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on Education |
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Issue of 2017‒04‒30
nineteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Armona, Luis (Stanford University); Chakrabarti, Rajashri (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Lovenheim, Michael (Cornell University, NBER, CESifo) |
| Abstract: | For-profit providers are becoming an increasingly important fixture of U.S. higher education markets. Students who attend for-profit institutions take on more educational debt, have worse labor market outcomes, and are more likely to default than students attending similarly selective public schools. Because for-profit schools tend to serve students from more disadvantaged backgrounds, it is important to isolate the causal effect of for-profit enrollment on educational and labor market outcomes. We approach this problem using a novel instrument combined with more comprehensive data on student outcomes than have been employed in prior research. Our instrument leverages the interaction between increases in the demand for college when labor demand declines and the local supply of for-profit schools. We compare enrollment and postsecondary outcome changes across areas that experience similar labor demand shocks but that have different latent supply of for-profit institutions. The first-stage estimates show that students are much more likely to enroll in a for-profit institution for a given labor demand change when there is a higher supply of such schools in the base period. Second-stage estimates vary somewhat across two-year and four-year schools. Among four-year students, for-profit enrollment leads to more loans, higher loan amounts, an increased likelihood of borrowing, an increased risk of default, and worse labor market outcomes. Two-year for-profit students also take out more loans and have higher default rates and lower earnings. But they are more likely to graduate and to earn over $25,000 per year (the median earnings of high school graduates). Finally, we show that negative local labor demand shocks induce for-profit entry and that this effect is larger in areas that have a higher latent supply of for-profit institutions. Our results point to low returns to forprofit enrollment—a finding that has important implications for public investments in higher education as well as how students make postsecondary education choices. |
| Keywords: | postsecondary education; for-profit schools; student loans; default; returns to education |
| JEL: | H4 I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:811&r=edu |
| By: | Bulent Anil; Duygu Guner; Tuba Toru Delibasi; Gokce Uysal (Bahcesehir University) |
| Abstract: | Measuring the gender peer effects on student achievement has recently attracted a lot of attention in the literature. Yet, the results are inconclusive. A substantial amount of research shows that having relatively more girls in a division increases the academic achievement of all students. Nevertheless, the identification of pure gender effects remains a challenge due to the fact that girls outperform boys in overall academic performance. Our study overcomes this identification problem in a setting where girls are not academically better. Using 2009-2010 school year data on 8th graders in Turkey, this paper disentangles pure "academic" peer effects and "gender" peer effects. Our estimations reveal that the higher the share of females in a division, the lower the likelihood that a student drops out. One standard deviation increase in the share of females in the division decreases the likelihood of dropout by 0.3 percentage points. This result holds even though females are 9.32 percentage points more likely to drop out. These findings are robust to the inclusion of various control variables e.g. parental and academic background of the student, school and regional characteristics. We also find that the gender peer effects are prevalent in both females and males. |
| Date: | 2017–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1084&r=edu |
| By: | A.S. Kalwij; Rob Alessie; M. Dinkova; Gea Schonewille; Anna van der Schors; Minou van der Werf |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we report the results of a controlled field experiment designed to estimate the short-term effects of a 45-minute financial education program on financial literacy and savings behavior in Dutch primary schools. Among fifth and sixth graders, the program led to a pre- to posttest improvement in financial literacy on almost one out of eight questions, with about one-third of the increase in correctness attributable to the program. It also raised the savings probability for fifth graders by seven percentage point but generated no significant increase for sixth graders. Overall, the program appears to have been mainly effective for the questions explicitly addressed in its content. We also note that the significant program effects appear to be driven by the result for girls; however, we cannot reject homogeneous treatment effects with respect to gender. |
| Keywords: | Education, treatment effects, panel data models |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1705&r=edu |
| By: | Goodman, Joshua (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Despite great focus on and public investment in STEM education, little causal evidence connects quantitative coursework to students' economic outcomes. I show that state changes in minimum high school math requirements substantially increase black students' completed math coursework and their later earnings. The marginal student's return to an additional math course is 10 percent, roughly half the return to a year of high school, and is partly explained by a shift toward more cognitively skilled occupations. Whites' coursework and earnings are unaffected. Rigorous standards for quantitative coursework can close meaningful portions of racial gaps in economic outcomes. |
| JEL: | I24 I28 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp17-004&r=edu |
| By: | Kharisma, Bayu; Satriawan, Elan; Arsyad, Lincolin |
| Abstract: | This study aims to investigate the role of Indonesia’s Social Safety Net Scholarships Program to the school dropout rates in basic education in Indonesia using Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and the Intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Randomized controlled trials often suffer from two major complications, i.e., noncompliance and missing outcomes. One potential solution to this problem is a statistical concept called intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. One of the challenges of estimating the effect of the JPS program is the non-random allocation of the scholarships. The results showed that the JPS scholarship received by boys and girls per 100 children is proven to be effective in reducing the school dropout rates in basic education, given that levels of education are very vulnerable to dropping out of school as a result of the impact of the economic crisis, particularly in junior secondary school. Meanwhile, the JPS scholarships received by boys more effective to reduce school dropout rates than girls in reducing the school dropout rates, considering that boys are more involved during the economic crisis. The findings were the same in Java and Bali that the average number of boys per 100 children who received JPS scholarship has shown a more significant share in reducing the total dropout number compared to those who are outside the Java and Bali areas. Thus, it will reduce the households that tried to offset the impact of the economic crisis with a variety of coping strategies, especially using boy’s child labor in Java and Bali. Although the JPS scholarship effectively reduces the school dropout rates in basic education, but the influence is still felt inadequate. Therefore, the government needs to fix the target criteria for scholarships recipients to be more accurate and on target with the latest data update. This is important because accurate targeting will determine the effectiveness of the program. Furthermore, it has poor selection criteria carried out by the committee schools, therefore, it needs to be fixed in order to avoid any irregularities. |
| Keywords: | Social Safety Net Scholarships Program, School Dropout Rates, IFLS, ITT |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78319&r=edu |
| By: | Brian Bell; Rui Costa; Stephen Machin |
| Abstract: | Do compulsory schooling laws reduce crime? Previous evidence for the US from the 1960s and 1970s suggests they do, primarily working through their effect on educational attainment to generate a causal impact on crime. In this paper, we consider whether more recent experience replicates this. There are two key findings. First, there is a strong and consistent negative effect on crime from stricter compulsory schooling laws. Second, there is a weaker and sometimes non-existent link between such laws and educational attainment. As a result, credible causal estimates of the education–crime relationship cannot in general be identified for the more recent period, though they can for some groups with lower education levels (in particular, for blacks). |
| Keywords: | Crime; Education; Compulsory schooling laws |
| JEL: | I2 K42 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68607&r=edu |
| By: | Marco Bertoni; Stephen Gibbons; Olmo Silva |
| Abstract: | Education policy worldwide has sought to incentivize school improvement and facilitate pupil-school matching by introducing reforms that promote autonomy and choice. Understanding the way in which families form preferences during these periods of reform is crucial for evaluating the impact of such policies. We study the effects on choice of a recent shock to the English school system - the academy programme - which gave existing state schools greater autonomy, but provided limited information on possible expected benefits. We use administrative data on school applications for three cohorts of students to estimate whether academy conversion changes schools' popularity. We find that families - particularly non-poor, White British ones - rank converted schools higher on average. Expected changes in composition, effectiveness and other school policies cannot explain this updating of preferences. Instead, the patterns suggest that families combine the signal of conversion with prior information on quality, popularity and proximity as a heuristic for assessing a school's expected future performance. |
| Keywords: | school reform, choice and autonomy, parental preferences, heuristic-based decision making |
| JEL: | I21 H75 C23 D03 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1477&r=edu |
| By: | Christian Krekel |
| Abstract: | We study whether raising instructional time can crowd out student pro-social behaviour. To this end, we exploit a large educational reform in Germany that has raised weekly instructional time for high school students by 12.5% as a quasi-natural experiment. We find that this rise has a negative and sizeable effect on volunteering, both at the intensive and at the extensive margin. It also affects political interest. There is no similar crowding out of scholastic involvement, but no substitution either. We conclude that instructional time plays an important role in shaping student pro-social behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Instructional time, student pro-social behaviour, volunteering, scholastic involvement, political interest, quasi-natural experiment, "G8" Reform, SOEP |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp903&r=edu |
| By: | Utteeyo Dasgupta; Subha Mani; Smriti Sharma; Saurabh Singhal |
| Abstract: | We exploit the variation in the admissions process across colleges of a leading Indian university to estimate the causal effects of enrolling in a selective college on: cognitive attainment using scores on standardized university exams; behavioural preferences such as risk, competitiveness, and overconfidence; and socioemotional traits using measures of Big Five personality. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that enrolling in a selective college leads to improvements in females’ exam scores with no effect on males’ scores. Marginally admitted females in selective colleges become less overconfident and less risk averse as compared to their counterparts in the less selective colleges. Males in selective colleges experience a decline in extraversion and conscientiousness. We find higher attendance rates among females to be one of the likely channels explaining the gender differences in returns to better college and peer environment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper in the literature to go beyond cognitive outcomes, to causally identify the returns to college quality on both behavioural and socioemotional traits. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-94&r=edu |
| By: | Benedetto, Lepori; Geuna, Aldo; Veglio, Valerio (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to develop a theory-based typology of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) based on three dimensions of differentiation, i.e. their activity profile (education vs. research), the subject scope (generalist vs. specialist) and regulatory characteristics which constrain the previous two. We examine the financial environment of HEIs as a possible selection mechanism. Particular attention is devoted to the identification of European Research Universities. By testing this typology on a large sample of European HEIs, we show systematic differences between types in their activity profile and in the level of funding, therefore providing evidence that types are associated with different market positioning. We identify a small group of research universities, characterized by a high level of research volume and intensity and by a volume of funding far higher than all other HEIs in the sample, suggesting that their emergence is critically linked to the concentration of resources. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201705&r=edu |
| By: | Oyvat, Cem; Tekgüç, Hasan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines two structural factors that have restricted educational development in Southeastern Turkey: land inequality and ethnic fractionalization/conflict. Until recently a semi-feudal structure persisted in the region with politically and economically powerful tribal leaders and large landowners called ağas. At the same time, the region has been the site of an ethnic conflict, which has been ongoing as an armed insurgency for over 30 years between Kurdish insurgents and the Turkish State. Using a province-level data set, we test the impact of land inequality, conflict and ethnicity on education investment and school enrollment for the period 1970-2012. We find that higher land inequality reduces the school enrollment rates due to budget constraints imposed on poorer households. However, the economic and political power of ağas in the region does not block education investments. Moreover, we find that although the armed conflict in the region did not directly hinder education investments, it did reduce school enrollment rates at middle and high school levels, while increasing enrollment at the primary school level. Finally, we find that provinces with higher percentages of Kurdish population received less education investment even after controlling for conflict and land inequality. These results suggest that high land inequality and the Turkish State’s neglect of Kurdish areas were the important factors behind Southeastern Turkey’s educational underdevelopment, while the conflict had mixed effects on the education in the region. |
| Keywords: | land distribution; agrarian structures; conflict; development; education |
| JEL: | D74 I24 O17 Q15 |
| Date: | 2017–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gpe:wpaper:16812&r=edu |
| By: | Toheri, Toheri; Winarso, Widodo |
| Abstract: | Mathematical thinking skills are very important in mathematics, both to learn math or as learning goals. Thinking skills can be seen from the description given answers in solving mathematical problems faced. Mathematical thinking skills can be seen from the types, levels, and process. Proportionally questions given to students at universities in Indonesia (semester I, III, V, and VII). These questions are a matter of description that belong to the higher-level thinking. Students choose 5 of 8 given problem. Qualitatively, the answers were analyzed by descriptive to see the tendency to think mathematically used in completing the test. The results show that students tend to choose the issues relating to the calculation. They are more use cases, examples and not an example, to evaluate the conjecture and prove to belong to the numeric argumentation. Used mathematical thinking students are very personal (intelligence, interest, and experience), and the situation (problems encountered). Thus, the level of half of the students are not guaranteed and shows the level of mathematical thinking. |
| Keywords: | Mathematical Thingking, Personal, Situation |
| JEL: | I2 I20 I21 I24 I29 |
| Date: | 2017–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78486&r=edu |
| By: | MATSUOKA Ryoji |
| Abstract: | Observing child-rearing strategies practiced by elementary school children's middle-class parents in the United States, Annette Lareau coined the term "concerted cultivation," describing the middle-class distinctive parenting pattern. These parents intentionally structure their children's daily lives, for example, by enrolling them in extracurricular activities to develop their cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Concerted cultivation was also observed in Japan, while previous studies have suggested some dissimilarities between the United States and Japan regarding middle-class parenting styles, possibly derived from the two nations' different features of educational systems. Therefore, I investigate whether concerted cultivation practiced by Japanese middle-class parents has distinctive characteristics using nationally representative longitudinal data on children in Japan, while considering the Japanese education system's important features different from those in the United States (i.e., standardization level and educational selection's timing). I also explore whether different levels of cumulative experiences acquired through Japanese concerted cultivation assist in differentiating children's adaptation to lower secondary education. This study's findings demonstrate how college-educated parents transmit their advantages to their children through a distinctive pattern of concerted cultivation developed in response to Japan's standardized education system with its high-stakes educational selection in secondary education. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17041&r=edu |
| By: | Robinson, Carly D. (Harvard University); Lee, Monica G. (Stanford University); Dearing, Eric (Boston College); Rogers, Todd (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Attendance in kindergarten and elementary school robustly predicts student outcomes. Despite this well-documented association, there is little experimental research on how to reduce absenteeism in the early grades. This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment in ten school districts evaluating the impact of a low-cost, parent-focused intervention on student attendance in grades K-5. The intervention targeted commonly held parental misbeliefs undervaluing the importance of regular K-5 attendance as well as the number of school days their child had missed. The intervention decreased chronic absenteeism by 15%. This study presents the first experimental evidence on how to improve student attendance in grades K-5 at scale, and has implications for increasing parental involvement in education. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp17-011&r=edu |
| By: | Avery, Christopher (Harvard University); Gurantz, Oded (Stanford University); Hurwitz, Michael (College Board); Smith, Jonathan (College Board) |
| Abstract: | Mapping continuous raw scores from millions of Advanced Placement examinations onto the 1 to 5 integer scoring scale, we apply a regression discontinuity design to understand how students' choice of college major is impacted by receiving a higher integer score, despite similar exam performance, to students who received a lower integer score. Attaining higher scores increases the probability that a student will major in that exam subject by approximately 5 percent (0.64 percentage points), with some individual exams demonstrating increases in major choice by as much as 30 percent. These direct impacts of a higher score explain approximately 11 percent of the unconditional 64 percent (5.7 percentage points) gap in the probability of majoring in the same subject as the AP exam when attaining a 5 versus a 4. We estimate that a substantial portion of the overall effect is driven by behavioral responses to the positive signal of receiving a higher score. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp16-058&r=edu |
| By: | Margherita Calderone |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the spillover effects of grants under the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) on human capital investments in conflict-affected Northern Uganda. The YOP grant was primarily aimed at providing start-up money to groups of underemployed young people, and in practice worked similarly to an unconditional cash transfer. It kept a gender balance by mandating that groups should be at least one third female. Overall, the intervention had a significant impact on education-related expenditures, increasing them by 11–15 per cent (US$17– 23) in the shorter and longer term (i.e. after two and four years). However, the educational expenditures of women did not increase. Female recipients seem not to have spent more on education, at least in part because of redistributive pressures such as probable financial requests from other members of their YOP group. These findings are relevant for future designs of group eligibility rules and for targeting of cash transfers. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-93&r=edu |
| By: | Winarso, Widodo; Karimah, Siti Asri |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to determine whether the application of learning brain-friendly through the whole brain teaching a positive effect on the character of creative students, to study the response of the students, and to determine whether the students' response to the application of learning brain-friendly through the whole brain teaching positively correlated with the character of creative students in mathematics. The research method used is quantitative. The instruments used are student questionnaire responses related to the application of brain-friendly learning through the whole brain teaching and observation sheet on student creativity in the learning of mathematics after the implementation of this method. Results of research with correlation analysis show that the greater significance of the alpha value (5%), which means accepting and rejecting H0 Ha which means students' response to the application of brain-friendly learning through the whole brain teaching is not positively correlated with the creative character of students in the learning of mathematics. The average score of the students' response to this methodology very well categorized in the amount of 85%. The results of the observation of the creative character of the students after the implementation of this method, the average score of 68% were categorized quite creative |
| Keywords: | Brain friendly learning, Whole Brain Teaching, Response, Creative Character |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I23 I29 Z0 |
| Date: | 2017–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78544&r=edu |
| By: | Young Eun Kim (World Bank); Norman V. Loayza (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | To move toward universal health coverage to enable everyone to receive quality health care without financial hardship, three dimensions should be considered simultaneously: population to be covered, health services to be covered, and financial risk protection. Collaboration among ministries of health, finance, education, and labor is important for effective policy making and implementation, and societal solidarity is essential for sustainability. |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apc:wpaper:2017-096&r=edu |
| By: | Amoroso, Sara (European Commission); Audretsch, David (Indiana University); Link, Albert (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between an entrepreneur’s experience and education and his/her reliance on alternative sources of knowledge for exploring new business opportunities. The extant literature that is at the crossroads between sources of knowledge and the experiential and intellectual base of an entrepreneur (i.e., dimensions of his/her human capital) suggests that it is through experience and through education that an entrepreneur obtains knowledge. Using information on a sample of high-tech manufacturing firms across 10 European countries, we explore heterogeneities in the influence of experience, age, and education of the firm’s primary founder on the perceived importance of (i.e., use of) alternative sources of knowledge. We find that the association of these characteristics differs significantly across sources of knowledge, and across European regions. Education is positively related to the importance of knowledge from research institutes and internal know-how, while age is negatively related to the importance of research institutes and positively related to publications and conferences. On the one hand, in South/East European countries, the importance of internal know-how is positively associated with age and education, but negatively associated with experience. On the other hand, the characteristics of primary founders of North/West European firms are more linked to the importance of the participation to funded research programmes. This source of knowledge is related positively with age and education and negatively with experience. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Knowledge; Experience; Education; Human Capital |
| JEL: | D83 J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2017–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2017_004&r=edu |