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on Education |
| By: | Torberg Falch (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Bjarne Strøm (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør (Department of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the strict class size rule in Norway and matched individual and school register information for 1982?2011 to estimate long run causal effects on income and educational attainment. Contrary to recent evidence from the US and Sweden, we do not find any significant average effect on long run outcomes of reduced class size. We further use the large register data set and quasi-experimental strategy to estimate whether the class size effect depends on external conditions facing students and schools, such as teacher quality, extent of upper secondary school choice, school district size, local fiscal constraints and labor market conditions. Overall, we find that the class size effect does not depend on school district characteristics. The absence of class size effects on long run outcomes in Norway is consistent with earlier findings for short run outcomes using comparable data and empirical strategies. |
| Keywords: | class size, school district, quasi-experiment, educational attainment, income |
| JEL: | H7 |
| Date: | 2015–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:16415&r=all |
| By: | Amy Ellen Schwartz; Jacob Leos-Urbel; Matthew Wiswall |
| Abstract: | Holding a summer job is a rite of passage in American adolescence, a first rung towards adulthood and self-sufficiency. Summer youth employment has the potential to benefit high school students’ educational outcomes and employment trajectories, especially for low-income youth. This paper examines New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). SYEP provides jobs to youth ages 14-24, and due to high demand for summer jobs, allocates slots through a random lottery system. We match student-level data from the SYEP program with educational records from the NYC Department of Education, and use the random lottery to estimate the effects of SYEP participation on a number of academic outcomes, including test taking and performance. We find that SYEP participation has positive impacts on student academic outcomes, and these effects are particularly large for students who participate in SYEP multiple times. These findings suggest substantial heterogeneity in program effects, and an important avenue for policy makers to target the program to those who might benefit from it the most. |
| JEL: | I2 J24 J38 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21470&r=all |
| By: | Sarah Dahmann (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates two mechanisms through which education may affect cognitive skills in adolescence: the role of instructional quantity and the timing of instruction with respect to age. To identify causal effects, I exploit a school reform carried out at the state level in Germany as a quasi-natural experiment: between 2001 and 2007, the academictrack high school (Gymnasium) was reduced by one year in most of Germany's federal states, leaving the overall curriculum unchanged. To investigate the impact of this educational change on students' cognitive abilities, I conduct two separate analyses: first, I exploit the variation in the curriculum taught to same-aged students at academictrack high school over time and across states to identify the effect of the increase in class hours on students' crystallized and fluid intelligence scores. Using rich data on seventeen year-old adolescents from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, the estimates show that fluid intelligence remained unaffected, while crystallized intelligence improved for male students. Second, I compare students' competences in their final year of high school using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The results suggest that students affected by the reform catch up with their non-affected counterparts in terms of their competences by the time of graduation. However, they do not provide any evidence for the timing of instruction to matter in cognitive skill formation. Overall, secondary education therefore seems to impact students' cognitive skills in adolescence especially through instructional time and not so much through agedistinct timing of instruction. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive Skills, Crystallized Intelligence, Fluid Intelligence, Skill Formation, Education, High School Reform |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duh:wpaper:1504&r=all |
| By: | Kim Draper (Centre for Development and Enterprise); Nic Spaull (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | The ability to read for meaning and pleasure is arguably the most important skill children learn in primary school. One integral component of learning to read is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), defined as the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with meaningful expression. Although widely acknowledged in the literature as important, to date there have been no large-scale studies on ORF in English in South Africa, despite this being the language of learning and teaching for 90% of students from Grade 4 onwards. As part of the National Education and Evaluation Development Unit (NEEDU) of South Africa, we collected and here analyze data on 4667 grade 5 English Second Language (ESL) students from 214 schools across rural areas in South Africa. This included ORF and comprehension measures for a subset of 1772 students. We find that 41% of the sample were non-readers in English (<40WCPM) and only 6% achieved comprehension scores above 60%. By calibrating comprehension levels and WCPM rates we develop tentative benchmarks and argue that a range of 90-100 WCPM in English is acceptable for grade 5 ESL students in South Africa. In addition we outline policy priorities for remedying the reading crisis in the country. |
| Keywords: | Oral reading fluency, ESL, South Africa, NEEDU, WCPM |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers241&r=all |
| By: | P. J. Dawkins; J.M. Dixon |
| Abstract: | A major issue for the future of tertiary education is to ensure that Australia continues to expand its investment in skills and capabilities, to enable a future of prosperity which is available to all. This has been the aim of the demand-driven system of higher education. The Federal Government's current proposals for higher education reform include the expansion of the demand-driven system, by bringing sub-degree higher education programs into the subsided system and by bringing non-university higher education providers into the system. At the same time the government has been seeking to achieve budget restraint and as a result proposed to cut the amount of funding per student by an average of 20 per cent, although there is considerable variation across the disciplines. The government has also proposed to uncap fees, so that universities could at least recoup the lost funds due to the cuts in subsidies. The government's proposal for full-fee deregulation in higher education has stalled in the Senate. It has been subjected to criticism from the cross-benchers and from a number of expert commentators that there are serious risks with the proposal including the risk of excessive student fees and excessive debts. We argue that what is required is not full deregulation of fees, or a return to a more regulated model with tight fee regulation and a possible reversion to more regulation of student numbers as well. What is required is a third way; incorporating some degree of price flexibility, and an enhanced equity package, while retaining the demand driven model. This paper, therefore, is concerned with exploring alternative ways of sustaining the demand driven system by allowing some degree of flexibility in student fees, while avoiding excessive fee rises and allowing for some degree of price competition. Consideration is also given to ways in which the equity aspects of the package could be enhanced. Dawkins (2014) argued that three alternative methods should be explored to achieve a degree of fee flexibility: fee caps, loan caps and a "taper model"; whereby government tuition subsidies are reduced according to a taper-rate schedule, when they raise fees above a threshold level. The latter concept is one that is also being proposed by Bruce Chapman (Chapman 2015). Our analysis and consideration of the policy challenge leads us to the conclusion that the most promising way forward is a two-part package incorporating (a) a taper model whereby tuition subsidies are reduced according a progressive taper rate schedule, when fees rise above a threshold level, and (b) an enhanced Higher Education Participation Program (HEPP), incorporating scholarships for all low socioeconomic status background students across the system, and additional support for interventions for reducing the attrition rates of at-risk students. Data has been provided by the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training to assist with this research and the modelling has been undertaken at the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University. |
| Keywords: | higher education, taper scheme, government budget, education subsidies, HECS, deregulation |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I28 H52 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-252&r=all |
| By: | Seth Gershenson (American University); Stephen B. Holt (American Un iversity); Nicholas Papageorge (Johns Hopkins University) |
| Abstract: | Teachers are an important source of information for traditionally disadvantaged students. However, little is known about how teachers form expectations and whether they are systematically biased. We investigate whether student-teacher demographic mismatch affects high school teachers' expectations for students' educational attainment. Using a student fixed effects strategy that exploits expectations data from two teachers per student, we find that non-black teachers of black students have significantly lower expectations than do black teachers. These effects are larger for black male students and math teachers. Our findings add to a growing literature on the role of limited information in perpetuating educational attainment gaps. |
| Keywords: | Educational Attainment; Expectations; Stigmatization; Mismatch |
| JEL: | I24 D84 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:15-231&r=all |
| By: | Eyles, Andrew; Machin, Steve |
| Abstract: | We study the origins of what has become one of the most radical and encompassing programmes of school reform seen in the recent past amongst advanced countries – the introduction of academy schools to English secondary education. Academies are state schools that are allowed to run in an autonomous manner which is free from local authority control. Almost all academies are conversions from already existent state schools and so are school takeovers that enable more autonomy. Our analysis shows that this first round of academy conversions that took place in the 2000s generated significant improvements in the quality of pupil intake and in pupil performance. There is evidence of heterogeneity as improvements only occur for schools experiencing the largest increase in their school autonomy relative to their predecessor state. Analysis of mechanisms points to changes in headteachers and management structure as key factors underpinning these improvements in pupil outcomes. |
| Keywords: | academies; pupil intake; pupil performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10772&r=all |
| By: | Camille Terrier (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether we observe sex-discrimination in teachers' grades, and whether such biases affect pupils' achievement during the school year. I use a unique dataset containing standardized tests, teachers' attributed grades, and pupil's behavior, all three at different periods in time. Based on double-differences, the identification of the gender bias in teachers' grades suggests that (i) girls benefit from a substantive positive discrimination in math but not in French, (ii) girls' better behavior than boys, and their initial lower achievement in math do not explain much of this gender bias. Then, I use the heterogeneity in teachers' discriminatory behavior to show that classes in which teachers present a high degree of discrimination in favor of girls at the beginning of the year are also classes in which girls tend to progress more over the school year compared to boys. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:hal-01080834&r=all |
| By: | Karlan, Dean (Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action); Linden, Leigh (University of TX and Innovations for Poverty Action) |
| Abstract: | Commitment devices offer an opportunity to restrict future choices. However, if severe restrictions deter participation, weaker restrictions may be a more effective means of changing behavior. We test this using a school-based commitment savings device for educational expenses in Uganda. We compare an account fully-committed to educational expenses to an account in which savings are available for cash withdrawal but intended for educational expenses. The weaker commitment generates increased savings in the program accounts and when combined with a parent outreach program, higher expenditures on educational supplies. It also increases scores on an exam covering language and math skills by 0.14 standard deviations. We find no effect for the fully-committed account, and we find no effect for either account on attendance, enrollment, or non-cognitive skills. |
| JEL: | D12 D91 I21 O12 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:129&r=all |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); Rocco, Lorenzo (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | Several commentators have argued that vocational education provides a smoother school to work transition than academic education. In the long - run, however, the skills it provides depreciate faster and individuals with this type of education are less capable of adapting to technical change. Because of this, its short – term advantages trade off with expected long-term disadvantages in terms of employment, wages or both. Using two UK cohort studies, that allow us to follow individuals for at least 16 years in the labour market, we investigate whether this view has empirical support. For employment, our results indicate that the initial advantage associated to vocational education declines over time, without turning however into a disadvantage at later ages. For real net wages, the picture is more nuanced, with results that vary by cohort and educational level. Overall, our evidence suggests that vocational education is associated to lower expected long-term utility only for the younger cohort with higher (post-secondary) education. We further distinguish between dominant and non-dominant vocational education to account for the different bundles of skills held by individuals, and find that those with a more balanced bundle tend to have higher expected long-term earnings. |
| Keywords: | vocational, academic education, UK |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9275&r=all |
| By: | Dominique Meurs; Patrick A. Puhani; Friederike von Haaren |
| Abstract: | We document the educational integration of immigrant children with a focus on the link between family size and educational decisions and distinguishing particularly between first- and second-generation immigrants and between source country groups. First, for immigrant adolescents, we show family-size adjusted convergence to almost native levels of higher education track attendance from the first to the second generation of immigrants. Second, we find that reduced fertility is associated with higher educational outcomes for immigrant children, possibly through a quantity-quality trade-off. Third, we show that between one third and the complete difference in family-size adjusted educational outcomes between immigrants from different source countries or immigrant generations can be explained by parental background. This latter holds true for various immigrant groups in both France and Germany, two major European economies with distinct immigration histories. |
| Keywords: | migration, integration, quantity-quality trade-off, decomposition |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp778&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Regardless of the type of school attended (public or private, advantaged or disadvantaged), 15-year-old students spent more time in mathematics lessons in 2012 than in 2003. The average amount of time spent in mathematics classes varies by more than a factor of two across countries and economies. The more time spent in mathematics classes, the better students perform, on average; but giving students more work in class is often not enough to improve learning outcomes. |
| Date: | 2015–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:54-en&r=all |
| By: | Landerso, Rasmus (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Nielsen, Helena Skyt (Aarhus University); Simonsen, Marianne (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses register-based data to investigate the effects of school starting age on crime. Through this, we provide insights into the determinants of crime-age profiles. We exploit that Danish children typically start first grade in the calendar year they turn seven, which gives rise to a discontinuity in school starting age for children born around New Year. Our analysis speaks against a simple invariant crime-age profile as is popular in criminology: we find that higher school starting age lowers the propensity to commit crime at young ages. We also find effects on the number of crimes committed for boys. |
| Keywords: | criminal charges, school start, old-for-grade, violence, property crime |
| JEL: | I21 K42 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9279&r=all |
| By: | Nicola Brandt |
| Abstract: | France devotes a great deal of resources to vocational training for youths and especially adults, but the system is unduly complex and yields rather poor returns. The basic literacy and numeracy skills of many French adults remain weak in international comparison, with harmful effects on employment opportunities, wages and well-being. Access to basic skills training is poor for those who need it most, many of whom come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Secondary vocational education and apprenticeship training still suffer from a serious image problem in the minds of French families, even though the latter have a good track record. The government has succeeded in ensuring that the number of apprenticeships is growing, but that is mostly due to those studying at the tertiary level or at least for a higher secondary diploma. The labour market outcomes of those with only shorter vocational qualifications are not good, and quality in that stream needs to improve. To do so better teachers and workplace trainers need to be attracted to the field, especially individuals who can better link practical experience and theoretical concepts. The financing of the adult training system involves complex collection mechanisms even following a major recent overhaul. Making further changes will have to confront entrenched interests, even if the use of the training levy to finance business groups and unions has now ended. The goal is to direct more training funds to workers in small firms who have the weakest skills as well as to jobseekers, but this might be more easily achieved by shifting the funding base from a levy on employers to fiscal incentives or direct subsidies. There remains a need to align responsibilities for adult training with corresponding control over funds. Workers are henceforth to be given personal training accounts in which they can accumulate rights to up to 150 hours of training. But the enormous number of providers and courses on offer calls for greater efforts to develop good guidance, evaluation and certification systems to ensure the training finally chosen is appropriate and of sufficiently high quality. |
| Keywords: | vocational training, quality, adult learning, apprenticeships |
| JEL: | H52 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2015–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1260-en&r=all |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Majlesi, Kaveh (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Studies on the intergenerational transmission of human capital usually assume a one-way spillover from parents to children. But what if children also affect their parents' human capital? Using exogenous variation in education, arising from a Swedish compulsory schooling reform in the 1950s and 1960s, we address this question by studying the causal effect of children's schooling on their parents' longevity. We first replicate previous findings of a positive and significant cross-sectional relationship between children's education and their parents' longevity. Our causal estimates tell a different story; children's schooling has no significant effect on parents' survival. These results hold when we examine separate causes of death and when we restrict the sample to low-income and low-educated parents. |
| Keywords: | human capital, mortality, education |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9280&r=all |
| By: | Sarah J. Prenovitz; Gary R. Cohen; Ronald G. Ehrenberg; George H. Jakubson |
| Abstract: | The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) was established in 1988 to encourage underrepresented minority (URM) students to pursue PhD study with an eye towards entering academia. Fellows have completed PhDs at high rates relative to other students, but they are selected for their interest and potential, so this reflects both the effects of the program and the abilities of the students themselves. In order to understand one impact of the program we investigate its causal effect - how many of its fellows earned PhDs who would not have done so without the MMUF’s support. In this paper we use restricted access administrative data from the Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates to investigate the effect of the MMUF on PhD completions by underrepresented minority students who graduate from participating institutions. We find no evidence that participation in the program causes a statistically significant increase in the PhD production rate of URM students and increases in larger than 0.4 percentage points lie outside a 95% confidence interval using our unweighted baseline estimates. We also do not find evidence that increasing the intensity of the program by adding more fellows increases the PhD production rate, which is particularly notable as this estimate is upward-biased: the number of fellows likely reflects the strength of the candidate pool in a given year. |
| JEL: | I23 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21451&r=all |
| By: | Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Melbourne); Zhu, Anna (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the long-term consequences of children experiencing homelessness. Our primary goal is to assess the importance of the potential pathways linking childhood homelessness to adult employment. We use novel panel data that link survey and administrative data for a sample of disadvantaged adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We find that those experiencing homelessness for the first time as children are less likely to be employed than those who were never homeless as a child. For women, this relationship is largely explained by the lower educational attainment and higher welfare receipt (both in general and in the form of mental illness-related disability payments) of those experiencing childhood homelessness. Higher rates of high-school incompletion and incarceration explain some of the link between childhood homelessness and men's employment, however, childhood homelessness continues to have a substantial direct effect on male employment rates. |
| Keywords: | employment, homelessness, welfare receipt, education, incarceration |
| JEL: | J1 J2 I2 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9250&r=all |
| By: | Roland G. Fryer, Jr.; Steven D. Levitt; John A. List |
| Abstract: | This article describes a randomized field experiment in which parents were provided financial incentives to engage in behaviors designed to increase early childhood cognitive and executive function skills through a parent academy. Parents were rewarded for attendance at early childhood sessions, completing homework assignments with their children, and for their child’s demonstration of mastery on interim assessments. This intervention had large and statistically significant positive impacts on both cognitive and non-cognitive test scores of Hispanics and Whites, but no impact on Blacks. These differential outcomes across races are not attributable to differences in observable characteristics (e.g. family size, mother’s age, mother’s education) or to the intensity of engagement with the program. Children with above median (pre-treatment) non cognitive scores accrue the most benefits from treatment. |
| JEL: | I20 J01 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21477&r=all |
| By: | Ward, Shannon; Williams, J.; van Ours, Jan (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the effects of delinquency and arrest on school leaving using information on males from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. We use a multivariate mixed proportional hazard framework in order to account for common unobserved confounders and reverse causality. Our key finding is that delinquency as well as arrest leads to early school leaving. Further investigation reveals that the effect of delinquency is largely<br/>driven by income generating crimes, and the effect of both income generating crime and arrest are greater when onset occurs at younger ages. These findings are consistent with a criminal capital accumulation mechanism. On the basis of our sample, we show that taking into account the proportion of young men affected by delinquency and arrest, that the overall reduction in education due to delinquency is at least as large as the reduction due to arrest. This highlights the need for crime prevention efforts to extend beyond youth who come into contact with the justice system. |
| Keywords: | duration models; delinquency; arrest; education |
| JEL: | C4 I2 K4 D0 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:bd8e95d4-717e-42a0-982e-057da9c6d56f&r=all |
| By: | Cherrie Bucknor |
| Abstract: | Young blacks in America have had significant improvements in educational attainment since the early 1980s. They are completing high school and college at higher rates than in the past, which has helped to mitigate some of the negative employment effects of past recessions. However, wages for young blacks have declined since the late 1970s, with rates for black men in particular decreasing significantly—even for those with college degrees. The wage data also continue to show that young blacks have been hit harder than whites during the recent recession and incomplete recovery. |
| Keywords: | black, wages, education, pay, wages, wage growth, inequality, whites |
| JEL: | J J1 J15 J11 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2015-18&r=all |
| By: | Douzounet MALLAYE (Université N'Djaména Tchad - Université N'Djaména); Urbain Thierry YOGO (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | Since 2000, Official Development Assistance has played a crucial role in efforts related to the achievement of MDGs. This is especially the case in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) which is the world’s largest recipient of foreign aid. This paper assesses the effectiveness of aid and its efficient use in achieving universal primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The impact of aid is assessed for a sample of 35 SSA countries over the decade 2000-2010. The results suggest that higher aid to education significantly increases primary completion rate. This result is robust to the use of various methods of estimation, the inclusion of instrument to account for the endogeneity of aid and the set of control variables included in regressions. In addition, this paper shows that there is strong heterogeneity in the efficient use of aid across countries in SSA. |
| Date: | 2015–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01100836&r=all |
| By: | Lamichhane, Kamal; Watanabe, Takayuki |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect of gender on returns to the investment in education for men and women with disabilities in Metro Manila of the Philippines. By using a unique dataset of persons with hearing, physical and visual impairments, we employ three methodological strategies on earning functions, including continuous and discontinuous functions and quantile regression to reveal the effects of gender within disabilities. Our estimation suggests that women with disabilities face several disadvantages in the labor markets of the Philippines where gender equality in general is observed for women without disabilities. After controlling for a sample selection to account for endogenous labor participation, as well as endogeneity of schooling decisions, the estimated rate of returns to education is very high, ranging from 24.9 to 38.4%. However, when classifying each disability dummy variable for each gender, the effect of double disadvantage (gender and disability) is observable. Additionally, checking the possibility of nonlinear schooling returns, we also find that the effect of disability for women is more severe than for their male counterparts. From these findings, we cannot reject the possibility that obtaining a diploma serves signaling as their ability level for women with disabilities. |
| Keywords: | disability , gender , returns to education , labor market participation , earning functions , Philippines |
| Date: | 2015–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:103&r=all |
| By: | Phan, Diep (Beloit College); Coxhead, Ian (University of WI) |
| Abstract: | Education and economic growth are highly complementary, especially in middle-income economies. In this chapter we review the performance and prospects for education in developing Southeast Asian countries. The prior Northeast Asian experience underlines the importance of investing in human capital ahead of growth in demand. Other than in Singapore, Southeast Asia's record is much less bright in this regard. In most of the region, shortages of qualified skilled workers threaten to impede transitions through middle income. The one exception is the Philippines, a remittance-oriented economy where growth in the supply of skills has long exceeded expansion of domestic demand. We begin with a brief summary of basic data on educational achievement, public funding and access. We then present more detailed discussions on two contemporary issues: the influence of rapidly changing economic conditions on returns to educational investments, especially as the region's economy becomes more closely integrated in Asian and global production systems; and the potential impediments to human capital accumulation posed by limited demand for education. Demand is constrained by opportunity cost, and in some cases by distortions in the market for capital, a factor complementary with skills. We conclude with a brief assessment of the regional outlook for human capital growth and implications for economic development and policy. |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:wisagr:574&r=all |
| By: | Steigleder, Quinn (Department of Economics, Colgate University); Sparber, Chad (Department of Economics, Colgate University) |
| Abstract: | Native and foreign-born workers with a high school degree or less educational attainment provide unique occupational skills to the US labor force. This regularity might be driven, in part, by limited access to occupations for immigrants lacking legal rights to work in the US. This paper exploits exogenous policy change induced by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) to perform triple-difference estimation examining whether legal status causes immigrants to work in occupations that use skills more similar to those of native-born workers. We find that legal status decreases the manual skill intensity of Mexican immigrants by two percentiles. It increases communication skill intensity by an equivalent amount. This effect reduces the skill gap between Mexican-born and native-born American workers by 13%. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Occupational Skills, Natural Experiment |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 J31 |
| Date: | 2015–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgt:wpaper:2015-05&r=all |
| By: | Noël Bonneuil (EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales, INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Raouf Boucekkine (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM) - AMU - Aix-Marseille Université, IUF - Institut Universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) |
| Abstract: | The mechanism stating that longer life implies larger investment in human capital, is premised on the view that individual decision-making governs the relationship between longevity and education. This relationship is revisited here from the perspective of optimal period school life expectancy, obtained from the utility maximization of the whole population characterized by its age structure and its age-specific fertility and mortality. Realistic life tables such as model life tables are mandatory, because the age distribution of mortality matters, notably at infant and juvenile ages. Optimal period school life expectancy varies with life expectancy and mortality. Applications to stable population models and then to French historical data from 1806 to nowadays show that the population age structure has indeed modified the relationship between longevity and optimal schooling |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01082317&r=all |
| By: | Robin SAKAMOTO (Kyorin University) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to review the state of higher education development in ASEAN and formulate how research and development should proceed post 2015 to ensure technological upgrading, innovation and competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education, Research and Development, Innovation |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2015-52&r=all |
| By: | Strain, Michael R. (American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research); Webber, Douglas A. (Temple University) |
| Abstract: | Using within-high-school variation and controlling for a measure of cognitive ability, this paper finds that high-school leadership experiences explain a significant portion of the residual gender wage gap and selection into management occupations. Our results imply that high-school leadership could build non-cognitive, productive skills that are rewarded years later in the labor market and that explain a portion of the systematic difference in pay between men and women. Alternatively, high-school leadership could be a proxy variable for personality characteristics that differ between men and women and that drive higher pay and becoming a manager. Because high school leadership experiences are exogenous to direct labor market experiences, our results leave less room for direct labor market discrimination as a driver of the gender wage gap and occupation selection. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, noncognitive skills, occupational choice |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9277&r=all |
| By: | Merlo, Antonio (Rice University); Wolpin, Kenneth I. (Rice University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the relationship among schooling, youth employment and youth crime. The framework, a multinomial discrete choice vector autoregression, provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamic interactions among a youth's schooling, work and crime decisions and arrest and incarceration outcomes. We allow for observable initial conditions, unobserved heterogeneity, measurement error and missing data. We use data from the NLSY97 on black male youths starting from age 14. The estimates indicate important roles both for heterogeneity in initial conditions and for stochastic events that arise during one's youth in determining outcomes as young adults. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:riceco:15-004&r=all |
| By: | Anger, Silke; Schnitzlein, Daniel D. |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates substantial influences of family background on skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.223 to 0.464; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility. |
| Keywords: | Sibling correlations, family background, non-cognitive skills, cognitive skills, intergenerational mobility |
| JEL: | J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-561&r=all |
| By: | Geuna, Aldo; Shibayama, Sotaro (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the determinants of exit from academic research which occurs when academic researchers move into positions in academe which concentrate on non-research activities such as teaching or administration, or when researchers leave academia and move into industry. Drawing on career data for 13,500 Japanese PhD graduates in hard sciences (all scientific fields except social sciences and humanities), we develop a set of econometric models to test the determinants of exit from a career in academic research. We find that academics’ scientific productivity and academic network are negatively correlated with abandoning a university research career, and that female academics, and researchers in less-prestigious universities, tend to exit academic research more easily. Individual and institutional network effects play a role mainly for senior researchers. The results indicate also that the determinants of exit are contingent on scientific field and career stage. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201501&r=all |
| By: | Jo Blanden; Claire Crawford; Ellen Greaves; Paul Gregg; John Hills; Lindsey Macmillan; Abigail McKnight; Luke Sibieta; Anna Vignoles |
| Abstract: | Coalition Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, argued that 'the over-riding priority for our social policy is improving social mobility'. Research summarised here sheds light on how things have been changing as children move through education and on other key drivers of differences in life chances. |
| Keywords: | social mobility, education, attainment |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:spccwp:21&r=all |
| By: | Robert Cassen; Sandra McNally; Anna Vignoles |
| Abstract: | A new book by Sandra McNally and colleagues surveys the evidence on which policies and practices are working in UK schools. |
| Keywords: | education, school resources, education funding, government policy |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:446&r=all |
| By: | Chetty, Raj; Friedman, John; Rockoff, Jonah |
| Abstract: | Using data from North Carolina, Jesse Rothstein (2014) presents a comprehensive replication of Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff's [CFR] (2014a,b) results on teachers' impacts. In addition, Rothstein presents new evidence that he argues raises concerns about three aspects of CFR's methods and identification assumptions: their treatment of missing data, the validity of their quasi-experimental design, and their method of controlling for observables when estimating teachers' long-term effects. In this paper, we show that Rothstein's methodological critiques are not valid by replicating his new empirical findings using simulated data in which none of CFR's identification assumptions are violated. We also present supplementary empirical evidence from our data supporting the assumptions required for CFR's original analyses. Together, these results show that: (1) Rothstein's technique for imputing teacher VA for teachers with missing data generates bias, while subsamples with no missing data yield estimates of forecast bias similar to CFR's baseline results; (2) his proposed prior score \placebo test" rejects valid quasiexperimental research designs, and the correlation between changes in prior test scores and current teacher value-added he documents is an artifact of estimating teacher value-added using prior test score data; and (3) his method of controlling for covariates yields inconsistent estimates of teachers' long-term effects, while quasi-experimental designs that do not rely on controls for observables yield estimates of teachers' long-term impacts similar to CFR's baseline results. We conclude that Rothstein's important replication study is entirely consistent with – and in fact reinforces – CFR's methods and results. Our conclusions match those of Bacher-Hicks, Kane, and Staiger (2014), who replicate both CFR's results and Rothstein's findings using data from Los Angeles and also conclude that Rothstein's results raise no concerns about CFR's analysis. |
| Keywords: | education policy; teacher effects; value-added models |
| JEL: | H52 I28 J01 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10768&r=all |
| By: | Langthaler, Margarita |
| Abstract: | The increasing international interest in the Austrian dual system of apprenticeship has triggered a trend to transfer this system, or parts of it, to foreign countries including developing and transition countries. This paper analyzes the trend from a developmental perspective. After a historic outline of vocational education in international development and the discussion of current global trends in vocational education, the paper elaborates on the transfer of the dual system from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. It then goes on to describe the Austrian dual system of apprenticeship. In the empirical part, the paper first examines the status quo of the transfer trend as well as key players, funding possibilities, approaches, lessons of experience and challenges. Findings are subsequently analyzed from a developmental perspective. Finally, recommendations are made of how to strengthen the developmental impact. The paper concludes that while current transfer activities respond well to several criteria set out by the Austrian Development Cooperation, a number of open questions remain as to sustainability, systemic effect and economic bias, among others. |
| Keywords: | Vocational Education and Training,Dual System of Apprenticeship |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:oefsew:53&r=all |
| By: | Karlan, Dean (Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action); Jamison, Julian (US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Innovations for Poverty Action); Zinman, Jonathan (Dartmouch College and Innovations for Poverty Action) |
| Abstract: | Evidence on the effectiveness of financial education and formal savings account access is lacking, particularly for youth. We randomly assign 250 youth clubs to receive either financial education, access to a cheap group account, or both. The financial education treatments increase financial literacy; the account-only treatment does not. Administrative data shows the education plus account treatment increases bank savings relative to account-only. But survey-measured total savings shows roughly equal increases across all treatment arms. Earned income also increases in all treatment arms. We find little evidence that education and account access are strong complements, and some evidence they are substitutes. |
| JEL: | D12 D91 O12 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:132&r=all |
| By: | Yange Xue; Eileen Bandel; Cheri A. Vogel; Kimberly Boller |
| Abstract: | Early Head Start programs are expected to assess child progress on an ongoing basis to ensure that children are developing the skills they need to be ready for school. |
| Keywords: | language development, assessment, screening tools, baby faces, infant toddler |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2015–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:e1917ef93e604c7b827c1ba3cfcf5d4d&r=all |
| By: | Julie Le Gallo (UMR CRESE - Université de Franche-Comté); Yannick L'Horty (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS, ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12); Pascale Petit (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS, ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12) |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of lowering the cost of learning to drive in France by randomly assigning candidates to either of two groups of 18 to 25 years olds. Young people in the “test group” were given a €1000 voucher to pay for their driving lessons and were suported by a welfare centre throughout the time they were learning. Young people in the “control group” retained all the other welfare benefits for the underprivileged. The vouchers were given to 10 000 young people most of whom were not in education, employment or training. We investigate three types of outcome covering driving, housing and employment status. We analyse the specific role of local support in passing the driving test and we specifically take into account the possibility of spillover effects between treated and untreated individuals. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01100332&r=all |
| By: | Matthew S. Rutledge; Steven A. Sass; Jorge D. Ramos-Mercado |
| Abstract: | Changing jobs after age 50 has become increasingly common. To assess the employment opportunities available to these job-changers, this study examines how the range of occupations in which they find jobs narrows as they age and whether this pattern differs by socioeconomic status, using education as a proxy. The results indicate that workers in their early 50s who change jobs find employment in a reasonably similar set of occupations as do prime-age workers but that the opportunities increasingly narrow as they enter their late 50s and early 60s. These results vary by educational attainment. Interestingly, while job opportunities narrow as workers age, the number of opportunities available to older workers at any given age has improved significantly between the late 1990s and early 2010s – though the gains have gone primarily to better-educated older workers. Consistent with previous research, the study also finds: 1) employer policies that emphasize employee training, respect for seniority, and “hiring from within” create barriers to the hiring of older job-seekers; 2) older workers are less likely to be hired in jobs requiring strong cognitive skills; but 3) physical demands and adverse working conditions are not serious impediments. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2015-20&r=all |