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on Education |
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Issue of 2016‒03‒29
thirty-two papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Laura López-Torres; Diego Prior Jiménez (Business Department, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Improving educational quality is an important public policy goal. However, its success requires identifying factors associated with student achievement. At the core of these proposals lies the principle that increased public school quality can make school system more efficient, resulting in correspondingly stronger performance by students. Nevertheless, the public educational system is not devoid of competition which arises, among other factors, through the efficiency of management and the geographical location of schools. Moreover, families in Spain appear to choose a school on the grounds of location. In this environment, the objective of this paper is to analyze whether geographical space has an impact on the relationship between the level of technical qu ality of public schools (measured by the efficiency score) and the school demand index. To do this, an empirical application is performed on a sample of 1,695 public schools in the region of Catalonia (Spain). This application shows the effects of spatial autocorrelation on the estimation of the parameters and how these problems are addressed through spatial econometrics models. The results confirm that space has a moderating effect on the relationship between efficiency and school demand, although only in urban unicipalities. |
| Keywords: | school efficiency, school demand, spatial econometrics, spatial dependence |
| JEL: | C14 C21 C61 C67 I21 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbe:wpaper:1403&r=edu |
| By: | Timothy J. Bartik (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Brad J. Hershbein (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Marta Lachowska (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | As the costs of higher education rise, many communities have begun to adopt their own financial aid strategy: place-based scholarships for students graduating from the local school district. Some place-based scholarships impose merit- and/or need-based restrictions, while others require little more than residency and graduation. In this paper, we examine the reach and cost-effectiveness of the Kalamazoo Promise, one of the more universal and more generous place-based scholarships. Building upon estimates of the program’s heterogeneous effects on degree attainment, individual-level scholarship cost data, and projections of future earning profiles by education, we examine the Promise’s benefit-cost ratios for different types of students differentiated by income, race, and gender. Although the average break-even rate of return of the program is about 11 percent, rates of return vary greatly by group. The Promise has high returns for both low-income and non-low-income groups, for nonwhites, and for women, while benefit assumptions matter more for whites and men. Our results show that universal scholarships can reach many students and have a high rate of return, particularly for places with a high percentage of African American students. |
| Keywords: | place-based scholarship, enrollment, college completion, natural experiment, difference-in-differences, financial aid policy, benefit-cost analysis |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I24 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:16-252&r=edu |
| By: | Javier Cano-Urbina (Florida State University); Lance Lochner (The University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of educational attainment and school quality on crime among American women. Using changes in compulsory schooling laws as instruments, we estimate significant effects of schooling attainment on the probability of incarceration using Census data from 1960-1980. Using data from the 1960-90 Uniform Crime Reports, we also estimate that increases in average schooling levels reduce arrest rates for violent and property crime but not white collar crime. The estimated reductions in crime for women are smaller in magnitude than comparable estimates for men; however, the effects for women are larger in percentage terms (relative to baseline crime rates). Our results suggest small and mixed direct effects of school quality (as measured by pupil-teacher ratios, term length, and teacher salaries) on incarceration and arrests. Finally, we show that the effects of education on crime for women is unlikely to be due to changes in labor market opportunities and may be more related to changes in marital opportunities and family formation. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20163&r=edu |
| By: | Scott E. Carrell; Mark Hoekstra; Elira Kuka |
| Abstract: | A large and growing literature has documented the importance of peer effects in education. However, there is relatively little evidence on the long-run educational and labor market consequences of childhood peers. We examine this question by linking administrative data on elementary school students to subsequent test scores, college attendance and completion, and earnings. To distinguish the effect of peers from confounding factors, we exploit the population variation in the proportion of children from families linked to domestic violence, who were shown by Carrell and Hoekstra (2010, 2012) to disrupt contemporaneous behavior and learning. Results show that exposure to a disruptive peer in classes of 25 during elementary school reduces earnings at age 26 by 3 to 4 percent. We estimate that differential exposure to children linked to domestic violence explains 5 to 6 percent of the rich-poor earnings gap in our data, and that removing one disruptive peer from a classroom for one year would raise the present discounted value of classmates' future earnings by $100,000. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J12 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22042&r=edu |
| By: | Álvaro Choi (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); María Gil (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid); Mauro Mediavilla (Universitat de València & IEB); Javier Valbuena (Universitat de Girona) |
| Abstract: | Most recent available evidence points to the scarce efficacy of grade retention for levelling the performance of students. Yet, the fact that many countries persist in applying this measure reflects longstanding traditions, cultural factors and social beliefs as well, it would seem, the lack of robust empirical evidence to do otherwise. We contribute to the literature by analysing the impact of grade retention on the reading competencies of lower secondary school students in Spain, a country where almost one out of every three students will repeat at least one grade by age 16. We overcome the absence of longitudinal data by creating a pseudo-panel that combines microdata from two international assessments, PIRLS and PISA. Having controlled for reverse causality, our study confirms the negative and heterogeneous impact of grade retention. This paper provides new evidence of the pressing need to rethink this educational policy, and our results highlight the importance of early intervention as opposed to only employing remedial measures. |
| Keywords: | Grade retention, academic achievement, PISA, PIRLS |
| JEL: | I21 I28 I24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-7&r=edu |
| By: | Brian Jacob; Susan Dynarski; Kenneth Frank; Barbara Schneider |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impacts of the Michigan Merit Curriculum, a statewide college preparatory curriculum that applies to the high school graduating class of 2008 and later. We use a student, longitudinal database for all public school students in Michigan for the main analyses, and complement this with analyses from a state-year panel. The study employs several non-experimental approaches, including a comparative interrupted time series and a synthetic control method. Our analyses suggest that the higher expectations embodied in the MMC has had little impact on student outcomes. Looking at student performance on the ACT, the only clear evidence of a change in academic performance comes in science. Our best estimates indicate that ACT science scores improved by 0.2 points (or roughly 0.04 standard deviations) as a result of the MMC. Students who entered high school with the weakest academic preparation saw the largest improvement, gaining 0.35 points (0.15 standard deviations) on the ACT composite score and 0.73 points (0.22 standard deviations) on the ACT science score. Our estimates for high school completion are very sensitive to the sample and methodology used. Some analysis suggests a small negative impact on high school graduation for students who entered high school with the weakest academic preparation, but other analysis finds no such effect. |
| JEL: | I0 I21 I3 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22013&r=edu |
| By: | Jorge Calero (Universidad de Barcelona & IEB); Inés P. Murillo Huertas (Universidad de Extremadura); Josep Lluís Raymond Bara (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | The main aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of adult skills, as captured by cognitive competencies assessed in the PIAAC, across age cohorts, explicitly taking into account that the quality of schooling might change from one cohort to another. We estimate a model that relates numeracy and literacy competencies to age, schooling, gender and variables related to both family background and labour market performance. The specification allows us to control for changes in the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into competencies when drawing age-skill profiles. Our results show that the effect of ageing on skills, once isolated from cohort effects related to schooling, decreases monotonically across consecutive cohorts. The evolution of the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into both numeracy and literacy skills shows a remarkably similar pattern. Nonetheless, this evolution differs substantially between education levels, with the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into skills showing a steadier profile for intermediate than it does for higher education. Finally, empirical evidence is provided for the decomposition of the differences in the skill levels of the older vs. the prime age generations. The results suggest that the progressive expansion of schooling across younger generations partially offsets the negative effect of the irrepressible ageing of society on skills. |
| Keywords: | Adult competencies, schooling, ageing, age-skill profiles |
| JEL: | I21 J10 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-3&r=edu |
| By: | Paloyo, Alfredo R.; Rogan, Sally; Siminski, Peter |
| Abstract: | While randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the 'gold standard' for impact evaluation, they face numerous practical barriers to implementation. In some circumstances, a randomized-encouragement design (RED) is a viable alternative, but applications are surprisingly rare. We discuss the strengths and challenges of RED and apply it to evaluate a mature Supplemental Instruction (SI) or PASS (Peer Assisted Study Session) program at an Australian university. A randomly selected subgroup of students from first-year courses (N = 6954) was offered large incentives (worth AUD 55,000) to attend PASS, which increased attendance by an estimated 0.47 hours each. This first-stage (inducement) effect did not vary with the size of the incentive and was larger (0.89) for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Instrumental variable estimates suggest that one hour of PASS improved grades by 0.065 standard deviations, which is consistent with the non-experimental literature. However, this estimate is not statistically significant, reflecting limited statistical power. The estimated effect is largest for students in their first semester at university. |
| Keywords: | Australia,randomized-encouragement design,student outcomes,peerassisted study session,supplemental instruction,selection bias |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:603&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Bolli (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Ladina Rageth (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a new approach to measuring changes in the social status of education programmes, a type of social status that the literature has greatly neglected so far. We focus on the dual Vocational Education and Training (dual VET) system in Switzerland, which has recently received substantial attention across Europe. We argue that, holding everything else constant, a change in the relative ability of students in an education programme, in relation to the cohort, reflects a change in the social status of that programme. Using PISA scores as a proxy for cognitive ability, we apply this approach to test whether growing knowledge of the education system increases the social status of dual VET in Switzerland. Our results, which focus on immigrant students, confirm that the social status of dual VET increases with these students length of stay in Switzerland, thus reflecting their learning process about the Swiss education system. |
| Keywords: | Social Status, Vocational Education and Training, Dual VET, Apprenticeship |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:16-403&r=edu |
| By: | Beth E. Schueler; Joshua Goodman; David J. Deming |
| Abstract: | The Federal government has spent billions of dollars to support turnarounds of low-achieving schools, yet most evidence on the impact of such turnarounds comes from high-profile, exceptional settings and not from examples driven by state policy decisions at scale. In this paper, we study the impact of state takeover and district-level turnaround in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Takeover of the Lawrence Public School (LPS) district was driven by the state’s accountability system, which increases state control in response to chronic underperformance. We find that the first two years of the LPS turnaround produced large achievement gains in math and modest gains in reading. Our preferred estimates compare LPS to other low income school districts in a differences-in-differences framework, although the results are robust to a wide variety of specifications, including student fixed effects. While the LPS turnaround was a package of interventions that cannot be fully separated, we find evidence that intensive small-group instruction led to particularly large achievement gains for participating students. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21895&r=edu |
| By: | Atila Abdulkadiroglu; Parag A. Pathak; Christopher R. Walters |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP), a prominent school voucher plan. The LSP provides public funds for disadvantaged students at low-performing Louisiana public schools to attend private schools of their choice. LSP vouchers are allocated by random lottery at schools with more eligible applicants than available seats. We estimate causal effects of voucher receipt by comparing outcomes for lottery winners and losers in the first year after the program expanded statewide. This comparison reveals that LSP participation substantially reduces academic achievement. Attendance at an LSP-eligible private school lowers math scores by 0.4 standard deviations and increases the likelihood of a failing score by 50 percent. Voucher effects for reading, science and social studies are also negative and large. The negative impacts of vouchers are consistent across income groups, geographic areas, and private school characteristics, and are larger for younger children. These effects are not explained by the quality of fallback public schools for LSP applicants: students lotteried out of the program attend public schools with scores below the Louisiana average. Survey data show that LSP-eligible private schools experience rapid enrollment declines prior to entering the program, indicating that the LSP may attract private schools struggling to maintain enrollment. These results suggest caution in the design of voucher systems aimed at expanding school choice for disadvantaged students. |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21839&r=edu |
| By: | Timothy M. Diette (Department of Economics, Washington and Lee University); Manu Raghav (Department of Economics and Management, DePauw University) |
| Abstract: | Colleges and universities with capacity constraints like to offer early morning classes to maximize the use of classrooms. Moreover, evenings are often reserved for extra-curricular activities. However, research from psychology has shown that a teenager’s mind benefits from additional sleep during early morning hours. We use data from a selective liberal arts college that assigns students randomly to different sections of the same course. This creates a natural experiment. Our paper shows that after controlling for other factors, students in early morning sections earn lower grades than students in sections of the same course offered later in the day. The result holds for all the courses offered at this institution. Grades are especially low for 8 am and 9 am classes for both genders, although the effect is larger for male students. This suggests that trade-offs exist between optimal use of classroom space and learning outcomes for students. |
| Keywords: | Class time, grades, GPA, student learning |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I23 A22 Z18 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dew:wpaper:2016-01&r=edu |
| By: | Joppe de Ree; Karthik Muralidharan; Menno Pradhan; Halsey Rogers |
| Abstract: | How does a large unconditional increase in salary affect employee performance in the public sector? We present the first experimental evidence on this question to date in the context of a unique policy change in Indonesia that led to a permanent doubling of base teacher salaries. Using a large-scale randomized experiment across a representative sample of Indonesian schools that affected more than 3,000 teachers and 80,000 students, we find that the doubling of pay significantly improved teacher satisfaction with their income, reduced the incidence of teachers holding outside jobs, and reduced self-reported financial stress. Nevertheless, after two and three years, the doubling in pay led to no improvements in measures of teacher effort or student learning outcomes, suggesting that the salary increase was a transfer to teachers with no discernible impact on student outcomes. Thus, contrary to the predictions of various efficiency wage models of employee behavior (including gift-exchange, reciprocity, and reduced shirking), as well as those of a model where effort on pro-social tasks is a normal good with a positive income elasticity, we find that unconditional increases in salaries of incumbent teachers had no meaningful positive impact on student learning. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J31 J45 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21806&r=edu |
| By: | Geovanny Castro Aristizabal; Maribel Castillo Caicedo; Julie Carolina Mendoza Parra (Faculty of Economics and Management, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali) |
| Abstract: | Using a random predictor model, on two levels, to analyze the PISA 2012 for the Latin American countries results we found that the main determinants of school performance are gender, condition of not repeater and quality of school materials. In addition, it was determined that the variability in skills acquisition is explained, in a smaller proportion, by the heterogeneity in the characteristics of the students. Finally, it was estimated that private schools have a better performance than public ones, where Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay were the countries with the highest educational inequality. Keywords: skills acquisition, educational production function, multilevel models, PISA, Latin America. |
| Keywords: | Skills acquisition, educational production function, multilevel models, PISA, Latin America. |
| JEL: | C13 C29 I21 I29 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ddt:wpaper:22&r=edu |
| By: | Korthals R.A. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | Previous literature has found inconsistent effects of tracking students in secondary school on student performance using various ways to alleviate the endogeneity in tracking. Sociological literature argues that the threat for war with and invasion by the French around the 1800s induced European countries to introduce mass public education systems. I use this theory to estimate the effect of tracking on student performance in Europe, instrumenting tracking by the political pressure caused by the Napoleonic Wars. The relation between political pressure by Napoleon and tracking is strong and leads in the second stage to a consistent positive effect of tracking on student performance. One important limitation of this analysis is that it is reasonable to assume that political pressure from Napoleon influenced many facets of European countries. |
| Keywords: | Education and Research Institutions: General; |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2016015&r=edu |
| By: | Prettner, Klaus; Schäfer, Andreas |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of higher education on the evolution of inequality. In so doing we propose a novel overlapping generations model with three social classes: the rich, the middle class, and the poor. We show that there is an initial phase in which no social class invests in higher education of their children, such that the evolution of inequality is entirely driven by the level of bequests. Once a certain income threshold is surpassed, the rich start to invest in higher education of their children, which partially crowds out bequests and thereby reduces inequality in the short run. The better educated children of the rich, however, enjoy higher incomes and inequality starts to rise again. As time goes by, the middle class and eventually also the poor start to invest in higher education, but now the increase in inequality is driven by different levels of education. As the economy proceeds toward a balanced growth path, educational differences between social groups and thus inequality decline again. We argue that (1) the proposed mechanism has the potential to explain the Ushaped evolution of inequality in rich countries in the second half of the 20th Century and the first decade of the 21st Century and (2) the currently observed increase in inequality is rather a transitory phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | higher education,inequality,growth regime switch,middle income trap,Piketty curve |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I25 O11 O41 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuweco:032016&r=edu |
| By: | Grey Gordon; Aaron Hedlund |
| Abstract: | We develop a quantitative model of higher education to test explanations for the steep rise in college tuition between 1987 and 2010. The framework extends the quality-maximizing college paradigm of Epple, Romano, Sarpca, and Sieg (2013) and embeds it in an incomplete markets, life-cycle environment. We measure how much changes in underlying costs, reforms to the Federal Student Loan Program (FSLP), and changes in the college earnings premium have caused tuition to increase. All these changes combined generate a 106% rise in net tuition between 1987 and 2010, which more than accounts for the 78% increase seen in the data. Changes in the FSLP alone generate a 102% tuition increase, and changes in the college premium generate a 24% increase. Our findings cast doubt on Baumol’s cost disease as a driver of higher tuition. |
| JEL: | D40 D58 E21 G11 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21967&r=edu |
| By: | Tetsuo Ono (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Yuki Uchida (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This study presents an overlapping generations model to capture the nature of the competition between generations regarding two redistribution policies, public education and public pensions. From a political economy viewpoint, we investigate the effects of population aging on these policies and economic growth. We show that greater longevity results in a higher pension-to-GDP ratio. However, an increase in longevity produces an initial increase followed by a decrease in the public education- to-GDP ratio. This, in turn, results in a hump-shaped pattern of the growth rate. |
| Keywords: | economic growth; population aging; public education; public pen-sions |
| JEL: | D78 E24 H55 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1437r2&r=edu |
| By: | Mónica Ospina Londoño; Juan José Estrada |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper provides new evidences to the literature of assignment in the labor market for the Colombian case. Specifically it focuses on the existing relationship between acquired human capital in higher education and its congruence in the labor market. Differing from previews studies, the misallocation analysis is not only based on the horizontal component and the educational mismatch, but it also includes the vertical mechanism (vertical mechanism is related to skills mismatch and horizontal mechanism is related to professional career mismatch). Another contribution is how we measure the abilities through an exploratory factor analysis. The data are taken from the Survey of Graduates of Higher Education Institutions 2014, provided by OLE. We employ a two-step treatment effect method proposed by Heckman (1974, 1979) and Lee (1978)), we found that generic abilities raise the probability of horizontal mismatch and diminish the probability of vertical mismatch. On the other hand, specific abilities lower the probability of both horizontal and vertical mismatch. In terms of wages, we found evidence that confirmed the results of the assignment models because it exists a wage penalty for the mismatched individuals (Sattinger, 1993). |
| Keywords: | Horizontal and vertical mismatch; assignment theory; generic and specific skills;congruence; productivity and wages |
| JEL: | C35 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2016–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:014328&r=edu |
| By: | Ivo Bischoff (University of Kassel); Ferry Prasetyia (Brawijaya University) |
| Abstract: | We provide an empirical analysis of the factors that drive expenditures on primary and secondary education in Indonesian districts. We use a panel-data set covering 398 districts between 2005 and 2012. We account for the impact of socio-economic, political and geographical factors on expenditures per pupil and on the share of the overall budget spent on education. Our results are in line studies from other countries showing that educational expenditures are rising in the municipalities’ fiscal capacity. Landlocked districts are found to spend less on education than non-landlocked ones. We find some support for the notion that the share of educational expenditures in total expenditures increases in the demand for education, though our indicators for demand are not associated with higher expenditures per pupil. Somewhat surprisingly, the characteristics of the local municipal council do not influence educational expenditures. |
| Keywords: | Indonesia, local government, educational expenditures, determinants |
| JEL: | H75 I25 N35 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201532&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Kemper (Bergische Universität Wuppertal, WIB – Wuppertaler Institut für bildungsökonomische Forschung) |
| Abstract: | The paper provides information on the status of the collection of migrational data in official school statistics of the federal states in Germany. Based on this, the proportion of students without a German citizenship as well as students with migration background will be presented and differentiated by the specific definition of migration background in the federal states. Furthermore, the validity and comparability of the definitions will be discussed as well as the merging of the federal school statistics into a national school statistic. Based on the available migration attributes the educational participation of students with migration background will be analyzed – with a special focus on the attendance of secondary schools. |
| Keywords: | migration, migration background, educational participation, school statistics |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:schdps:sdp16001&r=edu |
| By: | Julien Lafortune; Jesse Rothstein; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of post-1990 school finance reforms, during the so-called "adequacy" era, on gaps in spending and achievement between high-income and low-income school districts. Using an event study design, we find that reform events--court orders and legislative reforms--lead to sharp, immediate, and sustained increases in absolute and relative spending in low-income school districts. Using representative samples from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, we also find that reforms cause gradual increases in the relative achievement of students in low-income school districts, consistent with the goal of improving educational opportunity for these students. The implied effect of school resources on educational achievement is large. |
| JEL: | H73 H75 I22 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22011&r=edu |
| By: | Olivier Godechot (MaxPo, Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | The effect of social capital is often overestimated because contacts and centrality can be a consequence of success rather than its cause. Only rare randomized or natural experiments can assess the real causal effect of social capital. This paper relies on data from one such experiment: faculty recruitment at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) between 1960 and 2005, a leading French institution of higher education in the social sciences. It exploits the fact that the electoral commission, a hiring committee which produces a first ranking of applicants, is partly composed of faculty members drawn at random. It shows that when the PhD advisor is randomly drawn, it doubles the chances of an applicant of being shortlisted. |
| Keywords: | recruitment; networks; social capital; academia; causality |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/37ufknmfv39tppkbjb4dmidnqe&r=edu |
| By: | Beblavý, Miroslav; Fabo, Brian; Lenaerts, Karolien |
| Abstract: | In a globalised world, knowledge of foreign languages is an important skill. Especially in Europe, with its 24 official languages and its countless regional and minority languages, foreign language skills are a key asset in the labour market. Earlier research shows that over half of the EU27 population is able to speak at least one foreign language, but there is substantial national variation. This study is devoted to a group of countries known as the Visegrad Four, which comprises the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Although the supply of foreign language skills in these countries appears to be well-documented, less is known about the demand side. In this study, we therefore examine the demand for foreign language skills on the Visegrad labour markets, using information extracted from online job portals. We find that English is the most requested foreign language in the region, and the demand for English language skills appears to go up as occupations become increasingly complex. Despite the cultural, historical and economic ties with their German-speaking neighbours, German is the second-most-in-demand foreign language in the region. Interestingly, in this case there is no clear link with the complexity of an occupation. Other languages, such as French, Spanish and Russian, are hardly requested. These findings have important policy implications with regards to the education and training offered in schools, universities and job centres. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:cepswp:11264&r=edu |
| By: | John Knight; Deng Quheng; Li Shi |
| Abstract: | In the decade 1998-2008 China expanded enrolment in higher education almost six-fold. For the examination of its short term labour market consequences, this unprecedentedly huge and sudden policy change might be regarded as a natural experiment. After providing a theoretical framework for analysis, the paper uses urban labour market surveys to analyse how the labour market adjusted to the supply shock. Three outcomes are examined: the effect of the expansion on wages, on unemployment, and on access to ‘good jobs’. The shock is found to reduce relative wages, raise the unemployment rate, and reduce the proportion in good jobs, but only for the entry-year or entry-period cohort of graduates. The effect is fairly powerful for entrants, especially university rather than college graduates, but incumbent graduates are largely protected from the supply shock. An attempt is made to examine the labour market effects of the quantitative expansion on educational quality. The paper provides insight into the operation of China’s labour market in recent years. |
| Keywords: | China; cohort effects; graduate unemployment; higher education; labour market; returns to higher education |
| JEL: | I21 I23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-04&r=edu |
| By: | Peter Hinrichs |
| Abstract: | This descriptive paper documents how segregation between blacks and whites across colleges in the United States has evolved since the 1960s. It also explores potential channels through which changes are occurring, and it uses recent data to study the issue of segregation within colleges. The main findings are as follows: (1) White exposure to blacks has been rising since the 1960s, whereas black exposure to whites increased sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s and has fluctuated since then. Meanwhile, black-white dissimilarity and the Theil index fell sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s and have fallen more gradually since. (2) There has been regional convergence, although colleges in the South remain more segregated than those in any other region when measured by dissimilarity, by the Theil index, or by black exposure to whites. (3) A major channel for the decline in segregation is the declining share of blacks attending historically black colleges and universities. (4) Although there is segregation within universities, most segregation across major × university cells occurs across universities. |
| JEL: | I24 I28 J15 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21831&r=edu |
| By: | Argaw, Bethlehem A. |
| Abstract: | Prior to the introduction of mother tongue based education in 1994, the language of instruction for most subjects in Ethiopia's primary schools was the official language (Amharic) - the mother tongue of only one third of the population. This paper uses the variation in individual's exposure to the policy change across birth cohorts and mother tongues to estimate the effects of language of instruction on reading skills and early labour market outcomes. The results indicate that the reading skills of birth cohorts that gained access to mother tongue-based primary education after 1994 improved significantly by about 11 percentage points. The provision of primary education in mother tongue halved the reading skills gap between Amharic and non-Amharic mother tongue users. The improved reading skills seem to translate into gains in the labour market in terms of the skill contents of jobs held and the type of payment individuals receive for their work. An increase in school enrollment and enhanced parental educational investment at home are identified as potential channels linking mother tongue instruction and an improvement in reading skills. |
| Keywords: | language of instruction,mother tongue,reading skills,labour market,policy evaluation |
| JEL: | I24 I25 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16016&r=edu |
| By: | Fabo, Brian; Beblavý, Miroslav |
| Abstract: | The massification of tertiary education means that a significant percentage of young people participate in tertiary education while also working. They can be seen as a threat – as cheap and highly qualified competition for low-skilled workers in casual jobs who are setting aside their studies for the time being in favour of immediate income. Or they might present an opportunity – a natural way for a large percentage of young people to gain experience and contact with the labour market without the need for massive government programmes. The authors argue in this CEPS commentary that student work is more of an opportunity than a threat. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:cepswp:10812&r=edu |
| By: | Accolley, Delali |
| Abstract: | I developed a dynamic deterministic general equilibrium model accounting for human capital accumulation through both home education and schooling. The model is characterized by an altruistic link between households of succeeding generations in the sense parents, caring about their children’s welfare, freely impart them some knowledge at home in addition to helping them financially when they are schooling. The education regime is private and features distinguishing my model from related works are: (1) young households are economically active and work part-time while schooling, (2) allocating time to schooling or labor entails disutility, (3) tuition is proportional to the time allocated to schooling. I calibrated the model to some balanced growth facts observed between 1981 and 2013 in the Province of Quebec. The model is then used to investigate the contribution of human capital to economic growth. To do that, I simulate it assuming in turn a permanent rise in the tuition rate and the household’s ability to learn. Each of these two shocks reveals a positive correlation between education, human capital, and output. The predictions of the model are then used to shed a light on the student crisis Quebec witnessed in 2012 following our former Liberal government’s decision to increase tuition. I predict that raising tuition will neither harm education nor negatively impact on students’ ability to pay. |
| Keywords: | Education, economic growth, human capital, overlapping generations |
| JEL: | J24 O4 |
| Date: | 2015–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69972&r=edu |
| By: | Bertrand Mocquet (Université Bordeaux Montaigne) |
| Abstract: | The french Law No. 2013-60 of 22 July 2013 on higher education and research forced the governance of French universities to invest more in the field of digital strategy. In some universities, including the University of Perpignan, governance takes the form of a vice-president in charge of the digital who is in charge of building and implementing a strategy focused on the change here development of uses. The presentation is to describe what is happening in the French university, in terms of devices created to support the strategy, and provides analysis of the release of the strategy on the device the internet and computer certificate C2i elements. |
| Abstract: | La loi n°2013-60 du 22 Juillet 2013 relative à l'enseignement supérieur et à la recherche contraint les gouvernances des universités françaises à davantage investir le terrain de la stratégie numérique. Dans certaines universités, dont l'université de Perpignan, la gouvernance prend la forme d'un vice-président en charge de la question numérique, au sens large qui a pour charge de construire et mettre en oeuvre une stratégie du changement ciblé ici sur le développement des usages. La présentation se propose de décrire ce qu'il se passe dans cette université française, en terme de dispositifs créés pour appuyer la stratégie, et propose des éléments d'analyse de la dissémination de la stratégie sur le dispositif le certificat internet et informatique C2i. |
| Keywords: | use of digital,university,university governance,dynamic change,usage du numérique,université,gouvernance des universités,dynamique de changement. |
| Date: | 2014–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01280368&r=edu |
| By: | Hugh Macartney; Robert McMillan; Uros Petronijevic |
| Abstract: | While incentive schemes to elicit greater effort in organizations are widespread, the incentive strength-effort mapping is difficult to ascertain in practice, hindering incentive design. We propose a new semi-parametric method for uncovering this relationship in an education context, using exogenous incentive variation and rich administrative data. The estimated effort response forms the basis of a counterfactual approach tracing the effects of various accountability systems on the full distribution of scores. We show higher average performance comes with greater score dispersion for a given accountability scheme, and that incentive designs not yet enacted can improve performance further, relevant to education reform. |
| JEL: | D82 I21 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21835&r=edu |
| By: | Pierre Azoulay; Ina Ganguli; Joshua S. Graff Zivin |
| Abstract: | As scientists’ careers unfold, mobility can allow researchers to find environments where they are more productive and more effectively contribute to the generation of new knowledge. In this paper, we examine the determinants of mobility of elite academics within the life sciences, including individual productivity measures and for the first time, measures of the peer environment and family factors. Using a unique data set compiled from the career histories of 10,004 elite life scientists in the U.S., we paint a nuanced picture of mobility. Prolific scientists are more likely to move, but this impulse is constrained by recent NIH funding. The quality of peer environments both near and far is an additional factor that influences mobility decisions. Interestingly, we also identify a significant role for family structure. Scientists appear to be unwilling to move when their children are between the ages of 14-17, which is when US children are typically enrolled in middle school or high school. This suggests that even elite scientists find it costly to disrupt the social networks of their children and take these costs into account when making career decisions. |
| JEL: | J12 J62 O31 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21995&r=edu |