives. When individuals choose the optimal level of social mobility, those born in an uneducated environment always want to leave their environment while the reverse occurs for individuals born in an educated environment. |
| Keywords: | education; intergenerational correlation; Social mobility; strong and weak ties |
| JEL: | I24 J13 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8932&r=edu |
| By: | Finger, Claudia |
| Abstract: | This discussion paper deals with the social selectivity of internationally mobile German students prior to and after the Bologna Process thereby linking two mobility dimensions that a very rarely brought together - social and spatial mobility. Tackling this issue on multiple levels, I ask how student mobility is understood within key Bologna documents (declarations and communiqués) and how this is related to the social selectivity of international mobility among university students in Germany before and after the begin of the Bologna process (1998/99). At the European level, I examine the Bologna model of mobility as it is presented within central documents of the Bologna Process using a theory-guided qualitative content analysis. Sociological Neo-Institutionalism serves as theoretical and analytical framework to investigate institutional facilitators and barriers to the diffusion of the mobility model to the national and individual levels. Afterwards, I contextualize the German higher education system and describe the specific reception and translation of the Bologna model of mobility by German actors in higher education. At the individual level, Bourdieu's theory of educational reproduction is applied to the case of international student mobility to explain the socially stratified mobility behavior of German students with regard to the decision to go abroad, the country of destination and the duration of a study-related stay abroad. Further, I analyze the impact of the Bologna Process using survey data provided by the German National Association of Student Affairs (Deutsches Studentenwerk) of two cohorts: pre-Bologna (1997) and post-Bologna (2006). The main findings suggest that the social background of students is especially important when it comes to the decision to go abroad. However, if students have broken through the first obstacle and decided to go abroad, the influence of the social origin on the country of destination and the duration of mobile periods declines. The correlation between social origin and international mobility has, thus far, not weakened over the course of the Bologna Process. Rather, it has increased over time, indicating an incomplete diffusion in Germany of the relatively vague contents of the Bologna model of mobility from the European to the individual level. This result suggests that the Bologna process goals of enhanced spatial and social mobility have not (yet) been achieved. -- Dieses Discussion Paper behandelt die soziale Selektivität internationaler Mobilität deutscher Studierender im Bologna-Prozess und versucht, dabei zwei Mobilitätsdimensionen zu verbinden, die so bisher nur selten kombiniert wurden: räumliche und soziale Mobilität. Auf verschiedenen Ebenen wird untersucht, wie Studierendenmobilität in zentralen Bologna-Dokumenten (Erklärungen, Communiqués) verstanden wird und inwiefern dieses Verständnis mit der sozialen Selektivität internationaler Studierendenmobilität zusammenhängt. Auf der europäischen Ebene werden hierzu mithilfe einer theoriegeleiteten qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse zentrale Bologna-Dokumente untersucht und beschrieben. Der soziologische Neo-Institutionalismus dient dabei als theoretischer sowie analytischer Rahmen, mit dem eine mögliche Diffusion des Bologna-Mobilitätsmodells von der europäischen zur nationalen und individuellen Ebene erfasst werden soll. Anschließend werden das deutsche Hochschulsystem sowie die Aufnahme und Übertragung des Mobilitätsmodells durch zentrale deutsche Hochschulakteure dargestellt. Auf der letzten, der individuellen, Ebene wird schließlich Bourdieus Theorie der sozialen Reproduktion auf internationale Mobilität übertragen, um so die sozial stratifizierten Mobilitätsentscheidungen deutscher Studierender im Hinblick auf die Entscheidung, überhaupt ins Ausland zu gehen, auf das Zielland sowie auf die Dauer des studienbezogenen Auslandsaufenthalts zu erklären. Auf den vorangegangenen Kapiteln basierend werden außerdem Hypothesen zum Einfluss des Bologna-Prozesses gebildet, die im Anschluss mithilfe einer Pre-Bologna- (1997) und Post-Bologna-Kohorte (2006) der Sozialerhebung des Deutschen Studentenwerkes analysiert werden. Die Ergebnisse verweisen darauf, dass der soziale Hintergrund der Studierenden besonders für die Entscheidung, überhaupt ins Ausland zu gehen, großen Einfluss hat. Wenn die Studierenden diese erste Hürde genommen und sich für einen studienbezogenen Auslandsaufenthalt entschieden haben, verliert ihre soziale Herkunft allerdings an Bedeutung für die Wahl des Ziellands und die Dauer des Aufenthalts. Der Zusammenhang zwischen der sozialen Herkunft deutscher Studierender und ihrer Entscheidung, ins Ausland zu gehen, nahm im Laufe des Bologna-Prozesses nicht ab. Er stieg über die Zeit sogar an, was auf eine unvollständige Diffusion des ohnehin relativ vage formulierten Bologna-Mobilitätsmodells von der europäischen über die nationale zur individuellen Ebene hindeutet. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbslm:spi2011503&r=edu |
| By: | Martin Weale; Silvia Lui |
| Abstract: | We explore the effects of income and, additionally education on the income, self-reported health and survival of people aged sixty-five and over in order to identify benefits resulting from education which are omitted in the conventional analysis with its focus on labour income excluding employer contributions. We find that well educated people enjoy substantially higher incomes and longer healthy lives. However our estimates of the magnitudes of these are sharply reduced if we imposed on our model, estimated from British Household Panel Survey Data, the restrictions that the mortality rates it generates should be consistent with aggregate official data. |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:383&r=edu |
| By: | Michael McAleer (Erasmus University Rotterdam,Tinbergen Institute,Kyoto University,Complutense University of Madrid); Chia-Lin Chang (Department of Applied Economics Department of Finance National Chung Hsing University); Esfandiar Maasoumi (Department of Economics Emory University) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the robustness of rankings of academic journal quality and research impact in general, and in Economics, in particular, based on the widely-used Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science citations database (ISI). The paper analyses 299 leading international journals in Economics using quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs), and highlights the similarities and differences in various RAMs, which are based on alternative transformations of citations. All existing RAMs to date have been static, so two new dynamic RAMs are developed to capture changes in impact factor over time and escalating journal self citations. Alternative RAMs may be calculated annually or updated daily to determine When, Where and How (frequently) published papers are cited (see Chang et al. (2011a, b, c)). The RAMs are grouped in four distinct classes that include impact factor, mean citations and non-citations, journal policy, number of high quality papers, and journal influence and article influence. These classes include the most widely used RAMs, namely the classic 2-year impact factor including journal self citations (2YIF), 2-year impact factor excluding journal self citations (2YIF*), 5-year impact factor including journal self citations (5YIF), Eigenfactor (or Journal Influence), Article Influence, h-index, and PI-BETA (Papers Ignored - By Even The Authors). As all existing RAMs to date have been static, two new dynamic RAMs are developed to capture changes in impact factor over time (5YD2 = 5YIF/2YIF) and Escalating Self Citations. We highlight robust rankings based on the harmonic mean of the ranks of RAMs across the 4 classes. It is shown that emphasizing the 2-year impact factor of a journal, which partly answers the question as to When published papers are cited, to the exclusion of other informative RAMs, which answer Where and How (frequently) published papers are cited, can lead to a distorted evaluation of journal quality, impact and influence relative to the harmonic mean of the ranks. |
| Keywords: | Research assessment measures, Impact factor, IFI, C3PO, PI-BETA, STAR, Eigenfactor, Article Influence, h-index, 5YD2, ESC, harmonic mean of the ranks, economics, journal rankings. |
| JEL: | C18 C81 Y10 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:813&r=edu |
| By: | Benedetti, Gabriella; De Stefano, Domenico; Salera, Antonio |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the contract research (contratto in conto terzi), a frequent observed type of linkage between university and business but largely neglected in economic studies. The goal of the is twofold: i) to identify the characteristics of this specific “channel” of knowledge transfer (exchange); ii) to specify these relations in terms of network links between universities and external partners. In this paper we study the interactions established in terms of contract research, by the Departments of Universities of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, a northern-east Italian region. Applying Social Network Analysis to data drawn from the administrative databases of two regional Universities, significant interactions between the University Departments and the outside world are shown. Particular attention is paid to the relationships activated with firms, grouped by sector and location, in order to stress the importance of geographical proximity in facilitating university-business relationships. The results support the existence of different knowledge exchange patterns between the two Universities, strongly influenced by the relational behavior and the scientific specialization of the most “central” Departments. |
| Keywords: | university-business relations, contract research and consulting, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Social Network Analysis |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tre:wpaper:4&r=edu |