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on Education |
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Issue of 2013‒02‒03
27 papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Battistin, Erich (University of Padova); Schizzerotto, Antonio (IRVAPP) |
| Abstract: | We use a reform that was recently implemented in Italy to investigate the effects on academic achievement of more stringent requirements for the admission to the next grade at upper secondary school. We study how such effects are mediated by changes in family and school inputs, and in the student commitment to learn all school subjects including those usually considered as marginal components of the curriculum. Geographical discontinuities in the implementation of the reform allow us to set out the comparison of similar students undergoing alternative progression rules, and to shed light on whether, and to what extent, the reform has worked as a tool to improve short-term achievement gains. We document differential effects across curricular tracks, picturing at best – depending on the data employed – a marginal improvement for students in academic schools. We instead find sharp negative effects of the reform in technical and vocational schools, where the students enrolled come from less privileged backgrounds. These findings are accompanied by a substantial increase in the number of activities out of the normal school hours in technical and vocational schools, but not in academic schools. Also, we find that the reform has left unchanged the various family inputs that we consider, and that parents did not provide extra economic support to students facing an increased threat of grade retention. However, in contrast with the documented effects on achievement, we find that schools reacted to the additional administrative burdens and costs imposed by the reform by admitting more students to the next grade. We thus conclude that the reform has had a negative effect on motivation and engagement of the most struggling students, thus exacerbating existing inequalities. |
| Keywords: | policy evaluation, quasi experimental designs, remedial education |
| JEL: | C31 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7086&r=edu |
| By: | Yong Suk Lee (Williams College) |
| Abstract: | I examine how student allocation rules impact achievement of students of different ability and socio- economic background. When the assignment rule shifts from exam to district based, a model illustrates that income relative to ability becomes a stronger predictor of student achievement and higher income households sort towards the better school districts. Using evidence from South Korea, I find that the impact of fatherÕs education, relative to oneÕs middle school grade, on college entrance exam score increases twofold under district assignment. The change in housing land price is 13 percentage points higher in the better school district when the regime shifts. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, Educational tracking, School districts, Residential sorting |
| JEL: | I20 I28 J62 R21 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2012-08&r=edu |
| By: | Kampelmann, Stephan (Free University of Brussels); Rycx, Francois (Free University of Brussels) |
| Abstract: | We provide first evidence regarding the direct impact of educational mismatch on firm productivity. To do so, we rely on representative linked employer-employee panel data for Belgium covering the period 1999-2006. Controlling for simultaneity issues, time-invariant unobserved workplace characteristics, cohort effects and dynamics in the adjustment process of productivity, we find that: i) a higher level of required education exerts a significantly positive influence on firm productivity, ii) additional years of over-education (both among young and older workers) are beneficial for firm productivity, and iii) additional years of under-education (among young workers) are detrimental for firm productivity. |
| Keywords: | linked panel data, productivity, educational mismatch, GMM |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7093&r=edu |
| By: | Manos Antoninis |
| Abstract: | With more than ten million children out of school, Nigeria is the country furthest away from universal primary education. Low access to school is concentrated in the north of the country where a tradition of religious education has been seen as both a constraint and an opportunity. This paper uses recent survey data to explain household decisions related to secular and religious education. It demonstrates a shift in attitudes with unobserved household characteristics that favor religious education attendance being negatively correlated with secular school attendance after controlling for a rich set of background variables. The paper also provides quantitative evidence to support the argument that the poor quality of secular education acts as a disincentive to secular school attendance. This finding cast doubts at policy attempts to increase secular school enrolment through the integration of religious and secular school curricula. |
| Keywords: | Universal primary education, Islamic education, Nigeria, bivariate probit |
| Date: | 2012–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:wps/2012-17&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>On average across 15 OECD countries, a 30-year-old male tertiary graduate can expect to live another 51 years, while a 30 year-old man who has not completed upper secondary education can expect to live an additional 43 years. A similar comparison between women in the two educational groups reveals less of a difference than that among men.</li> <li>In 27 OECD countries, on average, 80% of young tertiary graduates say they vote, while only 54% of young adults who have not completed upper secondary education do so. The difference in voting rates by level of education is much smaller among older age groups.</li> <li>Education can bring significant benefits to society, not only through higher employment opportunities and income but also via enhanced skills, improved social status and access to networks. By fully recognising the power of education, policy makers could better address diverse societal challenges.</LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:10-en&r=edu |
| By: | Weinhardt, Felix (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Children who grow up in deprived neighborhoods underperform at school and later in life but whether there is a causal link remains contested. This study estimates the effect of very deprived neighborhoods, characterized by a high density of social housing, on the educational attainment of fourteen years old students in England. To identify the causal impact, this study exploits the timing of moving into these neighborhoods. I argue that the timing can be taken as exogenous because of long waiting lists for social housing in high-demand areas. Using this approach, I find no evidence for effects on student performance. |
| Keywords: | neighborhood effects, housing policy |
| JEL: | J18 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7139&r=edu |
| By: | Massimo Anelli; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | The long run earnings and career potential of individuals are strongly affected by their education. Among college educated individuals, the choice of college major is a very important determinant of labor market outcomes. In most countries men and women exhibit significant differences in this choice which is responsible for a large portion of the gender gap in earnings. In this paper we analyze whether the gender composition of peers (classmates) in high school affects the choice of major and hence long run earning potential. We use a newly collected and unique dataset covering 30,000 Italian students graduated from high school between 1985 and 2005. We exploit the fact that students are assigned to classes whose gender composition, within a school over time, varies exogenously. Moreover we are able to control for family, cohort, teacher and school effects in assessing the effect of peer-gender ratio on outcomes. We find that the gender ratio of peers in high school significantly affected the choice of major. A larger share of same-sex peers increases the probability of choosing majors associated to high earning jobs (Economics/Business, Medicine, Engineering). For women we also find that a large percentage of female high school classmates increases their long run performance in college and their earnings. |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18744&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>In OECD countries, the average class size at the lower secondary level is 23 students, but there are significant differences between countries, ranging from over 32 in Japan and Korea to 19 or below in Estonia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.</LI> <LI>Class size, together with students’ instruction time, teachers’ teaching time and teachers’ salaries, is one of the key variables that policy makers can use to control spending on education. Between 2000 and 2009, many countries invested additional resources to decrease class size; however, student performance has improved in only a few of them.</LI> <LI>Reducing class size is not, on its own, a sufficient policy lever to improve the performance of education systems, and is a less efficient measure than increasing the quality of teaching.</LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:9-en&r=edu |
| By: | Brian Jacob; Brian McCall; Kevin M. Stange |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether demand-side market pressure explains colleges’ decisions to provide consumption amenities to their students. We estimate a discrete choice model of college demand using micro data from the high school classes of 1992 and 2004, matched to extensive information on all four-year colleges in the U.S. We find that most students do appear to value college consumption amenities, including spending on student activities, sports, and dormitories. While this taste for amenities is broad-based, the taste for academic quality is confined to high-achieving students. The heterogeneity in student preferences implies that colleges face very different incentives depending on their current student body and the students who the institution hopes to attract. We estimate that the elasticities implied by our demand model can account for 16 percent of the total variation across colleges in the ratio of amenity to academic spending, and including them on top of key observable characteristics (sector, state, size, selectivity) increases the explained variation by twenty percent. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I23 J01 J18 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18745&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Taylor (Department of Basic Education); Nicholas Spaull (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | Have recent expansions of access to primary schooling in African countries led to deterioration in the quality of education delivered? This paper helps clarify this question by presenting an appropriate conceptual framework: instead of considering country average test scores and enrolment rates in isolation, we argue that the important outcome of interest is the proportion of children in an age-specific population that reach particular levels of literacy and numeracy. In order to measure this outcome we combine school achievement data with enrolment data for a selection of 14 Southern and Eastern African education systems. Using this preferred measure, we examine the performance of these education systems between 2000 and 2007, many of which considerably increased access to primary schooling in this period. The commonly held perception of an access-quality trade-off in Africa has far less empirical support than was previously believed to be the case. |
| Keywords: | Enrolment, School quality, Human capital, Southern and East Africa, SACMEQ, Education Statistics |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers177&r=edu |
| By: | Jake Anders (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) has the potential to be an important new resource for addressing research questions regarding access to Higher Education. This paper outlines the data available in the LSYPE and assesses its quality, particularly relative to other datasets that have been used to address similar questions in the past. The paper finds many positive features of the data. These include data collection from parents (including much information on family background characteristics) and good family income measurement compared with many previous studies. The LSYPE also measures a greater depth of HE-related outcomes than some previous datasets, including application, entry, subject studied and institution attended. However, comparison with official statistics suggests that this may be undermined by a large overestimation of the proportion of young people who enter Higher Education (as much as ten percentage points) than we would see in a truly nationally representative sample. There is also some evidence of underreporting of family income. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that analysis of the LSYPE has the potential to shed new light on university access in England. |
| Keywords: | : Higher Education, Socioeconomic Gradient, Intergenerational Mobility, Longitudinal Research, Survey Data. |
| JEL: | I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1213&r=edu |
| By: | Akresh, Richard; de Walque, Damien; Kazianga, Harounan |
| Abstract: | The authors conduct a randomized experiment in rural Burkina Faso to estimate the impact of alternative cash transfer delivery mechanisms on education. The two-year pilot program randomly distributed cash transfers that were either conditional or unconditional. Families under the conditional schemes were required to have their children ages 7-15 enrolled in school and attending classes regularly. There were no such requirements under the unconditional programs. The results indicate that unconditional and conditional cash transfer programs have a similar impact increasing the enrollment of children who are traditionally favored by parents for school participation, including boys, older children, and higher ability children. However, the conditional transfers are significantly more effective than the unconditional transfers in improving the enrollment of"marginal children"who are initially less likely to go to school, such as girls, younger children, and lower ability children. Thus, conditionality plays a critical role in benefiting children who are less likely to receive investments from their parents. |
| Keywords: | Youth and Governance,Primary Education,Street Children,Educational Sciences,Education For All |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6340&r=edu |
| By: | O’Mahony, Mary; Pastor, José Manuel; Peng, Fei; Serrano, Lorenzo; Hernández, Laura |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the problem of measuring the output of the education sector. It uses a combination of the index number approach with the education return methods. This allows us to take into account not only the number of students but also the labour outcomes corresponding to each type of education. As a result we obtain comprehensive measures of output based on enrollment, completion rates, expected wages, employability and labour market participation issues. We apply this approach to estimate the rates of growth of the output of the post-compulsory education sectors of 27 European countries over the period 2005‐2009. The results show the importance of complementing raw educational data with labour outcome information when measuring output in this sector. |
| Keywords: | education sector; Output; Europe |
| JEL: | O47 I25 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44016&r=edu |
| By: | Dieterle, Steven G. (University of Edinburgh); Guarino, Cassandra (Indiana University); Reckase, Mark D. (Michigan State University); Wooldridge, Jeffrey M. (Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | The federal government's Race to the Top competition has promoted the adoption of test-based performance measures as a component of teacher evaluations throughout many states, but the validity of these measures has been controversial among researchers and widely contested by teachers' unions. A key concern is the extent to which nonrandom sorting of students to teachers may bias the results and lead to a misclassification of teachers as high or low performing. In light of this, it is important to assess the extent to which evidence of sorting can be found in the large administrative data sets used for VAM estimation. Using a large longitudinal data set from an anonymous state, we find evidence that a nontrivial amount of sorting exists – particularly sorting based on prior test scores – and that the extent of sorting varies considerably across schools, a fact obscured by the types of aggregate sorting indices developed in prior research. We also find that VAM estimation is sensitive to the presence of nonrandom sorting. There is less agreement across estimation approaches regarding a particular teacher's rank in the distribution of estimated effectiveness when schools engage in sorting. |
| Keywords: | value added, teacher quality, teacher labor markets, education |
| JEL: | I0 I20 I21 I28 J01 J08 J24 J44 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7112&r=edu |
| By: | Tien Manh Vu (Ph.D Candidate, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | The paper estimates both the gender gap in wage and net schooling enrollment from Vietnam household data. The results imply a reflection of gender wage gap in the labor market in hazard of school withdrawals. Generally, males have higher incentive to terminate their schooling to join the labor force. Males would have 43.8 percent higher in participating the labor market and gain 18.4 percent of wage per hour higher than females. Also, we observe 16?44.4 percent lower in probability for males to enroll in school, especially, the school withdrawal rate accelerates at higher speed after the age of primary school. Meanwhile, females would have an incentive to complete junior, senior high school and 3?year college thanks to higher speed gain in wage. Besides, family having a combination of a household head working for a state?owned firm and his spouse working as self?employed would best facilitate their co?residing children and grandchildren for more years of schooling. Finally, the current education subsidy and tuition fee reduction policy do minimal to reduce the hazard of school dropouts among beneficiaries. |
| Keywords: | School dropouts, Returns to schooling, Wage, Gender gap, Vietnam |
| JEL: | I24 I25 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:13e001&r=edu |
| By: | Delgado, Michael S. (Purdue University); Henderson, Daniel J. (University of Alabama); Parmeter, Christopher F. (University of Miami) |
| Abstract: | Empirical growth regressions typically include mean years of schooling as a proxy for human capital. However, empirical research often finds that the sign and significance of schooling depends on the sample of observations or the specification of the model. We use a nonparametric local-linear regression estimator and a nonparametric variable relevance test to conduct a rigorous and systematic search for significance of mean years of schooling by examining five of the most comprehensive schooling databases. Contrary to a few recent papers that have identified significant nonlinearities between education and growth, our results suggest that mean years of schooling is not a statistically relevant variable in growth regressions. However, we do find evidence (within a cross-sectional framework), that educational achievement, measured by mean test scores, may provide a more reliable measure of human capital than mean years of schooling. |
| Keywords: | mean years of schooling, human capital, irrelevant variables, significance testing, nonparametric |
| JEL: | C14 J24 I20 O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7089&r=edu |
| By: | Claire Naiditch (Laboratoire économie quantitative intégration politiques publiques économétrie - Université de Lille 1); Radu Vranceanu (Economics Department - ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a two-country model of migration in a transferable skill sector, where workers education is provided free of charge by governments. We study firstly the non-cooperative equilibrium where the poor country decides on the education level and the rich country decides on the quota of skilled migrants. Additional migration raises earnings prospects in the source country and attracts more talented people to that profession, what we refer to as the sector-speci c brain gain e¤ect. This game presents a single stable equilibrium with positive migration. Compared to the cooperative equilibrium, in the non-cooperative equilibrium the poor country systematically under-invests in education. Whether migration is too strong or too weak depends on the size of the brain gain e¤ect. Furthermore, the size of the welfare gain to be reaped by moving from non-cooperative to the cooperative organization of migration also depends on the strength of the sector-speci c brain gain. |
| Keywords: | High-skill migration ; Brain-gain ; Public education ; Human capital ; Government |
| Date: | 2013–01–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00779716&r=edu |
| By: | Jere H. Behrman (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Susan W. Parker (Center for Research and Teaching in Economics(CIDE) Mexico); Petra E. Todd (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Kenneth I. Wolpin (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of three different performance incentives schemes using data from a social experiment that randomized 88 Mexican high schools with over 40,000 students into three treatment groups and a control group. Treatment one provides individual incentives for performance on curriculum-based mathematics tests to students only, treatment two to teachers only and treatment three gives both individual and group incentives to students, teachers and school administrators. Program impact estimates reveal the largest average effects for treatment three, smaller impacts for treatment one and no impact for treatment two. |
| Keywords: | student, teacher, and group incentives, randomized social experiment, Mexican high schools |
| JEL: | O1 |
| Date: | 2012–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:13-004&r=edu |
| By: | Van Klaveren, C.; De Wolf, I. |
| Keywords: | causal inference, systematic reviews, education |
| JEL: | I20 C01 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tir:wpaper:46&r=edu |
| By: | Huub Mudde (Senior Project Consultant and Lecturer of Maastricht School of Management); Dikky Indrawan (Lecturer of Department Management Faculty of Economics and Management of Bogor Agricultural University/Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB)); Idqan Fahmi (Secretary of the Academic Director of the Management Business School Graduate Program of IPB.) |
| Abstract: | Over a period of three years, Bogor Agricultural University/Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) and Maastricht School of Management (MsM) have been executing the multi-annual project Round Table Indonesia, www.roundtableindonesia.net. This project aimed at contributing to the improvement of a sustainable business and investment climate in the Indonesian agricultural sector by strengthening the knowledge capacity, formulating concrete investment opportunities, and facilitating partnerships. As a result, IPB and MsM have developed courses on sustainable business development and facilitated business projects in poultry, mangosteen, palm oil, shrimps, and tourism. All projects are based on value chain analyses and roundtable meetings with key stakeholders of government, private sector, academia, and civil society. The article outlines lessons learned in the area of partnership management and the role of academic institutes. It is argued that linking education and applied research with business development will lead to a stronger and more sustainable Indonesian agricultural sector, being of crucial importance for the Indonesian development as a whole. And in which process higher education plays a crucial role. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2013/01&r=edu |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (IZA, IAE-CSIC and UPF); Schmidl, Ricarda (IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | With young people among the big losers of the recent financial crisis, vocational education and training (VET) is often seen as the silver bullet to the problem of youth joblessness. This paper provides a better understanding of VET around the world, dealing with three types of vocational systems: school-based education, a dual system in which school-based education is combined with firm-based training, and informal training. We first explore the motivation for these different types of training, before summarizing the institutional evidence, highlighting the key elements of each training system and discussing its main implementation strengths and challenges. We subsequently review the evidence on the effectiveness of VET versus general education and between the three VET systems. There are clear indications that VET is a valued alternative beyond the core of general education, while the dual system tends to be more effective than school-based VET. Informal training is effective, however relatively little is known of its relative strengths compared with other forms of vocational education. |
| Keywords: | vocational education and training, dual VET, informal training |
| JEL: | J24 I25 O17 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7110&r=edu |
| By: | Wang, Le (University of New Hampshire) |
| Abstract: | The literature estimating returns to education has often utilized spousal education and parental education as instrument variables (IV). However, due to usual survey designs, both IVs are available only for the individuals whose spouse or parents are present in the same household. The IV estimates based on these selective sub-samples may be inconsistent, even when the IVs satisfy the standard assumptions. In this paper, we examine the empirical relevance of this issue in the Chinese context. To our surprise, unlike the selection issue in other situations, this kind of selection does not appear particularly worrisome, suggesting that the previous IV results are robust. In particular, using China Household Income Project 1995 and 2002, we find that correcting for this potential issue has only a modest impact on the magnitude of the standard IV estimates using parental education as an IV, but a negligible impact on those using spousal education. Using the specification tests proposed, we find that these impacts are generally not statistically significant. These results are further confirmed by our analysis using U.S. data. We believe that these results are of use to both policymakers and practitioners. |
| Keywords: | instrument variable estimation, sample selection, returns to education, Chinese labor market |
| JEL: | J24 I21 C14 C31 P52 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7103&r=edu |
| By: | Bill Lucas; Guy Claxton; Ellen Spencer |
| Abstract: | Creativity is widely accepted as being an important outcome of schooling. Yet there are many different views about what it is, how best it can be cultivated in young people and whether or how it should be assessed. And in many national curricula creativity is only implicitly acknowledged and seldom precisely defined. This paper offers a five dimensional definition of creativity which has been trialled by teachers in two field trials in schools in England. The paper suggests a theoretical underpinning for defining and assessing creativity along with a number of practical suggestions as to how creativity can be developed and tracked in schools. Two clear benefits of assessing progress in the development of creativity are identified: 1) teachers are able to be more precise and confident in developing young people’s creativity, and 2) learners are better able to understand what it is to be creative (and to use this understanding to record evidence of their progress). The result would seem to be a greater likelihood that learners can display the full range of their creative dispositions in a wide variety of contexts.<BR>La créativité est largement acceptée comme étant un résultat scolaire important. Pourtant il y a beaucoup d’opinions différentes sur ce qu’elle est, comment on peut la cultiver chez les jeunes gens, et si et comment on devrait l’évaluer. De plus, dans beaucoup de programmes scolaires, la créativité n’est reconnue que de manière implicite et rarement définie de manière précise. Ce document offre une définition de la créativité reposant sur cinq dimensions, qui a été testée par des enseignants durant deux expériences de terrain dans des écoles en Angleterre. Le document propose un soubassement théorique pour définir et évaluer la créativité ainsi que nombre de suggestions pratiques sur le développement et le suivi de la créativité à l’école. Deux bénéfices clairs d’évaluer le progrès dans le développement de la créativité sont identifiés : 1) les enseignants peuvent être plus précis et confiants lorsqu’ils développent la créativité des jeunes gens, et 2) les apprenants sont davantage en mesure de comprendre ce que « être créatif » signifie (et à utiliser cette compréhension pour documenter et relater leur progrès). Le résultat semble être une plus grande probabilité que les apprenants témoignent de toute l’étendue de leurs dispositions à la créativité dans un large éventail de contextes. |
| Date: | 2013–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:86-en&r=edu |
| By: | Bae, Kee-Hong; Kim, Seung-Bo; Kim, Woochan |
| Abstract: | We study an agency problem in private universities — the conflict between controlling families and other stakeholders. We investigate whether universities over which controlling families have disproportionately significant power relative to the amount of funds they contribute, that is, universities with high expropriation risk, are associated with lower outside donations and poor quality. Using a sample of Korean private universities, we find that measures of family control in excess of monetary contributions are negatively related to the level of outside donation and measures of university quality. We also find that universities at which the controlling family exerts disproportionate control are more likely to face disputes between the controlling family and other stakeholders. Finally, we show that our results are not driven by reverse causality. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Governance; Non-profits; Expropriation; Donations; Private University |
| JEL: | L30 G34 I22 |
| Date: | 2012–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44029&r=edu |
| By: | Lindsey Macmillan (Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Previous work has shown that there is a significant intergenerational correlation of worklessness for the UK which varies across local labour markets (Macmillan, 2011). Using a decomposition from the intergenerational mobility literature (Blanden et. al, 2007), this research is the first to consider the drivers of this transmission. I consider the role of four sets of characteristics of the son in childhood; his non-cognitive skills, cognition, behavioural outcomes and educational attainment, to assess which characteristics are important predictors of later workless spells and whether those characteristics are associated with growing up with a workless father. The wide range of characteristics can only account for 12% of the intergenerational transmission, with the vast majority remaining unaccounted for. While cognition and education dominate the intergenerational transmission of incomes, non-cognitive skills and behavioural outcomes play a more important role in the intergenerational transmission of worklessness. Many of the characteristics considered become increasingly important predictors of future worklessness as the unemployment rate in the local labour market increases. This descriptive analysis suggests that there are benefits to improving the soft skills of the most disadvantaged children, alongside their attainment, to ensure a successful connection with the labour market in adulthood. |
| Keywords: | : Intergenerational mobility, unemployment, children, skills. |
| JEL: | J62 J64 J13 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–01–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1301&r=edu |
| By: | Becchetti, Leonardo (University of Rome Tor Vergata); Massari, Riccardo (Sapienza University of Rome); Naticchioni, Paolo (University of Cassino) |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies and quantifies the contribution of a set of covariates in affecting levels and over time changes of happiness inequality. Using a decomposition methodology based on RIF regression, we analyse the increase in happiness inequality observed in Germany between 1992 and 2007, using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) database, deriving the following findings. First, trends in happiness inequality are mainly driven by composition effects, while coefficient effects are negligible. Second, among composition effects, education has an inequality-reducing impact, while the increase in unemployment contributes to the rise in happiness inequality. Third, the increase in average income has a reducing impact on happiness inequality, while the raise in income inequality cannot be considered as a driver of happiness inequality trends. A clear cut policy implication is that policies enhancing education and economic performance contribute to reduce happiness inequality and the potential social tensions arising from it. |
| Keywords: | happiness inequality, income inequality, education, decomposition methods |
| JEL: | I31 I28 J17 J21 J28 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7153&r=edu |
| By: | Frederico Cavazzini (ISEG – Technical University of Lisbon); Pedro Picaluga Nevado (ISEG – Technical University of Lisbon) |
| Abstract: | This article aims to discuss the different conceptions currently surrounding the fight against corruption. The main question to be answered is whether or not there is a formula for combating corruption? Given its complexity, the article breaks down some of the most common understandings of the corruption phenomenon into different and relevant variables and undertakes joint and interconnected analysis. Drawing upon this conceptual approach, the article presents an adjustment to Klitgaard’s formula for corruption in which the level of education combined with access to information play a determinant role in providing the necessary capacity to claim political and social accountability. The article concludes by emphasizing that while there is no optimal solution to curb corruption, the combination of certain variables may induce or reduce the likelihood of corrupt conduct. |
| Keywords: | corruption; strategies; education; information |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:obegef:016&r=edu |