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on Education |
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Issue of 2014‒02‒02
forty-one papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Braga, Michela (University of Milan); Paccagnella, Marco (Bank of Italy); Pellizzari, Michele (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of college teaching on students' academic achievement and labor market outcomes using administrative data from Bocconi University (Italy) matched with Italian tax records. The estimation exploits the random allocation of students to teachers in a fixed sequence of compulsory courses. We find that good teaching matters more for the labor market than for academic performance. Moreover, the professors who are best at improving the academic achievement of their best students are also the ones who boost their earnings the most. On the contrary, for low ability students the academic and labor market returns of teachers are largely uncorrelated. We also find that professors who are good at teaching high ability students are often not the best teachers for the least able ones. These findings can be rationalized in a model where teaching is a multi-dimensional activity with each dimension having differential returns on the students' academic outcomes and labor market success. |
| Keywords: | teacher quality, higher education |
| JEL: | I20 M55 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7902&r=edu |
| By: | Prashant Loyalka (Stanford University.); Andrey Zakharov (National Research University Higher School of Economics. International Laboratory for Educational Policy Research. Deputy Head.) |
| Abstract: | High school students, across the world, prepare for college by participating in shadow education. Despite substantial investments in shadow education, however, little is known about whether it helps students prepare for college. The goal of our study is to provide rigorous evidence about the causal impacts of participating in shadow education on college preparation. We analyze unique data from Russia using a cross-subject student fixed effects model. We find that participating in shadow education positively impacts high-achieving students but not low-achieving students. Participating in shadow education further does not lead students to substitute time away from other out-of-school studies. Instead, the results suggest that low-achieving students participate in low-quality shadow education, which, in turn, contributes to inequality in college access |
| Keywords: | shadow education, private tutoring, college access, inequality, causal methods |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:15edu2014&r=edu |
| By: | Korthals R.A. (GSBE) |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2013054&r=edu |
| By: | Zwick Th. (ROA) |
| Abstract: | This paper measures determinants of individual academic achievements. In addition to an extensive list of individual characteristics, skills obtained during study and socio-economic background factors, many dimensions of selectivity into academic study subjects are shown to drive individual academic achievement, such as differences between average student grades during tertiary education or cognitive skills. This paper is based on a large and representative graduate survey of graduates in the academic year 2003/2004 in the German state of Bavaria. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Higher Education and Research Institutions; |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2013003&r=edu |
| By: | Wondratschek, Verena (ZEW Mannheim); Edmark, Karin (IFN - Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Frölich, Markus (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of a major Swedish school choice reform. The reform in 1992 increased school choice and competition among public schools as well as through a large-scale introduction of private schools. We estimate the effects of school choice and competition, using precise geographical information on the locations of school buildings and children's homes for the entire Swedish population for several cohorts affected at different stages in their educational career. We can measure the long-term effects up to age 25. We find that increased school choice had very small, but positive, effects on marks at the end of compulsory schooling, but virtually zero effects on longer term outcomes such as university education, employment, criminal activity and health. |
| Keywords: | school choice, school competition, treatment evaluation, cognitive and non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | I20 C21 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7898&r=edu |
| By: | Ostermaier, Andreas; Beltz, Philipp; Link, Susanne |
| Abstract: | We benefit from the Bologna reform to show how course and program policies affect academic achievement. We examine two similar programs at the business school of a major European university, which were both reformed. Time lags in the reforms allow us to estimate the difference in the differences of student performance in a compulsory second-year course. Performance fell as the impact of the course on the graduation certificate decreased and the time until students received the certificate increased. More students failed as they were allowed to resit the exam more often. Both effects depend on ability. We conclude that program policies matter and universities should be aware of their effects. -- |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79924&r=edu |
| By: | Kamhöfer, Daniel; Schmitz, Hendrik |
| Abstract: | We analyze the causal effect of education on old-age cognitive abilities using German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data and regional variation in mandatory years of schooling and the supply of schools. Our outcome variable is the score an individual reaches in an ultra-short intelligence test. We explain this score, using instrumented education. Instrumental variable estimation is necessary since on the one hand, schooling is highly affected by cognitive skills (reverse causality), and, on the other hand, both are influenced by third factors like income and health (possibly omitted variable bias). Using variations in education policy in the German federal states we are able to instrument education for three groups of students which cover all levels of educational achievement. Unlike previous studies this allows us to estimate three different local average treatment effects. The estimated effects range from 14% to 53% of a standard deviation. We find the strongest effect for students with intermediate education. -- |
| JEL: | I21 J24 C26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79910&r=edu |
| By: | Gabrielle Wills |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether teacher strikes affect student achievement at the primary school level in South Africa. A cross-subject analysis with student fixed effects is used to eliminate sources of endogeneity bias at the school and student level. Results indicate that teacher strike participation negatively affects learning for students in the poorest three quarters of schools in South Africa. A negative effect size as large as ten per cent of a standard deviation is observed. There is also evidence that more marginalised students, both in terms of socio-economic status and academic performance, are affected most negatively by strike action. However, application of a technique by Altonji, Taber and Elder (2005) indicates that it is not possible to rule out that measured strike effects may be driven by omitted variable bias. The student fixed effects strategy fails to adequately control for unobserved teacher characteristics that may influence both a teacher’s decision to strike and student achievement. |
| Keywords: | Teachers, Strikes, Trade unions, Student Achievement, South Africa |
| JEL: | I21 J51 J52 J24 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:402&r=edu |
| By: | Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Masella, Paolo |
| Abstract: | Political regimes influence the contents of education and the criteria used to select and evaluate students. We study the impact of a socialist education on the likelihood of obtaining a college degree, as well as on several labor market outcomes, by exploiting the reorganization of the school system in East Germany after reunification. Our identification strategy exploits cut-off birth dates for school enrollment that lead to variation in the length of exposure to the socialist education system within the same birth cohort. We find that an additional year of socialist education substantially decreases the probability of obtaining a college degree, and also affects longer-term labor market outcomes for males. The effects likely stem from non-meritocratic restrictions in access to high school and college, central planning of vocational training, and curricula directed towards the transmission of socialist values in school. -- |
| JEL: | I20 J24 P36 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79865&r=edu |
| By: | Frenette, Marc |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term labour market premiums associated with a high school diploma. The focus is on the value of the qualification (the signaling effect), but the premiums associated with the number of years of schooling required to obtain the qualification (the human-capital effect) are also estimated. The labour market outcomes of individuals born in the mid-1960s are measured from their mid-20s to their mid-40s with longitudinal administrative data from the Longitudinal Worker File (LWF) that are linked to the 1991 Census of Population. Two groups are considered: terminal high school graduates (those who had obtained a high school diploma but had not acquired any postsecondary education by the 1991 Census) and individuals without a high school diploma (those who had no high school diploma, were not enrolled in high school, and had no postsecondary education at the time of the 1991 Census). |
| Keywords: | Labour, Education, training and learning, Educational attainment, Outcomes of education |
| Date: | 2014–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2014354e&r=edu |
| By: | Büchner C.I.R.; Velden R.K.W. van der; Wolbers M.H.J. (ROA) |
| Abstract: | Social background directly impacts educational choice and attainment, but also influences choice and attainment indirectly by affecting school performance. Boudon (1974) described this relationship as primary (indirect) and secondary (direct) effects of social stratification. Based on this approach and Mare’s sequential transition model, we decompose this impact to analyze these effects’ relative importance at various stages over the school career. Using Dutch panel data of three school cohorts, we can assess whether primary and secondary effects’ relative importance has been stable over time. We use different statistical methods to assess the results’ robustness. Our findings show secondary effects have a decreasing impact at the first transition over time but a rather stable and in some cases increasing impact at the educational career’s later stages. As a result, the cumulative share of secondary effects on educational attainment is stable over time, at least if one examines the last two cohorts. When using ordinary least squares (OLS) or counterfactual models, secondary effects amount to some 55% of social background’s total effect. However, using structural equation modeling that allows for taking into account measurement error in performance tests and social background, secondary effects’ relative importance amounts to some 45%. This result suggests method does matter for numerical closeness. Nevertheless, the findings of all models used in this study point in the same direction and suggest that preferences and expectations of aspiring higher educational levels remain strongly associated with social background. |
| Keywords: | Hypothesis Testing: General; Analysis of Education; Education and Inequality; |
| JEL: | C12 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2013001&r=edu |
| By: | Wolbers M.H.J.; Velden R.K.W. van der; Büchner C.I.R. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | Social background directly impacts educational choice and attainment, but also influences choice and attainment indirectly by affecting school performance. Boudon (1974) described this relationship as primary (indirect) and secondary (direct) effects of social stratification. Based on this approach and Mare¿s sequential transition model, we decompose this impact to analyze these effects¿ relative importance at various stages over the school career. Using Dutch panel data of three school cohorts, we can assess whether primary and secondary effects¿ relative importance has been stable over time. We use different statistical methods to assess the results¿ robustness. Our findings show secondary effects have a decreasing impact at the first transition over time but a rather stable and in some cases increasing impact at the educational career¿s later stages. As a result, the cumulative share of secondary effects on educational attainment is stable over time, at least if one examines the last two cohorts. When using ordinary least squares (OLS) or counterfactual models, secondary effects amount to some 55% of social background¿s total effect. However, using structural equation modeling that allows for taking into account measurement error in performance tests and social background, secondary effects¿ relative importance amounts to some 45%. This result suggests method does matter for numerical closeness. Nevertheless, the findings of all models used in this study point in the same direction and suggest that preferences and expectations of aspiring higher educational levels remain strongly associated with social background. |
| Keywords: | Hypothesis Testing: General; Analysis of Education; Education and Inequality; |
| JEL: | C12 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2013005&r=edu |
| By: | Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Puhani, Patrick A. (University of Hannover); Schönberg, Uta (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Despite its efficiency in tailoring education to the needs of students, a tracking system has the inherent problem of misallocating students to tracks because of incomplete information at the time of the tracking decision. This paper investigates the effects of attending a more advanced track in middle school on long-term education and labor market outcomes for Germany, a country with a very rigorous tracking system where the risk of misallocating students to tracks is, due to the early age at which tracking takes place, particularly high. Our research design exploits quasi-random shifts between tracks induced by date of birth, and identifies the long-term effects of early track attendance for a group of marginal students most at risk of misallocation. Remarkably, we find no evidence that for these students, attending a more advanced track leads to more favorable long-term outcomes. We attribute this result to the up- and downgrading of students between tracks after middle school when more information about their potential is available. Overall, our findings underscore that flexibilities built into a tracking system, which allow students to revise initial track choices at a later stage, effectively remedy even a prolonged exposure to a less advanced school environment. |
| Keywords: | tracking, school quality, peer effects, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | I21 J10 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7897&r=edu |
| By: | Jo Blanden (Department of Economics, University of Surrey); Lindsey Macmillan (Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Evidence on intergenerational income mobility in the UK is dated. This paper seeks to update our knowledge by introducing new estimates of mobility for later measures of earnings in the 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts. Given poor or non-existent data on more recent cohorts we adopt an indirect approach to assessing more recent mobility trends. This exploits the close link between income persistence across generations and the gap in educational achievement by family background (referred to as educational inequality). We gather a comprehensive set of data which measures educational inequality for different cohorts at different points in the education system. We conclude that educational inequality has declined for cohorts born after 1980, and this is associated with rising average educational achievement. In contrast, evidence on high attainment does not reveal that educational inequality has declined; this suggests that policy seeking to promote equality of opportunity should encourage students to aim high. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational income mobility, educational inequality, children |
| JEL: | J62 J13 |
| Date: | 2014–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1401&r=edu |
| By: | Caroline M. Hoxby |
| Abstract: | I consider how online postsecondary education, including massive open online courses (MOOCs), might fit into economically sustainable models of postsecondary education. I contrast nonselective postsecondary education (NSPE)in which institutions sell fairly standardized educational services in return for up-front payments and highly selective postsecondary education (HSPE) in which institutions invest in students in return for repayments much later in life. The analysis suggests that MOOCs will be financially sustainable substitutes for some NSPE, but there are risks even in these situations. The analysis suggests that MOOCs will be financially sustainable substitutes for only a small share of HSPE and are likely to collapse the economic model that allows HSPE institutions to invest in advanced education and research. I outline a non-MOOC model of online education that may allow HSPE institutions both to sustain their distinctive activities and to reach a larger number of students. |
| JEL: | A2 I2 L33 L86 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19816&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:unm:umagsb:2013062&r=edu |
| By: | Humburg M.; Velden R.K.W. van der (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we reflect on the skills higher education graduates are expected to have in todays economy and the role of higher education in equiping graduates with these skills. First, we identify 6 trends which form the basis of the changing role of graduates in economic life. These trends are the knowledge society, increasing uncertainty, the ICT revolution, high performance workplaces, globalization, and the change of the economic structure. By changing the nature and range of tasks graduates are expected to fulfil in todays economy, we argue that these trends generate new and intensify traditional skill demands, which we summarize as professional expertise, flexibility, innovation and knowledge management, mobilization of human resources, international orientation, and entrepreneurship. Second, we draw out some key issues concerning the role of higher education institutions in equiping graduates with these skills. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Education and Economic Development; Education: Government Policy; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2013044&r=edu |
| By: | Andalón, Mabel (University of Melbourne); Williams, Jenny (University of Melbourne); Grossman, Michael (CUNY Graduate Center) |
| Abstract: | Large differences in fertility between women with high and low levels of education suggest that schooling may have a direct impact on knowledge and use of contraception. We investigate this issue using information on women in Mexico. In order to identify the causal effect of schooling, we exploit temporal and geographic variation in the number of lower secondary schools built following the extension of compulsory education in Mexico from 6th to 9th grade in 1993. We show that raising females' schooling beyond 6th grade increases their knowledge of contraception during their reproductive years and increases their propensity to use contraception at sexual debut. This indicates that the impact of schooling on women's wellbeing extends beyond improved labour market outcomes and includes greater autonomy over their fertility. |
| Keywords: | schooling, empowerment, contraception, knowledge, natural experiment, Mexico |
| JEL: | I10 I18 I25 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7900&r=edu |
| By: | Fischer, Georg-Benedikt; Bruckmeier, Kerstin; Wigger, Berthold U. |
| Abstract: | We use the recent introduction of tuition fees at public universities in seven of the sixteen German states to identify the effects of tuition fees on university enrollment of first-year students at German public universities. Our study differs from previous research in two important ways. Firstly, we take into account the location of universities and include a spatial variable, which measures the distance between a fee-imposing university and the nearest fee-free alternative. Secondly, we use panel data that allows us to control for unobserved heterogeneity between universities. Our results suggest that enrollment at universities that impose a tuition fee and that are located close to fee-free universities experience a decrease in enrollment that is twice as large as the decrease at universities that are further away from fee-free universities. We also find gender differences in enrollment behavior. Enrollment numbers of female students at universities that are located far away from fee-free alternatives are significantly less affected by the introduction of tuition fees than are enrollment numbers of male students. -- |
| JEL: | H75 I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79813&r=edu |
| By: | Gonzalo Castex; Evgenia Dechter |
| Abstract: | This study examines changes in returns to formal education and cognitive skills over the last 20 years using the 1979 and 1997 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We show that cognitive skills had a 30%-60% larger effect on wages in the 1980s than in the 2000s. Returns to education were higher in the 2000s. These developments are not explained by changing distributions of workers’ observable characteristics or by changing labor market structure. We show that the decline in returns to ability can be attributed to differences in the growth rate of technology between the 1980s and 2000s. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:704&r=edu |
| By: | Storck, Johanna; Freier, Ronny |
| 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. -- |
| JEL: | I21 C31 I20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79879&r=edu |
| By: | Alec Ian Gershberg (The New School) |
| Abstract: | Poor and insufficient school infrastructure negatively impacts student learning and schooling outcomes. Myriad factors have contributed to an infrastructure gap in the education sector in many countries – rapid increases in enrolments, poor maintenance and aging capital stocks, rural to urban migration, and inefficient government planning and school construction to name a few. Various forms of decentralization are likely to be involved both to improve governance and accountability and to foster innovation and cost saving in the school construction industry and investment and project cycle. This paper first discusses why the topic is interesting and worth considering; next we lay out the issues and considerations specific to educational infrastructure decentralization; we then connect the discussion to the broader infrastructure discussions in the other papers as well as to the education decentralization literature. We examine an illustrative case study in Egypt exemplifying both the typical centralization of a national school construction authority, and the reasons for countries to consider certain kinds of decentralization. The case also highlights that school construction reforms involving potential decentralization are a long slog dominated and driven by politics. We provide a framework for un-packaging and considering key components of the processes involved in service provision and some promising strategies relating to decentralization. We conclude with some insights for practitioners and others interested in advancing knowledge of the topic. |
| Date: | 2014–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1412&r=edu |
| By: | Betty M. Alvarado (Departamento de Economía, Universidad del Pacífico) |
| Abstract: | This study describes the design and the ex-ante evaluation of an Intercultural Bilingual Education1 Program in the Amazon Region in Peru. The target beneficiaries are the non-Spanish-speaking children from three Amazon ethnic communities: the Awarunas, Ashaninkas and Shipibos-Conibos. They are a small minority; the poorest Peruvians with the lowest level of performance in reading comprehension and basic mathematics, and the lowest level of enrollment, schooling and transition rates. The program looks to improving the quality of service delivery for this community with bilingual curricula which would trigger the need for appropriate pedagogical bilingual teaching methods in classrooms, with ad hoc instructional materials and teachers with the required expertise and the capability to manage a bilingual setting and culture.2 At the end, the expected results from this quality improvement exercise are: an increase in enrollment, higher schooling (average of number grades reached), and reduction in dropout and repetition rates. The outcome of such bilingual programs, based on some international experiences points to an improvement in learning and performance levels in children. |
| Keywords: | Intercultural, Bilingual, Education, Performance, Schools, Indigenous, Children, Amazon, Perú |
| JEL: | D60 H40 H41 H42 H43 H44 I20 I21 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pai:wpaper:13-13&r=edu |
| By: | Fossen, Frank; Büttner, Tobias |
| Abstract: | We assess the relevance of formal education on the productivity of the self-employed and distinguish between opportunity entrepreneurs, who voluntarily pursue a business opportunity, and necessity entrepreneurs, who lack alternative employment options. We expect differences in the returns to education between these groups due to different levels of control over the use of their human capital. The analysis employs the German Socio-economic Panel and accounts for the endogeneity of education and non-random selection. The results indicate that the returns to a year of education for opportunity entrepreneurs are 3.5 percentage points higher than the paid employees' rate of 8.1%, but 6.5 percentage points lower for necessity entrepreneurs. Pooling the two types of entrepreneurs understates the value of education for opportunity entrepreneurs and sparks misguided hopes concerning necessity entrepreneurs. The results explain Europe/US differences in average entrepreneurial returns and cast doubt on the use of the self-employed to test signalling theory. -- |
| JEL: | I20 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79691&r=edu |
| By: | Wikström, Magnus (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics); Wikström, Christina (Department of Applied Educational Science, Educational Measurement) |
| Abstract: | In Sweden, there are two separate instruments for ranking applicants in the admission to higher education; the GPA from upper secondary school and the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test (the SweSAT). A problem in the selection is that different groups of students perform differently on the instruments. Also, while the GPA is regarded more valid but with reliability problems, the test is seen as reliable but with lower predictive validity. Hence, in 2011, the test was revised, with the purpose to increase its relevance for university studies. New item types and new subtests were introduced, and the weights of the verbal and quantitative parts of the test were made more balanced. This study compares how students are ranked on the basis of the new test compared to their GPA, to find out if previous group differences still remain. The data consists of test participants in the autumn of 2011 and spring of 2012 at the ages 17 to 25. The results show that the correlation between test scores and GPA is approximately the same as before the revision. It is also found that there are still group differences in terms of boys performing better on the test and girls on the GPA. However, when studying separate sub-tests and grades and national course tests from isolated subjects, the students seem to be ranked more similarly than in the overall SweSAT-GPA comparison. Although students with a non-Swedish background are performing lower than other students on both instruments, boys in this group seem to be graded more leniently than the girls with a similar background in mathematics, and the opposite is the case in verbal subjects. |
| Keywords: | admission; selection; higher education; score differences |
| JEL: | I23 |
| Date: | 2014–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0874&r=edu |
| By: | Dronkers J. (ROA) |
| Abstract: | Recently Dunne 2010 and Dronkers, van der Velden Dunne 2011 introduced a three-level model countries, schools, and students. They showed that school characteristics like socioeconomic composition and ethnic diversity have substantial effects on achievement levels and also affect the relation between parental background and achievement. Moreover, these school characteristics seem to mediate some of the effects of educational system characteristics found earlier see Figure 1. However their results contradict very much the consensus about the effects of educational systems on outcomes and inequality, which are exclusively based on a two-level model countries and students. The most important authors are Hanushek and Wmann 2006, Schtz, Ursprung and Wmann 2008, Wmann, Ldemann, Schtz and West 2009 and Hanushek and Wmann 2012. Esser forth coming discussed rightfully extensively the possible explanations of the different outcomes of the Hanushek Wssmann approach and the Dronkers, van der Velden Dunne puzzle. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umarot:2014001&r=edu |
| By: | Barde, Julia Alexa; Julia Alexa, Barde; Juliana, Walkiewicz |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of access to piped water on human capital formation as measured by test scores from standardized school exams at Brasilian primary schools. We fi nd a positive and signi ficant eff ect of around 11 percent of the standard deviation of mean test scores. The eff ect of piped water on test scores increases with the level of education of the mother. This complementarity is more pronounced for families with income below average income and vanishes for families with income above mean. This allows important policy recommendations. Developing countries should focus infrastructure expansion on low income areas and complement them with educational interventions for families with low educational background to increase returns on investment. -- |
| JEL: | I21 I10 H41 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79808&r=edu |
| By: | Winter, Stefan; Pfitztner, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Higher education is subsidized worldwide, although with pronounced differences in levels of subsidization. While public funds account for about 90% of universities budgets in Scandinavian countries, the share of public funds in Great Britain and the US is less that 30%. Subsidization is typically justified by two arguments: It is necessary to enable children from poorer family backgrounds to join universities. The other argument holds that higher education is accompanied by positive externalities. Without subsidization, so the story reads, there would be an underinvestment in higher education. This paper shortly reviews theoretical arguments as well as empirical evidence on externalities. It is found that evidence on positive externalities is quite limited. What is more, evidence on negative externalities of higher education has been mainly ignored so far. If potential losses due to negative externalities are taken into account, there may be much more reason to suppress higher education than there is reason to subsidize it. If subsidization is reasonable at all, it will be reasonable in special cases only. We present a simple model of optimal subsidization and evaluate existing subsidization regimes in the US, Australia and Germany. We demonstrate that any of these regimes has severe shortcomings even if positive externalities are assumed to exist. While the Australian regime of income contingent loans is relatively best, it still offers many opportunities for improvement. We offer some guidance on potential improvements. -- |
| JEL: | D62 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79993&r=edu |
| By: | Philip J. Cook; Kenneth Dodge; George Farkas; Roland G. Fryer, Jr; Jonathan Guryan; Jens Ludwig; Susan Mayer; Harold Pollack; Laurence Steinberg |
| Abstract: | There is growing concern that improving the academic skills of disadvantaged youth is too difficult and costly, so policymakers should instead focus either on vocationally oriented instruction for teens or else on early childhood education. Yet this conclusion may be premature given that so few previous interventions have targeted a potential fundamental barrier to school success: “mismatch” between what schools deliver and the needs of disadvantaged youth who have fallen behind in their academic or non-academic development. This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial of a two-pronged intervention that provides disadvantaged youth with non-academic supports that try to teach youth social-cognitive skills based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and intensive individualized academic remediation. The study sample consists of 106 male 9th and 10th graders in a public high school on the south side of Chicago, of whom 95% are black and 99% are free or reduced price lunch eligible. Participation increased math test scores by 0.65 of a control group standard deviation (SD) and 0.48 SD in the national distribution, increased math grades by 0.67 SD, and seems to have increased expected graduation rates by 14 percentage points (46%). While some questions remain about the intervention, given these effects and a cost per participant of around $4,400 (with a range of $3,000 to $6,000), this intervention seems to yield larger gains in adolescent outcomes per dollar spent than many other intervention strategies. |
| JEL: | I0 I20 I24 I3 J24 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19862&r=edu |
| By: | Schwager, Robert |
| Abstract: | The direct democratic choice of an examination standard, i.e., a performance level required to graduate, is evaluated against a utilitarian welfare function. It is shown that the median preferred standard is inefficiently low if the marginal cost of reaching a higher performance reacts more sensitively to ability for high than for low abilities, and if the right tail of the ability distribution is longer than the left tail. Moreover, a high number of agents who choose not to graduate may imply that the median preferred standard is inefficiently low even if these conditions fail. -- |
| JEL: | I21 D72 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79971&r=edu |
| By: | Humburg M. (ROA) |
| Abstract: | Field of study choice has far-reaching implications for individuals enrolling in university. Field of study choice is strongly linked to the subject matter graduates will specialize in, the kind of work environment they will be working in, and the returns to their skills they can expect once they enter the workforce. This paper uses unique Dutch data which demonstrates that personality measured at age 14 can be linked to field of study choice at around age 19. It can be shown that the Big Five personality traits affect field of study choice. Moreover, while personality matters less than cognitive skills, such as math ability and verbal ability, for educational attainment, the influence of personality on field of study choice is comparable to that of cognitive skills. Sorting across fields of study on the basis of personality traits is in some respects similar for women and men, although substantial differences exist. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2014001&r=edu |
| By: | Humlum, Maria Knoth (Aarhus University); Kristoffersen, Jannie H. G. (CEBR, Copenhagen); Vejlin, Rune Majlund (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | The level of progression of an individual's educational or labor market career is a potentially important factor for family formation decisions. We address this issue by considering the effects of a particular college admission system on family formation. We show that the admission system affects mainly the timing of college enrollment and not the college-going decision. As such, we consider a specific type of career interruption and its consequences for relationship formation and fertility decisions. Specifically, we employ a regression discontinuity design based on the college admission system to estimate the effect of being above the admission requirement in the year of application on later family formation decisions. We find that the admission system has substantial effects on the timing of family formation and, specifically, that the timing of college enrollment is an important determinant hereof. This suggests that career interruptions such as delays in the educational system can have large effects on family decision-making. |
| Keywords: | fertility, education policy, career interruptions, delayed college enrollment, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I2 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7905&r=edu |
| By: | Lockheed, Marlaine E. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from a post-hoc evaluation of a performance-based teacher incentive program in the Kyrgyz Republic to examine the opinions of teachers receiving different pay bonuses based on their performance as assessed by external evaluators. Overall, teacher opinions of the program were favorable, although teachers who received lower performance ratings held less favorable opinions about the motivational aspects of the program. Despite this, lower-rated teachers were more likely to report that they used what they learned to evaluate their own teaching, as compared with more highly rated teachers, and were more likely to take professional development courses in the years following the program's implementation. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Teaching and Learning,Education For All,Primary Education,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6752&r=edu |
| By: | Samarakoon, Sujani; Parinduri, Rasyad |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether education empowers women. We exploit an exogenous variation in education induced by a longer school year in Indonesia in 1978, which fits a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. We find education reduces the number of live births, increases contraceptive use, and promotes reproductive health practices. However, except for a few outcome measures, we do not find evidence that education improves women's decision making authority within households, asset ownership, or community participation. These results suggest that, to some extent, education does empower women in middle-income countries like Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | education, women’s empowerment, regression discontinuity design, Southeast Asia, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53083&r=edu |
| By: | Kornder N.; Dronkers J.; Dronkers J. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | We try to explain the differences between the performance (in both reading and math) of 8430 15-year-old daughters and 8526 15-year-old sons in 17 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development destination countries across Europe and Oceania with the PISA 2009 data from 45 origin countries or regions. In addition to the level of societal gender equality of the origin and destination countries (the gender empowerment measure, or GEM) we use macro indicators of the educational systems, economic development, and religions of the countries of origin. We find that migrant daughters from countries with higher levels of gender equality have higher reading scores than comparable migrant sons (but this is not the case for math scores). In addition, the higher the level of gender equality in the destination countries, the lower the reading and math scores of both the male and female migrants’ children in their destination countries. Further analyses suggest that the difference between the levels of gender equality, rather than the levels themselves, of the origin and destination countries explains more of the educational performance of both female and male migrant pupils. Our results also show that the low level of gender equality in Islamic origin countries is a sufficient explanation of the low educational performance of Islam male and female migrants’ pupils. Finally, migrants’ daughters seem to perform slightly better educationally than comparable migrants’ sons. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2013018&r=edu |
| By: | Halili, Riza |
| Abstract: | This study examines the existing design and processes of student grants and loans and identifies the strengths and weaknesses on the control mechanism of student grants. A look into the present procedures and control mechanisms of policies concerning scholarships and grants-in-aid (GIAs) is an imperative measure when seeking to reform the delivery of higher education in the country. This can shed light on the reasons why the administration of a public good is efficient or inefficient. Though, the funds for these scholarship programs and grants are expended in the spirit of charity and altruism for the poor and deserving, they are nonetheless from the government and thus, from the taxpayers` pockets. This makes scholarship funds and other subsidies no different from ordinary government procurement that should be expended in a transparent, accountable, and cost-efficient manner ensuring that every centavo is going where it should. Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate scholarships and GIAs implemented by national government agencies are generally guided by policies and guidelines for the administration and monitoring of the said subsidies through laws, implementing rules and regulations, and department issuances. However, testing is not widely observed by all agencies to ensure that the student is ready and able to complete tertiary education. More importantly, the result of this study shows much can be improved in the institutionalization of policies that would strengthen transparency and accountability and would reduce conflict of interest and vulnerabilities to unethical behavior. |
| Keywords: | Commission on Higher Education (CHED), General Appropriations Act, scholarships, grants-in-aid (GIAs), student loans, Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAP), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2014-09&r=edu |
| By: | Véronique Robichaud; Luca Tiberti; Hélène Maisonnave |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of increased public expenditures in education on school participation, skill level of the workforce, occupational choices between self‐employed and wage earners, economic performance, poverty reduction and income distribution. These additional expenditures in education are financed either through increased indirect taxes, or using the funds to be generated by the exploitation of oil resources. The best suited tool to evaluate the impact of such policies and financing mechanisms on the economy is a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) as this type of tool takes into account the interactions between all of the actors of an economy in a consistent framework. Impacts on prices, volumes and school performance will affect differently the households and thus, in order to compute how these results will affect the income distribution and poverty, a micro model is needed as well. Standard CGE models do not explicitly set out the relationship between education spending, school performance, skill level of workers and their choices on the labor market. Hence, we suggest using an integrated dynamic macro‐micro approach that models those important linkages, where a detailed schooling module is developed at both the macro and micro level to track the transition of students into the skilled and unskilled labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Child Poverty; Education; Dynamic General Equilibrium; Micro-Simulation; Uganda |
| JEL: | I32 D58 C50 O55 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:mpiacr:2014-01&r=edu |
| By: | Übelmesser, Silke; Borck, Rainald; Wimbersky, Martin |
| Abstract: | We study voting over higher education finance in an economy with two regions and two separated labor markets. Households dffer in their financial endowment and their children's ability. Non-students are immobile. Students decide where to study; they return home after graduation with exogenous probability. The voters of the two regions decide on whether to subsidize higher education costs or whether to rely on tuition fees only. We find that in equilibrium, in both regions a majority votes for subsidies when the return probability is suffi ciently small. When that probability is large, both regions opt for full tuition finance. Interestingly, the higher the return probability, the smaller are the equilibrium subsidy rates, but the larger are the numbers of exchange students. -- |
| JEL: | H52 H42 D72 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79717&r=edu |
| By: | Luehrmann, Melanie; Chevalier, Arnaud; Dolton, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper examines field experiment in which we encourage the use of computer-based tests (quizzes) through a set of non-financial incentives and test their effect on effort and performance of students. Our identification strategy exploits cross-cohort experimental variation in assessment rules and within course variation in incentives to determine their impact on the performance in exams. We find these incentives to result in an increase in grades of 2.4 marks or about 4%. The performance effects are concentrated in the lower quartile of the grade distribution and can be attributed to increase quiz participation. Our results suggest that use of computerised assessment methods is not only a relatively low cost method of fostering continuous learning but also an effective tool in increasing student effort and performance. -- |
| JEL: | I23 D20 A23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79795&r=edu |
| By: | Manoel Bittencourt (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate whether secondary school enrolment has played any role on total fertility rates in all fifteen members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) between 1980 and 2009. The evidence, based on panel time-series analysis (we make use of the Pooled OLS, Fixed Effects and Fixed Effects with Instrumental Variables estimators), robustly suggest that education has indeed reduced fertility rates in the region, or that the community is already trading-off quantity for quality of children. The results are important not only because lower fertility, caused by education, implies more capital per worker, higher productivity and therefore higher growth rates, but also because in accordance to the unified growth theory they suggest that southern Africa is experiencing its own transition from the Malthusian epoch into a sustained (modern) growth regime. |
| Keywords: | Education, fertility, Africa |
| JEL: | I20 J13 O55 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201402&r=edu |
| By: | Vea, Reynaldo B. |
| Abstract: | Four forms of industry-academe linkage activities involve the sharing of economic value arising out of the generation of intellectual property: collaborative research and development (R&D), commissioned research, technology licensing, and the creation of spin-off companies. The Philippines is still in an emergent stage in all these forms. It has concerns that are the same as or similar to those of some other developing ASEAN countries. While there are particular government regulations that can hinder R&D initiatives, the Philippine legal environment, in general, can be considered enabling for the development of R&D capability in both academe and industry and for technology commercialization. The scales of S&T manpower-building programs and R&D expenditures, however, fall short of the potential enabled by legislation. The scales are at least an order of magnitude below those of countries that have successfully embarked on R&D capacity building in the past decades. As a manifestation of this overall weakness, industry-academe collaboration in R&D is also feeble. This paper recommends the implementation of a massive S&T manpower-building program employing the existing systems of science high schools and public and private higher education institutions (HEIs), the creation of a university of science and technology if total current HEI capacity proves inadequate, and the transformation of some existing public universities into research universities. With an overall improvement in R&D capability, R&D collaboration and technology commercialization will also be enhanced. |
| Keywords: | commercialization, research and development (R&D), industry-academe, university-industry, collaboration |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2014-10&r=edu |