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on Education |
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Issue of 2013‒09‒26
fifteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Dennis Epple; Richard Romano; Sinan Sarpça; Holger Sieg |
| Abstract: | We develop a new general equilibrium model of the market for higher education that captures the coexistence of public and private universities, the large degree of quality differentiation among them, and the tuition and admission policies that emerge from their competition for students. We use the model to examine the consequences of federal and state aid policies. We show that private colleges game the federal financial aid system, strategically increasing tuition to increase student aid, and using the proceeds to spend more on educational resources and to compete for high-ability students. Increases in federal aid have modest effects in increasing college attendance, with nearly half of the increased federal aid offset by reduced institutional aid and increased university educational expenditures. A reduction in state subsidies coupled with increases in tuition at public schools substantially reduces attendance at those universities, with mainly poor students exiting, and with only moderate switching into private colleges. |
| JEL: | D40 D58 I21 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19298&r=edu |
| By: | Xinxin Chen; Yaojiang Shi; Hongmei Yi; Linxiu Zhang; Di Mo; James Chu; Prashant Loyalka; Scott Rozelle |
| Abstract: | A significant gap remains between rural and urban students in the rate of admission to senior high school. One reason for this gap may be high tuition and other school fees at the senior high school level. By reducing student expectations of attending high school, high tuition and school fees can reduce student academic performance in junior high school. In this paper we evaluate the impact of a senior high tuition relief program on the test scores of poor, rural seventh grade students in China. We surveyed three counties in Shaanxi Province and exploit the fact that, while the counties are adjacent to one another and share similar characteristics, only one of the three implemented a tuition relief program. Using several alternative estimation strategies, including difference-in-differences (DD), difference-indifference-in-differences (DDD), propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-indifferences matching (DDM), we find that the tuition program has a statistically significant and positive impact on the math scores of seventh grade students. More importantly, this program is shown to have the largest (and only significant) impact on the poorest students. |
| Keywords: | Tuition relief program, education program evaluation, rural China |
| JEL: | I22 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:piercr:2013-03&r=edu |
| By: | Karthik Muralidharan; Ketki Sheth |
| Abstract: | Recruiting female teachers is frequently suggested as a policy option for improving girls' education outcomes in developing countries, but there is surprisingly little evidence on the effectiveness of such a policy. We study gender gaps in learning outcomes, and the effectiveness of female teachers in reducing these gaps using a large, representative, annual panel data set on learning outcomes in rural public schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. We report six main results in this paper. (1) We find a small but significant negative trend in girls' test scores in both math (0.02σ/year) and language (0.01σ/year) as they progress through the public primary school system; (2) Using five years of panel data, school-grade and student gender by grade fixed effects, we find that both male and female teachers are more effective at teaching students of their own gender; (3) However, female teachers are more effective overall, resulting in girls' test scores improving by an additional 0.036σ in years when they are taught by a female teacher, with no adverse effects on boys when they are taught by female teachers; (4) The overall gains from having a female teacher are mainly attributable to their greater effectiveness at improving math test scores than male teachers (especially for girls); (5) We find no effect of having a same-gender teacher on student attendance, suggesting that the mechanism for the impact on learning outcomes is not on the extensive margin of increased school participation, but on the intensive margin of more effective classroom interactions; (6) Finally, the increasing probability of having a male teacher in higher grades can account for around 10-20% of the negative trend we find in girls' test scores as they move to higher grades. |
| JEL: | I21 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19341&r=edu |
| By: | Hall, Caroline (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether more general education reduces the risk of future un-employment by examining individuals’ labor market experiences during the “Great Re¬cession” (2008–2010). To estimate the causal impact of differences in educational con¬tent, I exploit a reform in Sweden in the 1990s which prolonged vocational programs in upper secondary school and gave them a considerably larger general content. The re¬search design takes advantage of variation across regions and over time in the imple¬mentation of a large-scale pilot which preceded the reform. I find no evidence that having attended a longer and more general program reduced the risk of experiencing unemployment during the 2008–2010 recession. Among students with low GPAs from compulsory school, attending a pilot program seems instead to have led to an increased risk of unemployment. This pattern is strongest among male students and the effect is likely to be explained by the increased dropout rate which resulted from the change of the programs. |
| Keywords: | vocational education; upper secondary school curriculum; unemployment |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2013–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2013_010&r=edu |
| By: | Tatiana Klyachko (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with issues related to the education system. The author focuses on the latest legislation adopted by the government and reorganization of its institutions. |
| Keywords: | Russian economy, educational institutions |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I23 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gai:ppaper:162&r=edu |
| By: | Kalb, Guyonne; van Ours, Jan C |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the importance of parents reading to their young children. Using Australian data we find that parental reading to children at age 4 to 5 has positive and significant effects on reading skills and cognitive skills of these children at least up to age 10 or 11. Our findings are robust to a wide range of sensitivity analyses. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive skills; Reading to children |
| JEL: | C26 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9485&r=edu |
| By: | Raj Chetty; John N. Friedman; Jonah E. Rockoff |
| Abstract: | Are teachers' impacts on students' test scores ("value-added") a good measure of their quality? One reason this question has sparked debate is disagreement about whether value-added (VA) measures provide unbiased estimates of teachers' causal impacts on student achievement. We test for bias in VA using previously unobserved parent characteristics and a quasi-experimental design based on changes in teaching staff. Using school district and tax records for more than one million children, we find that VA models which control for a student's prior test scores exhibit little bias in forecasting teachers' impacts on student achievement. Although teachers have substantial impacts, differences in teacher quality account for a small fraction of achievement gaps across demographic groups, as more than 85% of the variation in teacher VA is within rather than between schools. |
| JEL: | H0 H52 H75 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19423&r=edu |
| By: | Nicole M. Fortin; Philip Oreopoulos; Shelley Phipps |
| Abstract: | Using three decades of data from the “Monitoring the Future” cross-sectional surveys, this paper shows that, from the 1980s to the 2000s, the mode of girls’ high school GPA distribution has shifted from “B” to “A”, essentially “leaving boys behind” as the mode of boys’ GPA distribution stayed at “B”. In a reweighted Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of achievement at each GPA level, we find that gender differences in post-secondary expectations, controlling for school ability, and as early as 8th grade are the most important factor accounting for this trend. Increases in the growing proportion of girls who aim for a post-graduate degree are sufficient to account for the increase over time in the proportion of girls earning “A’s”. The larger relative share of boys obtaining “C” and C+” can be accounted for by a higher frequency of school misbehavior and a higher proportion of boys aiming for a two-year college degree. |
| JEL: | I20 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19331&r=edu |
| By: | Rulof P Burger (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Francis J Teal (Centre for Studies of African Economics, University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Many recent descriptive studies find convex schooling-earnings profiles in developing countries. In these countries forward-looking students should attach option values to completing lower levels of schooling. Another option value may arise due to the uncertain economic environment in which the sequence of enrolment decisions is made. Most theoretical models that are used to motivate and interpret OLS or IV estimates of the returns to schooling assume away convexity in the schooling-earnings profile, uncertainty and the inherently dynamic nature of schooling investment decisions. This paper develops a decomposition technique that calculates the relative importance of different benefits of completing additional schooling years, including the option values associated with convex schooling returns and uncertainty. These components are then estimated on a sample of workers who has revealed a highly convex schooling-earnings profile, and who face considerable uncertainty regarding future wage offers: young black South African men. We find that rationalising the observed school enrolment decisions requires large option values of early schooling levels (mainly associated with convexity rather than uncertainty), as well as a schooling cost function that increases steeply between schooling phases. |
| Keywords: | Earnings Regressions, Returns to Schooling, Dynamic programming |
| JEL: | C31 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers191&r=edu |
| By: | Fernandes, Ana; Ferreira, Priscila; Winters, L. Alan |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of firm entry deregulation. We exploit a recent reform that simplified business entry in Portugal as a quasi-natural experiment. We use cross-municipality-year variation in the implementation of the reform for identification. Using matched employer-employee data for the universe of workers and firms, we find that the reform is associated with increased firm entry and competition within industries and regions. The returns to a university degree increased by 5% while the returns to skills increased by 3%. |
| Keywords: | Entry Deregulation; Product Market Competition; Returns to Education; Wage Structure |
| JEL: | J3 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9550&r=edu |
| By: | Krishnan, Pramila; Krutikova, Sofya |
| Abstract: | Recent labour market research has shown that a good education comprises investment in both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. We examine the impact of a long-term programme designed to raise non-cognitive skills of children and adolescents in slums in Bombay. We use a cross-cutting design with two comparison groups of peers for young adults who have attended the programme until leaving high school to analyse whether, compared to those from a similar environment and background, enrollment in the programme demonstrably raises such skills. We find evidence of substantial impacts on both self-esteem and self-efficacy (of about one standard deviation), as well as evidence of a smaller impact on life evaluation and aspirations. Furthermore, in line with the literature, both self-esteem and self-efficacy are positively related to success in school-leaving examinations and initial labour market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | non-cognitive skills; programme evaluation |
| JEL: | C93 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9540&r=edu |
| By: | Russell Cooper; Guozhong Zhu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies household financial choices: why are these decisions dependent on the education level of the household? A life cycle model is constructed to understand a rich set of facts about decisions of households with different levels of education attainment regarding stock market participation, stock share in wealth, stock adjustment rate and wealth-income ratio. The model, including preferences and both participation and portfolio adjustment costs, is estimated to match the asset allocation decisions of different education groups. Using the estimated parameters we argue that education matters for financial decisions mainly through its effect on mean income. We also study the sensitivity of household financial decisions to: (i) government programs that support consumption floors and (ii) changes in reimbursement for medical expenditures. |
| JEL: | D14 E21 G11 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19455&r=edu |
| By: | Eric V. Edmonds; Maheshwor Shrestha |
| Abstract: | Can efforts to promote education deter child labor? We report on the findings of a field experiment where a conditional transfer incentivized the schooling of children associated with carpet factories in Nepal. We find that schooling increases and child involvement in carpet weaving decreases when schooling is incentivized. As a simple static labor supply model would predict, we observe that treated children resort to their counterfactual level of school attendance and carpet weaving when schooling is no longer incentivized. From a child labor policy perspective, our findings imply that “You get what you pay for” when schooling incentives are used to combat hazardous child labor. |
| JEL: | J22 J88 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19279&r=edu |
| By: | Joan Llull |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of immigration on wages taking into account human capital and labor supply adjustments. Using U.S. micro-data for 1967-2007, I estimate a labor market equilibrium model that includes endogenous decisions on education, participation, and occupation, and allows for skill-biased technical change. Results suggest important labor market adjustments that mitigate the effect of immigration on wages. These adjustments include career switches, labor market detachment and changes in schooling decisions, and are heterogeneous across the workforce. The adjustments generate substantial self-selection biases at the lower tail of the wage distribution that are corrected by the estimated model. |
| Keywords: | immigration, wages, human capital, labor supply, dynamic discrete choice, labor market equilibrium |
| JEL: | J2 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:711&r=edu |
| By: | Mónica Benito; Rosario Romera |
| Abstract: | OCDE publications in the early 1990s on Science-Technology-Economy alerted several member countries on the prediction of a future shortage of skilled researchers and its possible impact on the economy. Consequently, on the decade 1998-2009 the number of doctorates handed out in all OECD countries grew by 31%. Doctoral holders are not only the most qualified in terms of educational attainment, but also those who are specifically trained to conduct research. Although the unemployment rate for doctoral holders is stabilized around 3% since 2006, nowadays it is becoming more and more difficult for them to find a job corresponding to their qualification. The recruitment of PhD graduates in the private sector (business, industry) should be considered a key avenue in converting research into commercialized innovations, technological progress and productivity growth of the countries. Universities and R&D and innovation policy makers are committed in boosting the PhD labour market. This paper discusses the diagnosis of the situation of the PhD job market, the careers and mobility of doctorates holders along the OCDE countries. Having analyzed the employment of PhD holders in the private sector and bearing in mind that most of the doctoral programs conform to a classical old model, our interest is focused on exploring significant relationships between the intensity of graduate’s employment in private sector and new strategies implemented in recently upgraded doctoral systems. Conclusions relating recent reforms in the PhD system established in some OECD countries and their PhD labour market are stated out. In this study we make intensive use of the data collected through a collaborative project launched by the OECD with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and Eurostat (OECD/UIS/Eurostat project) aimed at developing internationally comparable indicators on the careers and mobility of doctorate holders in 2009, the CDH project |
| Keywords: | Career of doctorate holders, PhD, R&D and innovation, Reforms in Doctoral Education, University-governemnt-industry links Handle: RePEc:cte:wsrepe:ARELLENAR |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wsrepe:ws132824&r=edu |