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on Education |
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Issue of 2012‒11‒24
nine papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Nicole Schneeweis; Vegard Skirbekk (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria); Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, fluency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory schooling, Instrumental Variables, Education, Cognitive functioning, Memory, Aging, Dementia |
| JEL: | I21 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2012_11&r=edu |
| By: | Nicole Schneeweis; Vegard Skirbekk (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria); Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, uency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory schooling, Instrumental Variables, Education, Cognitive functioning, Memory, Aging, Dementia |
| JEL: | I21 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2012_11&r=edu |
| By: | Jan Kleibrink; Maren M. Michaelsen |
| Abstract: | We analyse wage differentials between Higher Education graduates in the UK, differentiating between polytechnic and university graduates. Polytechnic graduates earned on average lower wages than university graduates prior to the UK Further and Higher Education Act of 1992. The reform changed the system of Higher Education by giving all polytechnics university status. We show that wage differentials can be explained by a glass ceiling which prevented polytechnic graduates from reaching managerial and professional occupations. After the reform, they overtook graduates of traditional universities in terms of average wages. |
| Keywords: | Higher education; wage differentials; occupational sorting; glass ceiling; United Kingdom |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0377&r=edu |
| By: | Ogundari, Kolawole |
| Abstract: | Human capital development, especially higher educational attainment attaches high premium to human skills as an important factor of production. In view of this, the objective of the study is defined in two folds; first, to revisit returns to education in Nigeria and second, to investigate effects of education on the economic welfare of households in Nigeria. The study uses Double Hurdle (DH) model and Quantile Regression (QR), respectively for the objective one and two. Thus, our findings show that returns to schooling (i.e., labour market earnings) at primary, secondary and postgraduate levels are very low relative to schooling at the tertiary education in Nigeria. Also, we find the effects of primary, secondary and postgraduate education on household economic welfare to be substantially lower compared with that of tertiary education in the country. The implication of these findings is that investment up to completing tertiary education is vital for higher welfare through increasing labour market earnings among households in Nigeria. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, Production Economics, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar12:136051&r=edu |
| By: | Mavromaras, Kostas G. (NILS, Flinders University); Mahuteau, Stéphane (NILS, Flinders University); Sloane, Peter J. (Swansea University); Wei, Zhang (NILS, Flinders University) |
| Abstract: | We use a random effects dynamic probit model to estimate the effect of overskilling dynamics on wages. We find that overskilling mismatch is common and more likely among those who have been overskilled in the past. It is also highly persistent, in a manner that is inversely related to educational level. Yet, the wages of university graduates are reduced more by past overskilling, than for any other education level. A possible reason for this wage effect is that graduates tend to be in better-paid jobs and therefore there is more at stake for them if they get it wrong. |
| Keywords: | mismatch, overskilling, wages, panel dynamic estimation |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6985&r=edu |
| By: | Drange , Nina (Statistics Norway); Havnes, Tarjei (University of Oslo); Sandsør, Astrid M. J. (University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Theory and evidence point towards particularly positive effects of high-quality child care for disadvantaged children. At the same time, disadvantaged families often sort out of existing programs. To counter differences in learning outcomes between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, European governments are pushing for universal child care. However, evidence on the effects of universal programs is scarce. We provide evidence on the long-run effect on schooling of mandating kindergarten at age 5–6. Our identifying variation comes from a reform that lowered school starting-age from 7 to 6 in Norway in 1997. Our precise DD estimates reveal hardly any effect, both overall, across subsamples, and over the grading distribution. A battery of specification checks support our empirical strategy. |
| Keywords: | kindergarten, early childhood intervention, distributional effects, difference-in-differences, child care, child development |
| JEL: | J13 H40 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6986&r=edu |
| By: | Francesco LISSONI (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113); Michele PEZZONI (KITeS, University of Bocconi); Bianca POTI (CERIS-CNR); Sandra ROMAGNOSI (Parco Scientifico Università \"Tor Vergata\") |
| Abstract: | Using data on patent applications at European Patent Office, we search for trends in academic patenting in Italy, 1996-2007. During this time, Italian university underwent a radical reform process, which granted them autonomy, and were confronted with a change in IP legislation, which introduced the professor privilege. We find that, although the absolute number of academic patents has increased, (i) their weight on total patenting by domestic inventors has not, while (ii) the share of academic patents owned by universities has increased. By means of a set of probit regressions, we show that the probability to observe an academic patent depends largely on the technology considered and characteristics of the local innovation system. After controlling for these determinants, the conditional probability to observe an academic patent has indeed declined over time. Also by means of probit regressions, we find that the rise of university ownership is explained, significantly albeit not exclusively, by the increasing share of public vs. private R&D and by the increased autonomy of Italian universities, which has allowed them to introduce explicit IP regulations concerning their staff\'s inventions. The introduction of the professor privilege has had no impact at all. |
| Keywords: | academic patenting, university autonomy, professor privilege |
| JEL: | I23 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2012-26&r=edu |
| By: | Ohe, Yasuo |
| Abstract: | Although the educational function in agriculture is attracting growing attention as a kind of multifunctionality in agriculture, these services are not yet provided as a viable farm product. This paper explores how the educational externality could be internalized to establish a viable market for these services. We focused on educational dairy farms in Japan and used a questionnaire survey to quantitatively evaluate the attitudes of operators toward establishing viable services. First, a conceptual framework was presented to express operators’ orientation toward an economically viable service by incorporating a stepwise internalization process of positive externalities with the help of a social learning network. Then, empirically, statistical tests were conducted and factors that determined this orientation, a viable service determinant function, were explored by the ordered logit model. The result showed that, first, the higher the number of visitors to the farm, the more operators were oriented toward a viable service while no connection with ordinary dairy production was shown. Second, social learning was effective for initiating the internalization process. Third, marketing skills became more important for upgrading the internalization level. Consequently, it is important to create opportunities for those farmers who want to provide consumers with educational services to learn a new role for agriculture and to establish a new income source in a stepwise fashion. |
| Keywords: | educational tourism, educational function in agriculture, multifunctionality, rural tourism, farm diversification, product innovation, externality, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa131:135771&r=edu |
| By: | Nina Boberg-Fazlic (University of Copenhagen, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | It is often conjectured that higher life expectancy leads to longer schooling. The reasoning behind this notion is that a longer lifespan increases the recovery period of human capital investment and thus, makes it more profitable to invest in education. This notion goes back to Ben-Porath (1967) and is therefore often termed the Ben-Porath mechanism. However, the original Ben-Porath mechanism concerns the length of economic life and not the length of life per se. This distinction is important in the presence of retirement and especially so as earlier retirement ages are observed in many western countries. This paper presents an overlapping generations model including both an educational and a retirement decision, thereby being able to test the Ben-Porath mechanism using the correct denition of length of working life. It is found that an increase in life expectancy does not necessarily increase the expected length of economic life as also early retirement can occur. Schooling still increases, however not due to the increase in the recovery horizon but due to an increase in the probability of surviving the recovery period. |
| Keywords: | longevity, human capital, retirement, overlapping generations |
| JEL: | D91 I20 J10 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1215&r=edu |