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on Education |
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Issue of 2013‒10‒25
25 papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Friesen, Jane (Simon Fraser University); Harris, Benjamin Cerf (U.S. Census Bureau); Woodcock, Simon D. (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of public school open enrolment, which allows students to enroll in any public school with available space, on fourth grade test scores. We find a small, positive effect on the average student; this benefit appears to stem from increased competition among schools, rather than directly through expanded choice opportunities. Among students whose catchment school is locally top-ranked according to test scores, greater choice is of no direct benefit; however, students whose catchment school is locally lowest-ranked earn higher scores when they have access to better local schools. Students in both groups benefit from increased school competition. |
| Keywords: | open enrolment, school choice, school competition |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7642&r=edu |
| By: | Diaz-Serrano, Luis (Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Pérez, Jessica (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the contribution of political leaders to enhance citizens' education and investigate how the educational attainment of the population is affected while a leader with higher education remains in office. For this purpose, we consider educational transitions of political leaders in office and find that the educational attainment of population increases when a more educated leader remains in office. Furthermore, we also observe that the educational attainment of the population is negatively impacted when a country transitions from an educated leader to a less educated one. This result may help to explain the previous finding that more educated political leaders favor economic growth. |
| Keywords: | political leaders, primary education, school achievement, political institutions |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7661&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Olmo Silva |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we survey the UK-based literature on school structures and school autonomy to identify settings in which alternative and more autonomous school arrangements can improve the educational attainments of pupils in the bottom tail of the achievement distribution. We also present new evidence on the effect of school academies on the age-16 GCSE attainment of students of different abilities up to 2009, before the Coalition Government changed the nature of the Labour academy programme. Within the UK education system, academies enjoy substantial autonomy in terms of management of their staff, taught curriculum, length of the school day and other aspects of their day-to-day functioning. Our results show that schools that converted to academies between 2002 and 2007 improved their overall age-16 GCSEs results by further raising the attainments of students in the top half of the ability distribution, and in particular pupils in the top 20% tail. Conversely, we find little evidence that academies helped pupils in the bottom 10% and 20% of the ability distribution. Finally, we find little evidence that late converters (2008 and 2009) had any beneficial effects on pupils of any ability. We conclude our research by comparing the experience of UK academies to that of US charter schools and Swedish free schools, and by providing some insights into the reasons why UK academies did not serve 'the tail' as is the case for some US charter schools. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepsps:29&r=edu |
| By: | Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); van Kippersluis, Hans (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Veenman, Justus (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We aim to disentangle the relative contributions of (i) cognitive ability, and (ii) education on health and mortality using a structural equation model suggested by Conti et al. (2010). We extend their model by allowing for a duration dependent variable, and an ordinal educational variable. Data come from a Dutch cohort born between 1937 and 1941, including detailed measures of cognitive ability and family background at age 12. The data are subsequently linked to the mortality register 1995-2011, such that we observe mortality between ages 55 and 75. The results suggest that at least half of the unconditional survival differences between educational groups are due to a 'selection effect', primarily on basis of cognitive ability. Conditional survival differences across those having finished just primary school and those entering secondary education are still substantial, and amount to a 4 years gain in life expectancy, on average. |
| Keywords: | education, cognitive ability, mortality, structural equation model, duration model |
| JEL: | C41 I14 I24 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7648&r=edu |
| By: | Kendrick, Neil |
| Abstract: | As one of the world’s most unequal societies, Brazil is often referred to as a land of contrasts: the causes of its high levels of income inequality continuously debated. When solutions are discussed, one of the more frequently recited policy prescriptions is to expand the supply of education within the economy. Through utilisation of socio-economic profiles of students who subscribed to and were enrolled in Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), one of the more progressive public higher education establishments, the data indicates that, between1987- 2010, the Brazilian education system could in fact have exacerbated inequality, despite society having undertaken national educational expansion. The data illustrates how, during the period analysed, less than 35% of UNICAMP students attended only public education; and that moreover, while 61% had attended entrance examination preparation courses, nearly three quarters of participants at these examinations failed to be enrolled at the first time of asking. It is also estimated that more than 60% of UNICAMP students are from households from the 9th and 10th income decile. With the socio-economic profiles of public higher education tending to favour high income households, the curative effects of educational expansion on income inequality appear to be paradoxical. Therefore, a more qualitative approach to public education expansion may be required if a more egalitarian society is to be engendered by tuition-free public higher institutions. |
| Keywords: | Education; Human Capital; Inequality; Brazil |
| JEL: | N0 N3 N36 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49531&r=edu |
| By: | Rulof P. Burger; Francis J. Teal |
| 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. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2013-13&r=edu |
| By: | Borghans, Lex (Maastricht University); Golsteyn, Bart H.H. (Maastricht University); Stenberg, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reports evidence that an individual meeting with a study counselor at high school significantly improves the quality of choice of tertiary educational field, as self-assessed 18 months after graduation from college. The results are strongest among males and those with low educated parents. To address endogeneity, we explore the variation in study counseling practices between schools. Tentative analyses also indicate that counselors reduce students' uncertainty about their own individual preferences at least to the same extent as uncertainty about objective measures such as employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | uncertainty, human capital, educational choice, study counseling |
| JEL: | I2 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7649&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Taylor (Department of Basic Education); Marisa Coetzee (Departement Ekonomie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | For many children around the world, access to higher education and the labour market depends on becoming fluent in a second language. This presents a challenge to education policy: when and how in the school programme should a transition to the second language occur? While a large theoretical literature exists, empirical evidence is limited by the difficulties inherent to measuring the causal effect of language of instruction. In South Africa, the majority of children do not speak English as their first language but are required to undertake their final school-leaving examinations in English. Most schools offer mother-tongue instruction in the first three grades of school and then transition to English as the language of instruction in the fourth grade. Some schools use English as the language of instruction from the first grade. In recent years a number of schools have changed their policy, thus creating within-school, cross-grade variation in the language of instruction received in the early grades. We use longitudinal data on school characteristics including language of instruction by grade, and student test score data for the population of South African primary schools. Simple OLS estimates suggest a positive correlation between English instruction in the first three grades and English performance in grades 4, 5 and 6. After including school fixed effects, which removes the confounding effects of selection into schools with different language policies, we find that mother tongue instruction in the early grades significantly improves English acquisition, as measured in grades 4, 5 and 6. The significance of this study is twofold. Firstly, it illustrates the power of school-fixed effects to estimate causal impacts of educational interventions. Secondly, it is the first South African study (and one of a very few international studies) to bring robust empirical evidence to the policy debate around language of instruction. |
| Keywords: | Education, language of learning and teaching, South Africa, fixed effects |
| JEL: | I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers197&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Elias Walsh |
| Keywords: | Value Added, DC Schools, Education, Measuring Teacher |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7916&r=edu |
| By: | Allen J.P.; Velden R.K.W. van der; Levels M. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically explore how the often reported relationship between overeducation and wages can best be understood. Exploiting the newly published Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies PIAAC data OECD 2013, we are able to achieve a better estimation of the classical ORU-model Duncan and Hoffman, 1981, by controlling for heterogeneity of observable skills. Our findings suggest that 1 a considerable part of the effect of educational mismatches can be attributed to skills heterogeneity, and 2 that the extent to which skills explain educational mismatches varies by institutional contexts. These observations suggest that skills matter for explaining wage effects of education and educational mismatches, but the extent to which this is the case also depends on institutional contexts. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Education and Economic Development; Labor Demand; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umagsb:2013062&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | More than 23 million students across the OECD and G20 countries will start their first universitylevel course in 2013. The new generation of students will be particularly diverse, with more adults and international students than ever. Entry rates have increased over the last decades but unequal access to university still persists, with entry rates reflecting the background of the students. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:15-en&r=edu |
| By: | Susan M. Dynarski; Steven W. Hemelt; Joshua M. Hyman |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the promises and pitfalls of using National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data to measure a variety of postsecondary outcomes. We first describe the history of the NSC, the basic structure of its data, and recent research interest in using NSC data. Second, using information from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we calculate enrollment coverage rates for NSC data over time, by state, institution type, and demographic student subgroups. We find that coverage is highest among public institutions and lowest (but growing) among for-profit colleges. Across students, enrollment coverage is lower for minorities but similar for males and females. We also explore two potentially less salient sources of non-coverage: suppressed student records due to privacy laws and matching errors due to typographic inaccuracies in student names. To illustrate how this collection of measurement errors may affect estimates of the levels and gaps in postsecondary attendance and persistence, we perform several case-study analyses using administrative transcript data from Michigan public colleges. We close with a discussion of practical issues for program evaluators using NSC data. |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19552&r=edu |
| By: | Fleury, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the differences in the determinants of the accumulation of human capital for second-generation immigrants relatively to natives for the French case. We use the Training and Occupational Skills survey to conduct our econometric analysis, where we distinguish the natives, the second-generation immigrants from ‘North Africa’ and from ‘Southern Europe’ origins. We don’t observe striking differences in the determinants between the second-generation immigrants as a whole and the natives. Moreover, the ‘second-generation immigrants’ group is a heterogeneous one. The significant determinants as well as the magnitude of the impact of these determinants substantially differ between the natives and the two main considered origins. There seems to be a lower ‘determinism’ through parental education for ‘Southern Europe’ than ‘North Africa’ origin, but differences in intergenerational correlations of education could be explained by parental transmission of education and/or by selection effects of the migrants. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition shows that parental endowments in education account for a large part of the mean outcome differences, but transmissions of education (and other components) also seems to be some relevant to explain differences in accumulation of human capital of second-generation migrants vs natives or between migrants. |
| Keywords: | accumulation of human capital, intergenerational mobility, immigrants |
| JEL: | J1 J24 J6 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50682&r=edu |
| By: | Catherine Paradeise (LATTS - Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV) - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - CNRS : UMR8134); Jean-Claude Thoenig (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | Quality judgments in terms of academic standards of excellence required by external stakeholders such as labour markets and steering hierarchies obviously exert strong pressure on universities. Do they generate an "iron cage" effect imposing a passive and uniform conformity on global standards? The paper examines the organization of higher education and research set-ups with a strong lens. What does academic quality actually mean when observed in the field? How do universities and their subunits - professional schools, colleges, etc - actually achieve what they call quality? A methodological and analytical framework is tested. Three sociological concepts - diversity, recognition, local order - make it possible to build four ideal-types applicable to comparative inquiry. Such a typology identifies the interdependencies existing between how they position themselves with respect to quality dimensions and internal organizational measures. The paper contributes to a broader organizational study agenda: how local orders face and deal with market and hierarchy dynamics in a global world of apparently increasing standardization under pressure from soft power. It questions the effect of the "iron cage" hypothesis. It lists a series of changing patterns or dynamics between types of universities in terms of quality sensitivity, fabrication and content. Diversity and standardization in fact coexist. |
| Keywords: | Local orders, academic quality, global standardization, ideal-type approaches, organizational diversity |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00871625&r=edu |
| By: | Robert Bifulco (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020); Leonard M. Lopoo (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020); Sun Jung Oh (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020) |
| Abstract: | The school desegregation efforts following the historic Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) represent one of the most important social policy initiatives of the 20th century. Despite a large research literature on desegregation and educational outcomes, its effects on the lives of individuals are still not fully understood. In this paper we examine the effects of desegregation on the fertility of teenagers. Our findings suggest that desegregation increased the fertility of African American teens and is unrelated to the fertility of white teens. Key Words: Desegregation; Teenage Fertility JEL No. I24, J13, J15, J18 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:157&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Sandra McNally; Gill Wyness |
| Abstract: | Education is an area that is highly devolved in the UK, and the fact that all four constituent countries have pursued very different policies in the recent past provides a good testing ground to undertake a comparative review of the merits or otherwise of the education reforms that have taken place. There is, of course, an important policy context to such an analysis. Examining the performance of children educated in the devolved Scottish system in comparison to those educated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has potential to offer a unique and valuable insight into the impact of Scottish devolution in a high profile area of public policy. When deciding whether or not to seek independence from the UK, the Scottish electorate will need to consider how a devolved Scotland has fared in educating its nation under its own terms - and hence how they might fare when taking ownership of other policy areas. In examining the key differences in attainment bearing in mind these differences, this report will help answer this question. |
| Keywords: | Scotland, education policy, devolution |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepsps:30&r=edu |
| By: | Beblavý, Miroslav; Thum, Anna-Elisabeth; Potjagailo, Galina |
| Abstract: | Adult learning is seen as a key factor for enhancing employment, innovation and growth, and it should concern all age cohorts. The aim of this paper is to understand the points in the life cycle at which adult learning takes place and whether it leads to reaching a medium or high level of educational attainment. To this end we perform a synthetic panel analysis of adult learning for cohorts aged 25 to 64 in 27 European countries using the European Labour Force Survey. We find, as previous results suggest, that a rise in educational attainment as well as participation in education and training happens mostly at the age range of 25-29. However, investment across the life cycle by cohorts older than 25 still occurs: in most countries in our sample, participation in education and training as well as educational attainment increases observably across all cohorts. We also find that the decline with age slows down or is even reversed for older cohorts, for both participation in education and educational attainment. Finally, we can identify a Nordic model in which adult learning is achieved through participation in education and training, a Central European model in which adult learning occurs in the form of increasing educational attainment and a liberal model in which both approaches to adult learning are observable. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:cepswp:8059&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Bettinger; Torbjørn Hægeland; Mari Rege (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | In 1998 the Norwegian government introduced a program that substantially increased parents’ incentives to stay home with children under the age of three. Many eligible children had older siblings, and we investigate how this program affected long-run educational outcomes of the older siblings. Using comprehensive administrative data, we estimate a difference-in-differences model which exploits differences in older siblings' exposures to the program. We find a significant positive treatment effect on older siblings’ 10th grade GPA, and this effect seems to be largely driven by mother’s reduced labor force participation and not by changes in family income or father’s labor force participation. |
| Keywords: | Chas-for-care; Parental time; School performance |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J24 I21 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:739&r=edu |
| By: | Cabane, Charlotte; Clark, Andrew E. |
| Abstract: | We here ask whether sports participation at school is positively correlated with adult labour-market outcomes. There are many potential channels for this effect, although, as usual, identifying a causal relationship is difficult. We appeal to two widely-separated waves of Add Health data to map out the correlation between school sports and adult labourmarket outcomes. We show that different types of school sports are associated with different types of jobs and labour-market insertion when adult. We take the issue of the endogeneity of sport seriously and use data on siblings in order to obtain estimates that are as close to unbiased as possible. Last, we compare the effect of sporting activities to that of other leisure activities. |
| Keywords: | Job characteristics, Education, Sport, School |
| JEL: | J24 J13 L83 I2 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2013:28&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Dee; James Wyckoff |
| Abstract: | Teachers in the United States are compensated largely on the basis of fixed schedules that reward experience and credentials. However, there is a growing interest in whether performance-based incentives based on rigorous teacher evaluations can improve teacher retention and performance. The evidence available to date has been mixed at best. This study presents novel evidence on this topic based on IMPACT, the controversial teacher-evaluation system introduced in the District of Columbia Public Schools by then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee. IMPACT implemented uniquely high-powered incentives linked to multiple measures of teacher performance (i.e., several structured observational measures as well as test performance). We present regression-discontinuity (RD) estimates that compare the retention and performance outcomes among low-performing teachers whose ratings placed them near the threshold that implied a strong dismissal threat. We also compare outcomes among high-performing teachers whose rating placed them near a threshold that implied an unusually large financial incentive. Our RD results indicate that dismissal threats increased the voluntary attrition of low-performing teachers by 11 percentage points (i.e., more than 50 percent) and improved the performance of teachers who remained by 0.27 of a teacher-level standard deviation. We also find evidence that financial incentives further improved the performance of high-performing teachers (effect size = 0.24). |
| JEL: | I2 J45 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19529&r=edu |
| By: | Velden R.K.W. van der; Allen J.P.; Levels M. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop and test a new set of measures of skill mismatches, based on data on skill levels and skill use in the domains of literacy and numeracy from the PIAAC project. The measures we develop represent the extent of skill use relative to ones own skill level. We test the measures by examining their relation to a number of labour market outcomes. We subsequently examine how mismatches are distributed across and within a large number of countries, and use our results to reflect on possible causes and consequences of mismatches. We find that, in general, higher skill utilization is always beneficial in terms of productivity and job satisfaction, and that overutilization of skills therefore points more towards a fuller use of the available human capital, rather than to a serious skill shortage. We find an asymmetry in returns between literacy and numeracy skills although numeracy skill level appears to pay higher dividends than literacy skill level, shifts in skill utilization within skill levels have greater consequences for literacy than for numeracy. The distribution of mismatches across and within countries is broadly consistent with the expectation that skills will be used more fully under competitive market conditions with few institutional or organizational barriers. Finally, skill mismatches are only quite weakly related to educational mismatches, reflecting the heterogeneity in skill supply and demand that cross-cuts the dividing lines set by formally defined qualification levels and job titles. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Education and Economic Development; Labor Demand; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I25 I21 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umagsb:2013061&r=edu |
| By: | Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta (University of Naples L’Orientale, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide an empirical examination of factors associated with overeducation among Ph.D. graduates in Italy. Our investigation is based on recently released data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics by means of interviews with a large sample of Ph.D. recipients, carried out a few years after they obtained their Ph.D. degree. We measured the mismatch between their current job and previous Ph.D. studies using two direct subjective evaluations of over-education, which distinguish between the usefulness of the Ph.D. title to get the current job position and to perform the current work activities. Even if the incidence of over-education varies according to the measurement applied, we found that it is highly widespread among Ph.D. recipients. Our econometric analyses are aimed at identifying factors associated with over-education and are based on the standard probit model and the bivariate probit model with sample selection which allows to control for self selection into employment. Our results show that over-education is significantly correlated with: i) a number of Ph-D. related variables, such as the scientific field of study, having attended courses or visiting periods abroad; ii) some job-related characteristics, such as working in the academia or being mainly involved in research related activities; iii) the channel of access to the job; iv) residential location. This paper contributes to the literature focusing on job-education mismatch by providing, to the best of our knowledge, the first empirical analysis of over-education among Ph.D. recipients in Italy; moreover, it provides some useful insights to evaluate the professional doctoral graduates in Italy. |
| Keywords: | over-education, Ph.D. recipients, self-selection |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cme:wpaper:1302&r=edu |
| By: | Levels M.; Velden R.K.W. van der; Levels M.; Allen J.P. (ROA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop and test a new set of measures of skill mismatches, based on data on skill levels and skill use in the domains of literacy and numeracy from the PIAAC project. The measures we develop represent the extent of skill use relative to ones own skill level. We test the measures by examining their relation to a number of labour market outcomes. We subsequently examine how mismatches are distributed across and within a large number of countries, and use our results to reflect on possible causes and consequences of mismatches. We find that, in general, higher skill utilization is always beneficial in terms of productivity and job satisfaction, and that overutilization of skills therefore points more towards a fuller use of the available human capital, rather than to a serious skill shortage. We find an asymmetry in returns between literacy and numeracy skills although numeracy skill level appears to pay higher dividends than literacy skill level, shifts in skill utilization within skill levels have greater consequences for literacy than for numeracy. The distribution of mismatches across and within countries is broadly consistent with the expectation that skills will be used more fully under competitive market conditions with few institutional or organizational barriers. Finally, skill mismatches are only quite weakly related to educational mismatches, reflecting the heterogeneity in skill supply and demand that cross-cuts the dividing lines set by formally defined qualification levels and job titles. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Education and Economic Development; Labor Demand; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2013017&r=edu |
| By: | Dornbusch, Friedrich; Neuhäusler, Peter |
| Abstract: | It is generally claimed that universities provide the scientific basis for future technological progress. Still, empirical evidence of the impact of direct links between universities and firms remains weak and is often at least inconsistent. This paper aims at contributing to the literature by analyzing how direct academic involvement affects the output of inventive activities of research teams in different organizational backgrounds. By applying a unique dataset of German academic and corporate patents, we find that boundary-spanning knowledge production with academic inventors raises the innovative performance of SMEs and MNEs. Furthermore, geographical proximity between team members is generally shown to be valuable for team performance in terms of the influence on future technological developments. At the same time, the results indicate that academic involvement helps inventor teams to profit from spatially distant knowledge sources. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:37&r=edu |
| By: | Rita van Deuren (Rita van Deuren, PhD, Assistant Professor, Academic Coordinator MBM Programs, Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands. Contact: deuren@msm.nl) |
| Abstract: | HEI in developing countries face the requirement to increase performance and improve results to enlarge their contribution to socio-economic development and poverty reduction. Organizational capacity is considered a pre-requisite for this performance. Organizational capacity is enhanced by capacity development processes and activities. This paper is about capacity development in higher education institutions (HEI) in developing countries. The introduction chapter of the paper first describes the objective of the paper and the method used to realize the objective. The chapter also includes a brief introduction on systems thinking, since concepts and ideas of systems thinking are frequently used in the paper. Finally, this chapter presents an outline of the paper. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2013/30&r=edu |