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on Education |
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Issue of 2013‒01‒19
twelve papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Robert J. Barro (Harvard University) |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cuf:wpaper:571&r=edu |
| By: | Cullinan, John; Flannery, Darragh; Walsh, Sharon; McCoy, Selina |
| Abstract: | While a number of international studies have attempted to assess the influence of geographic accessibility on the decision to participate in higher education, this issue has not been addressed in detail in an Irish context. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap and to present a higher education choice model that estimates the impact of travel distance on the decision of school leavers to proceed to higher education in Ireland, while also controlling for a range of individual level characteristics and school related variables. To do so we use data from the 2007 wave of the School Leavers' Survey. We find that, on average, travel distance is not an important factor in the higher education participation decision, when factors such as student ability are accounted for. However, further analysis shows that travel distance has a significantly negative impact on participation for those from lower social classes and that this impact grows stronger as distance increases. We also find that the distance effects are most pronounced for lower ability students from these social backgrounds. This has important implications for higher education policy in Ireland, especially in relation to equity of access and the design of the maintenance grant system. |
| Keywords: | data/education/equity/higher education/Ireland/Policy/Social class |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp444&r=edu |
| By: | Brindusa Anghel (FEDEA); Antonio Cabrales (Univers. Carlos III de Madrid); Jesus M. Carro (Univers. Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a program that introduced bilingual education in English and Spanish in primary education in some public schools of the Madrid region in 2004. Under this program students not only study English as a foreign language but also some subjects (at least Science, History and Geography) are taught in English. Spanish and Mathematics are taught only in Spanish. The first class receiving full treatment finished Primary education in June 2010 and they took the standardized test for all 6th grade students in Madrid on the skills considered \indispensable" at that age. This test is our measure of the outcome of primary education to evaluate the program. We have to face a double self-selection problem. One is caused by schools who decide to apply for the program, and a second one caused by students when choosing school. We take several routes to control for these selection problems. The main route to control for self-selected schools is to take advantage of the test being conducted in the same schools before and after the program was implemented in 6th grade. To control for students self-selection we combine the use of several observable characteristics (like parents' education and occupation) with the fact that most students were already enrolled at the different schools before the program was announced. Our results indicate that there is a clear negative effect on learning the subject taught in English for children whose parents have less than upper secondary education, and no clear effect for anyone on mathematical and reading skills, which were taught in Spanish. |
| Keywords: | Bilingual education, program evaluation, teaching in English |
| JEL: | H40 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2012/6/doc2012-30&r=edu |
| By: | Kamila Cygan-Rehm; Miriam Maeder |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of education on fertility under inflexible labor market conditions. We exploit exogenous variation from a German compulsory schooling reform to deal with the endogeneity of education. By using data from two complementary data sets, we examine different fertility outcomes over the life cycle. In contrast to evidence for other developed countries, we find that increased education causally reduces completed fertility. This negative effect operates through a postponement of first births away from teenage years, and no catch-up later in life. We attribute these findings to the particularly high opportunity costs of child-rearing in Germany. |
| Keywords: | fertility, education, childlessness, timing of births, educational reform |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp528&r=edu |
| By: | Dickson, Matt (University of Bath); Gregg, Paul (University of Bath); Robinson, Harriet (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | We study the intergenerational effects of parents' education on their children's educational outcomes. The endogeneity of parental education is addressed by exploiting the exogenous shift in education levels induced by the 1972 Raising of the School Leaving Age (RoSLA) from age 15 to 16 in England and Wales. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children – a rich cohort dataset of children born in the early 1990s in Avon, England – allows us to examine the timing of impacts throughout the child's life, from pre-school assessments through the school years to the final exams at the end of the compulsory schooling period. We also determine whether there are differential effects for literacy and numeracy. We find that increasing parental education has a positive causal effect on children's outcomes that is evident at age 4 and continues to be visible up to and including the high stakes exams taken at age 16. Children of parents affected by the reform gain results approximately 0.1 standard deviations higher than those whose parents were not impacted. The effect is focused on the lower educated parents where we would expect there to be more of an impact: children of these parents gaining results approximately 0.2 standard deviations higher. The effects appear to be broadly equal across numeracy and literacy test scores. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, schooling, child development |
| JEL: | I20 J62 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7123&r=edu |
| By: | Ronny Freier; Johanna Storck |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of attending a high-quality secondary school on subsequent educational outcomes. The analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study in which we observe children when they make their secondary school choice (between ages 10-12) and later when they self-report on their intentions with regard to their further educational path (between ages 16-17). To identify the treatment effect, we use a regression-control framework as well as an instrumental variable approach (based on local supply of schools). In a second step, we carefully examine the influence of unobservable characteristics, using the new technique proposed by Altonji, Elder, and Taber (2005b). Our findings suggest that unobservable characteristics are indeed crucial to the validity of the research design. While we find large positive and significant effects of attending a high-quality school, we cannot rule out that the estimates are not in fact driven by selection on unobservables. |
| Keywords: | secondary school choice, school quality, instrumental variable estimation, selection on unobservables |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp530&r=edu |
| By: | Mathias Huebener |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of family risk attitudes in intergenerational mobility in incomes and education. Based on 1984-2009 data of sons and fathers from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey, there is evidence suggesting that sons with risk taking fathers have a significantly higher educational mobility and persistently higher income mobility than peers with risk averse fathers. They obtain significantly higher levels of education, which would be justified by modest evidence on higher returns to education. The relationship seems more complex for sons’ own risk attitudes. Risk taking sons experience higher educational mobility, but there is no difference in income mobility to risk averse sons. There are no considerable differences in the levels of education, but modest evidence suggesting lower returns to education for risk taking sons. The findings improve the understanding of the intergenerational transmission mechanism of economic status and show that family risk attitudes impact economic mobility. The study suggests an important intergenerational link between fathers’ risk attitudes and sons’ levels of education, which has not received much attention in the literature. |
| Keywords: | Risk preferences, intergenerational mobility, educational mobility, social mobility, returns to education, intergenerational income elasticity, educational choice under uncertainty, SOEP |
| JEL: | D1 D8 I24 J13 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp529&r=edu |
| By: | James M. Poterba; Steven F. Venti; David A. Wise |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between education and the evolution of wealth after retirement. Asset growth following retirement depends in part on health capital and financial capital accumulated prior to retirement, which in turn are strongly related to educational attainment. These “initial conditions” for retirement can have a lingering effect on subsequent asset evolution. Our aim is to disentangle the effects of education on post-retirement asset evolution that operate through health and financial capital accumulated prior to retirement from the effects of education that impinge directly on asset evolution after retirement. We consider the indirect effect of education through financial resources—in particular Social Security benefits and defined benefit pension benefits—and through health capital that was accumulated before retirement. We also consider the direct effect of education on asset growth following retirement, emphasizing the correlation between education and the returns households earn on their post-retirement investments. Households with different levels of education invest, on average, in different assets, and they may consequently earn different rates of return. Finally, we consider the additional effects of education that are not captured through these pathways. Our empirical findings suggest a substantial association between education and the evolution of assets. For example, for two person households the growth of assets between 1998 and 2008 is on average much greater for college graduates than for those with less than a high school degree. This difference ranges from about $82,000 in the lowest asset quintile to over $600,000 in the highest. |
| JEL: | E21 I14 I24 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18695&r=edu |
| By: | Iñaki Iriondo (Complutense University of Madrid and Queen Mary, University of London); Teodosio Pérez-Amaral (Complutense University of Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of educational mismatch on wages, using a rich panel dataset of workers in the major euro area countries from 2006 to 2009, drawn from the <i>European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions</i> (Eurostat). We use a consistent estimator to address the two econometric problems faced by the empirical literature: the omitted variable bias and measurement error. In principle, our fixed effect estimates confirm that overeducated workers suffer a wage penalty of similar magnitude to the return on each year of schooling attained. Interestingly, when we split the sample by age, we find that the wages of people aged under 35 basically depend on the level of education attained, while those of workers aged over 35 depend on job educational requirements. These results are interpreted taking into account the impact of the depreciation of skills on human capital. The main policy implication of the paper is that overeducation constitutes a waste of resources. Therefore public authorities should seek to reduce the negative impact of overeducation on the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Overeducation, Educational mismatch, Wages, Ability bias, Measurement error, Panel data |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp700&r=edu |
| By: | Brindusa Anghel; Antonio Cabrales; Jorge Sainz; Ismael Sanz |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of standardized external tests on students’ academic outcomes. We exploit the fact that only one of the 17 Spanish regions started doing and publishing the results of standardized tests in 2005 to apply a difference-in-difference methodology, using outcomes of the PISA study from 2000 to 2009. We later confirm our results using synthetic control methods. Using data from a single country allows us to minimize biases arising from difference in legal frameworks, social or cultural environments. Our econometric analysis lends plausibility to the hypothesis that this type of test significantly improves student outcomes. A key novelty is that our exams do not have academic consequences for the students, so that effects have to come directly from the impact on teachers and administrators. |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2013-01&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Monge (Penn State University); Lance Lochner (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | Student loan debt in the US stands at roughly $1 trillion, exceeding credit card debt. In recent years, private lending for undergraduates has skyrocketed to account for roughly 20% of all student loan dollars disbursed. At the same time, youth from low-income families are significantly less likely to attend college relative to their higher-income counterparts. This paper examines the nature of credit for education in the presence of uncertainty and problems of limited commitment by borrowers, moral hazard, and adverse selection. Efficient lending contracts, combined with insurance against adverse labor market outcomes, are considered in a variety of economic environments. We examine the importance of different incentive problems in US data to aid in the design of improved credit and insurance for human capital investment. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed012:299&r=edu |
| By: | Rego, Conceição; Caleiro, António; Vieira, Carlos; Vieira, Isabel; Baltazar, Maria da Saudade |
| Abstract: | The existence of higher education institutions (HEIs), dispersed in different locations throughout the country, is probably one of the most striking features associated with the expansion of this level of education in Portugal in the last 40 years. This phenomenon is particularly relevant since the level of qualification of the Portuguese active population remains small. The presence of HEIs causes very diverse effects of economic and social nature, which should be addressed as a whole (over the whole period of their occurrence). In confronting objectives of economic rationality and improvement of the qualification of Portuguese population, particularly of young people, it is important to discuss the possibility of a network of HEIs, at the same time, efficient and promoting territorial cohesion. In 2006, the OECD has pointed to the decline in demand associated with, among other factors, a sharp demographic contraction, in conjunction with the existence of an excess in installed supply, particularly in certain areas, in this level of education. In this scenario, it is now added a context of strong public budget constraints. A discussion of the characteristics of a network of HEIs, in terms of their efficiency and / or their contribution to territorial cohesion must take into account the supply available from the network, as well as the locations of the network. It is clear that the design of a network of HEIs is always political. Nevertheless, this decision making should be based on assumptions of a technical nature. A discussion of these assumptions is the goal we want to achieve with this paper. |
| Keywords: | Territorial Cohesion; Efficiency; Higher Education Policy; Network of Higher Education Institutions |
| JEL: | I23 R12 H52 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43638&r=edu |