nep-edu New Economics Papers
on Education
Issue of 2017‒06‒04
27 papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Nudging Study Habits: A Field Experiment on Peer Tutoring in Higher Education By Wilson, Nicholas; Pugatch, Todd
  2. Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact of Universal Free Meals on Student Performance By Amy Ellen Schwartz; Michah W. Rothbart
  3. The Role of Program Financing in the System of Higher Education By George Abuselidze; Madona Mikeladze
  4. The Impact of Studying Abroad on Economic Activity of Graduates By Jacek Liwinski
  5. Post-compulsory education in England: choices and implications By Claudia Hupkau; Sandra McNally; Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela; Guglielmo Ventura
  6. Efficiency of School Education: Teachers' View By Avraamova, Elena; Klyachko, Tatiana; Loginov, Dmitriy; Tokareva, Galina
  7. Educational disparities in the battle against infertility : evidence from IVF success By SANTAEULÀLIA-LLOPIS, Raül; IORIO, Daniela; GROES, Fane; LEUNG, Man Yee Mallory
  8. China's Lost Generation: Changes in Beliefs and their Intergenerational Transmission By Gerard Roland; David Y. Yang
  9. A Quantitative Optimization Framework for Market-Driven Academic Program Portfolios By Burgher, Joshua; Hamers, Herbert
  10. Does Choice Increase Information? Evidence from Online School Search Behavior By Michael F. Lovenheim; Patrick Walsh
  11. Development of Human Capital in Bialystok Functional Area By Anna Buslowska; Beata Wisniewska
  12. An attempt to optimise the number of pupils in comprehensive secondary schools based on their learning outcomes By Jan Polcyn
  13. How to escape poverty through education?: Intergenerational evidence in Spain By Duarte, Rosa; Ferrando, Sandra; Molina, Jose Alberto
  14. Ewing Marion Kauffman School Evaluation Impact Report Year 5 By Matthew Johnson; Alicia Demers; Cleo Jacobs Johnson; Claudia Gentile
  15. Comparative Analysis of the National Education Systems of the BRICS By Krasnova, Gulnara
  16. From the Field to the Lab. An Experiment on the Representativeness of Standard Laboratory Subjects By L. Frigau; T. Medda; V. Pelligra
  17. Ewing Marion Kauffman School Evaluation Impact Report Year 5 (Executive Summary) By Matthew Johnson; Alicia Demers; Cleo Jacobs Johnson; Claudia Gentile
  18. How Do Peers Impact Learning? An Experimental Investigation of Peer-to-Peer Teaching and Ability Tracking By Erik O. Kimbrough; Andrew D. McGee; Hitoshi Shigeoka
  19. Financial sustainability for private higher education institutions By Zanna Cernostana
  20. The Impact of Student Debt on Education, Career, and Marriage Choices of Female Lawyers By Holger Sieg; Yu Wang
  21. he Effect of Physical Activity on Student Performance in College: An Experimental Evaluation By Fricke, Hans; Lechner, Michael; Steinmayr, Andreas
  22. Trade, Education, Governance and Distance: Impact on Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth in Asia and LAC By Schiff, Maurice; Wang, Yanling
  23. Supporting Statewide Implementation of Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs By Susan Zief; Theresa Schulte
  24. Consequences and Risks of Reforms in Russian Higher Education By Klyachko, Tatiana
  25. Homophily in Entrepreneurial Team Formation By Paul A. Gompers; Kevin Huang; Sophie Q. Wang
  26. Earning your CAP: A Comprehensive Analysis of The University of Texas System's Coordinated Admissions Program By Rodney J. Andrews; John Thompson
  27. Management and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment By Roland G. Fryer, Jr

  1. By: Wilson, Nicholas; Pugatch, Todd
    Abstract: More than two of every five students who enrolled in college in 2007 failed to graduate by 2013. Peer tutoring services offer one approach toward improving learning outcomes in higher education. We conducted a randomized controlled experiment designed to increase take-up of university tutoring services. Brief, one-time messages increased tutoring take-up by 7 percentage points, or 23% of the control group mean. Attendance at multiple tutoring sessions increased by nearly the same amount, suggesting substantial changes in study habits in response to a simple and inexpensive intervention. We find little evidence of advertising-induced tutoring on learning outcomes.
    Keywords: peer tutoring,human capital investment,behavioral response to advertising,nudges,higher education
    JEL: D83 I23
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:73&r=edu
  2. By: Amy Ellen Schwartz (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Michah W. Rothbart (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools. Using a difference-in-difference design and unique longitudinal, student level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch. We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0.059 standard deviations in math and 0.083 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0.032 and 0.027 standard deviations in math and ELA for poor students. Further, UFM increases participation in school lunch by roughly 11.0 percentage points for non-poor students and 5.4 percentage points for poor students. We then investigate the academic effects of school lunch participation per se, using UFM as an instrumental variable. Results indicate that increases in school lunch participation improve academic performance for both poor and non-poor students; an additional lunch every two weeks increases test scores by roughly 0.08 standard deviations in math and 0.07 standard deviations in ELA. Finally, we explore potential unintended consequences for student weight outcomes, finding no evidence that UFM increases probability of obesity or overweight, or BMI. Results are robust to an array of alternative assumptions about sample and specifications.
    Keywords: School Food, Academic Performance, Free Lunch, Childhood Obesity
    JEL: I24 I38 H52
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:203&r=edu
  3. By: George Abuselidze (Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University); Madona Mikeladze (Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University)
    Abstract: The development of education in any country or society is one of the most urgent issues. When we talk about the development of education, above all we must take into consideration governmental funding system. High education and research funding is priority in most developed countries. Georgia, as the region's geopolitical and geostrategic center a few years ago began formation of the liberal democratic value-based society. Over the last period in Georgia reforms in educations system is ongoing, that led to changes in governments funding policy system. However, the higher education system is still far from Western standards of teaching and learning processes. The most significant problem in the educational system is inefficient financial management. The article above discusses the mechanisms for financing higher education in Georgia, financial management of the educational system, basically problems in program funding and their solutions. methods of studying observation, analysis and synthesis, progression from abstract towards concrete, notional experiment and experience. With the help of the article we have attempted to analyze one of the sides of the problem: how the state supports priority higher educational institutions and what the connection between consumed resources and learning outcomes is. The research clearly showed that financing education has become a priority direction for Georgia. The reform of the financing system has eliminated corruption in the educational system, increased competitiveness among the higher educational institutions, provided preparation of human resources in the fundamental fields of science and education, socially indigent population were given opportunity to get education. However, the same research also showed that the preparation of specialists with competences relevant to the modern requirements cannot be accomplished by financing only certain (though priority) programs.
    Keywords: Higher education; education management; budget; program financing
    JEL: H75 I21 I22 I28
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no4&r=edu
  4. By: Jacek Liwinski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw Ul. Dluga 44/50, 00-241 Warszawa)
    Abstract: Research background: Over 200,000 of European students study abroad under the Erasmus mobility program in the course of their higher education. It seems that employers may treat students' participation in international exchange programs as a signalling tool, since according to them international students’ skills – both cognitive and non-cognitive – are well above the average. On the other hand, students participating in exchange programs underline a positive impact of studying abroad on their personal development, i.e. on their general skills. Thus, from a theoretical point of view we may expect a positive correlation between studying abroad and economic activity after graduation, which follows from both signalling theory and human capital theory. On the average, 54% of European students report that participation in Erasmus exchange program helped them to obtain the first job, but interestingly, those from the CEE countries, including Polish students, report it much more often. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to determine whether studying abroad has an impact on the employment rate of higher education graduates in Poland over the first few years after graduation. Methodology/methods: We used the propensity score matching (PSM) method and data from a representative, nationwide tracer survey of Poles who graduated from secondary schools or higher education institutions over the period of 1998-2005. Findings: The results of the analysis show that Polish students who completed at least one semester of their studies abroad do not benefit in terms of a higher employment rate after graduation.
    Keywords: studying abroad; human capital; graduates; employment rate; PSM method
    JEL: I23 I26 J21 J24
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no62&r=edu
  5. By: Claudia Hupkau; Sandra McNally; Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela; Guglielmo Ventura
    Abstract: Most students do not follow the ‘academic track’ (i.e. A-levels) after leaving school and only about a third of students go to university before the age of 20. Yet progression routes for the majority that do not take this path but opt for vocational post-compulsory education are not as well-known, which partly has to do with the complexity of the vocational education system and the difficulty of deciphering available data. If we are to tackle long-standing problems of low social mobility and a long tail of underachievers, it is essential that post-16 vocational options come under proper scrutiny. This paper is a step in that direction. We use linked administrative data to track decisions made by all students in England who left compulsory education after having undertaken the national examination – the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) – at age 16 in the year 2009/10. We track them up to the age of 21, as they progress through the education system and (for some) into the labour market. We categorise the many different types of post-16 qualifications into several broad categories and we look at the probability of achieving various educational and early labour market outcomes, conditional on the path chosen at age 17. We also take into account the influence of demographics, prior attainment and the secondary school attended. Our findings illustrate the strong inequality apparently generated by routes chosen at age 17, even whilst controlling for prior attainment and schooling up to that point
    Keywords: post-16 education; progression routes
    JEL: I20 I21
    Date: 2017–05–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:78198&r=edu
  6. By: Avraamova, Elena (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Klyachko, Tatiana (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Loginov, Dmitriy (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Tokareva, Galina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA))
    Abstract: The material presents the results of a questionnaire survey of teachers of general education organizations (schools, gymnasiums, lyceums) in the framework of monitoring the effectiveness of school education conducted by the Center for Continuing Education Economics of Institute of Applied Economic Research RANEPA in 2016. 2206 school teachers located in urban settlements and rural areas of the Chelyabinsk region, Altai and Stavropol territories. The positions of teachers on a wide range of issues related to the general education problem are considered: the personnel situation in schools, the quality of teaching, the professional development of the teacher's corps, the requirements for the modern teacher, the material position and social positioning of teachers, and the satisfaction of teachers with their professional activities. Particular attention is paid to the question of what qualitative changes have occurred in school education as a result of organizational and economic transformations in this area, namely, whether the level of teachers' professionalism has increased in the face of increasing wages.
    Date: 2017–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:031707&r=edu
  7. By: SANTAEULÀLIA-LLOPIS, Raül; IORIO, Daniela; GROES, Fane; LEUNG, Man Yee Mallory
    Abstract: Using administrative data from Denmark (1995-2009) we find that maternal education significantly determines IVF success (live birth). Compared with high school dropouts, patients with a college (high school) degree have a 24% (16%) higher chance of attaining a live birth through IVF. Our explorations of the mechanisms underlying the education gradient rule out financial considerations, clinic characteristics, and medical conditions. Instead, we argue that the education gradient in IVF reflects educational disparities in the adoption of the IVF technology. These results are important because women’s career and fertility choices are likely to be influenced by the determinants of IVF success.
    Keywords: Fertility, IVF, Educational disparities
    JEL: I12 I24
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2017/05&r=edu
  8. By: Gerard Roland; David Y. Yang
    Abstract: Beliefs about whether effort pays off govern some of the most fundamental choices individuals make. This paper uses China’s Cultural Revolution to understand how these beliefs can be affected, how they impact behavior, and how they are transmitted across generations. During the Cultural Revolution, China’s college admission system based on entrance exams was suspended for a decade until 1976, effectively depriving an entire generation of young people of the opportunity to access higher education (the “lost generation”). Using data from a nationally representative survey, we compare cohorts who graduated from high school just before and after the college entrance exam was resumed. We find that members of the “lost generation” who missed out on college because they were born just a year or two too early believe that effort pays off to a much lesser degree, even 40 years into their adulthood. However, they invested more in their children’s education, and transmitted less of their changed beliefs to the next generation, suggesting attempts to safeguard their children from sharing their misfortunes.
    JEL: I23 O53 P26 P48 Z1
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23441&r=edu
  9. By: Burgher, Joshua; Hamers, Herbert (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research)
    Abstract: We introduce a quantitative model that can be used for decision support for planning and optimizing the composition of portfolios of market-driven academic programs within the context of higher education. This model is intended to enable leaders in colleges and universities to maximize financial performance of the selection of market-driven academic programs while also achieving qualitative targets for dimensions of the portfolio (e.g., mission alignment, student demographics, and faculty characteristics). This model is then applied to a case from a school of continuing education at a prestigious private university in the US. The results of the case highlight the potential positive impact of utilizing a model such as this for planning purposes.
    Keywords: program portfolio optimization; strategic planning; integer linea programming; higher education; quantifying qualitatvie program data
    JEL: A1
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:e0782c5b-c2ad-443d-b0ad-9a5963c7ed45&r=edu
  10. By: Michael F. Lovenheim; Patrick Walsh
    Abstract: We examine whether changes in the local school choice environment affect the amount of information parents collect about local school quality, using data on over 100 million searches from greatschools.org. We link monthly data on search frequency in local “Search Units” to information on changes in open enrollment policies, tuition vouchers, charitable scholarship tax credits, tuition tax credits, local choice opportunities driven by No Child Left Behind sanctions and charter school penetration. Our results indicate that expansions in school choice rules and opportunities in a given area have large, positive effects on the frequency of searches done for schools in that area. These estimates suggest that the information parents have about local schools is endogenous to the choice environment they face, and that parental information depends not just on the availability of data, but also the incentive to seek and use it.
    JEL: H75 I20 I28
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23445&r=edu
  11. By: Anna Buslowska (Uniwersytet w Bialymstoku); Beata Wisniewska (Wyzsza Szkola Ekonomiczna)
    Abstract: Today, the value of skilled, complex and creative work is growing fast. In the global knowledge economy, people's knowledge, skills learning, talents and abilities - their human capital - have become a main factor of economic growth. In many regions, the potential of human capital is restricted, eg. in podlaskie voivodship. Particular problems exist in the field of vocational education as a result of long-term under-funding of vacational schools, reversal of proportion in choice between vacational and regular high schools, etc. Especially in the field of vacational education exists low quality of training. Education systems can do much to help people realise their potential and external funding (eg. EU) can support innovative projects for the development of human resources. The main goal of this article is to show an exemple of innovative project in the field of vacational education. In frame of EU instrument called Integrated Territorial Investments in Bialystok Functional Area (BFA) is implementing project “Competence Center of BFA”. The project is to support the development of knowledge, professional skills, talents and abilities. In the article was described a case study of “Competence Center of BFA”, which aims to adapt the competence to the needs of the regional economy. Case study will be preceded by an analysis of the situation of vocational education in the area of BFA and analysis of theoretical issues. The analysis led to the following conclusions: vocational education requires a broad integrated support; cooperation with different stakeholders (especially with employers, organizations of business environment, etc.) is essential to achieve high-quality education; a vocational education should be more attractive for pupils.
    Keywords: Human capital; human development; economic development
    JEL: J24 O15
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no16&r=edu
  12. By: Jan Polcyn (Stanislaw Staszic University of Applied Sciences in Pila, Poland)
    Abstract: There may be a significant correlation between the number of pupils in a school and their learning performance. Some studies point to the negative impact of schools with a large number of pupils on the educational results achieved. At the same time, the demographic crisis that has been deepening steadily for several years now represents an important motivation forrationalising the existing network of schools. The aim of the study was to determine the optimum size of schools based on the criterion of examination results expressed through educational value added. The analysis covered all comprehensive secondary schools in Poland over the2013 to 2015 period (a total of 1,943 schools). It determined the correlation between the size of a school expressed through the average number of graduates, and the results of thematura examination (the secondary schoolleaving exam in Poland) expressed through educational value added. Data for the analysis was obtained from the Section of Educational Value Added of the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw. The comprehensive secondary schools under study were divided into 5 classes, according to the criterion of the average annual number of graduates. The following analytical classes were distinguished: class A - up to 50 graduates, class B - 51-100 graduates, class C - 101-150 graduates, class D - 151 -200 graduates, class E - above 201 graduates. The analyses conducted in this study showed that the comprehensive secondary schools with over 600 pupils had the highest learning outcomes as expressed through educational value added. The lowest educational effectiveness was found in schools with less than 150 pupils. A dependency was discovered whereby the effectiveness of education increases as the number of pupils grows. Due to the lack of data concerning examination results in schools with more than 1,000 pupils (value indicated in American studies as the threshold value for positive learning outcomes), it was not possible to determine the maximum number of pupils that guarantees satisfactory learning outcomes.
    Keywords: number of pupils in a school, educational value added (EVA); comprehensive secondary school, socio-cultural capital
    JEL: A20 A21 A29
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no93&r=edu
  13. By: Duarte, Rosa; Ferrando, Sandra; Molina, Jose Alberto
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the determinants of escaping poverty through education in Spain, with this being the country that, according to Eurostat (2010), is among the top European countries regarding the percentage of the population affected by poverty. Specifically, the paper studies the transmission of poverty over two generations by analyzing the factors that affect the probability of having completed the secondary level of education. To that end, we use the conceptual Quantity-Quality model of Becker-Lewis, empirically estimated by using the Survey of Living Conditions (2011) provided by the Spanish Statistical Institute. Our results confirm the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Spain, in such a way that the probability that the respondent has completed secondary education is determined, although not exclusively, by the family conditions of the respondents during their teenage years.
    Keywords: Poverty, Education, Intergenerational Transmission, Spain.
    JEL: D12 I32
    Date: 2017–05–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79454&r=edu
  14. By: Matthew Johnson; Alicia Demers; Cleo Jacobs Johnson; Claudia Gentile
    Abstract: In each of its first five years, the Kauffman School had positive, statistically significant, and educationally meaningful impacts on student achievement growth in mathematics, English language arts and science, beyond the growth achieved by students in other Kansas City public schools.
    Keywords: Charter School, Closing the Achievement Gap, Secondary School Evaluation
    JEL: I
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:917049103ecc4f93ba12260b59a81b56&r=edu
  15. By: Krasnova, Gulnara (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA))
    Abstract: In this paper the national education systems of the BRICS countries are analyzed: accessibility, quality, structure, qualifications, financing, management, additional vocational education, ongoing reforms.
    Date: 2017–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:041733&r=edu
  16. By: L. Frigau; T. Medda; V. Pelligra
    Abstract: We replicate in the lab an artefactual field experiment originally run with a representative sample of the population. Our results show that, despite the many differences between university students and representative subjects from the whole population, the two samples closely follow a common behavioral pattern in a set of binary dictator games. The only exception seems to be represented by a significant difference in those situations where self-interest plays a prominent role. This gap is mainly related to the academic background of the participants - our sample of undergraduate economics students, in fact, differs in its degree of self-interested choices both from the representative group of the population and from its sub-sample of students from heterogeneous disciplines.
    Keywords: Prosocial Behavior;Methodology;External Validity;Experiments
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201704&r=edu
  17. By: Matthew Johnson; Alicia Demers; Cleo Jacobs Johnson; Claudia Gentile
    Abstract: In each of its first five years, the Kauffman School had positive, statistically significant, and educationally meaningful impacts on student achievement growth in mathematics, English language arts and science, beyond the growth achieved by students in other Kansas City public schools.
    Keywords: Charter School, Closing the Achievement Gap, Secondary School Evaluation
    JEL: I
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:1039192a750f4d4da0058482b9a11933&r=edu
  18. By: Erik O. Kimbrough; Andrew D. McGee; Hitoshi Shigeoka
    Abstract: Classroom peers are believed to influence learning by teaching each other, and the efficacy of this teaching likely depends on classroom composition in terms of peers’ ability. Unfortunately, little is known about peer-to-peer teaching because it is never observed in field studies. Furthermore, identifying how peer-to-peer teaching is affected by ability tracking—grouping students of similar ability—is complicated by the fact that tracking is typically accompanied by changes in curriculum and the instructional behavior of teachers. To fill this gap, we conduct a laboratory experiment in which subjects learn to solve logic problems and examine both the importance of peer-to-peer teaching and the interaction between peer-to-peer teaching and ability tracking. While peer-to-peer teaching improves learning among low-ability subjects, the positive effects are substantially offset by tracking. Tracking reduces the frequency of peer-to-peer teaching, suggesting that low-ability subjects suffer from the absence of high-ability peers to teach them.
    JEL: C91 I24 I28
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23439&r=edu
  19. By: Zanna Cernostana (Baltic International Academy, Latvia)
    Abstract: The development of higher education (HE) is amongst topical issues. The modern society recognises that the most valuable capital is a human being with his/her intellectual potential and this has become the main resource for social and economic development. The important component of the HE systems of many countries is formed by Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs), although in each case they have national peculiarities. Today PHEIs undergo difficulties inherent to the entire system of education. The problem of financial sustainability and efficiency of HEIs is becoming urgent. In this context, the most important issue is to deal with developing approaches for quantifying financial sustainability and identifying the indicators of its evaluation. To analyse the financial sustainability of the private sector of HE in Latvia and justify the necessity of an integrated indicator system for financial sustainability evaluation. Include methods of economic and statistic analyses, methods of the analysis and synthesis of economic information, methods of grouping, comparisons, classification, summarising, description and prediction. One of the major issues is the existing gap between the assessment of financial activities of a higher education institution (HEI) and its education activities, which is asserted by accreditation standards; according to these standards, financial and education activities are autonomous entities, hardly interconnected.
    Keywords: private higher education; financial sustainability; financial ratio system
    JEL: I22 M21
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no17&r=edu
  20. By: Holger Sieg; Yu Wang
    Abstract: We develop and estimate a dynamic model to study the impact of student debt on education, career, and marriage market choices of young female lawyers. Our model accounts for several important institutional features of the labor market for lawyers, including differences in the work hours across occupational tracks and learning about the prospects of promotion to partner. Some female students need to take on large amounts of student debt to finance their education and hence start their careers with large amounts of negative wealth. The empirical findings suggest that student debt has negative effects on marriage prospects, career prospects, and investments in educational quality of female lawyers. The analysis also provides new insights into the design of public policies that aim to increase public sector employment. We show that it is possible to design conditional wage or debt service subsidy programs that significantly increase public sector career choices at reasonable costs.
    JEL: J12 J24
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23453&r=edu
  21. By: Fricke, Hans; Lechner, Michael; Steinmayr, Andreas
    Abstract: What is the role of physical activity in the process of human capital accumulation? Brain research provides growing evidence of the importance of physical activity for various aspects of cognitive functions. An increasingly sedentary lifestyle could thus be not only harmful to population health, but also disrupt human capital accumulation. This paper analyzes the effects of on-campus recreational sports and exercise on educational outcomes of university students. To identify causal effects, we randomize ?nancial incentives to encourage students’ participation in on-campus sports and exercise. The incentives increased participation frequency by 0.26 times per week (47%) and improved grades by 0.14 standard deviations. This effect is primarily driven by male students and students at higher quantiles of the grade distribution. Results from survey data suggest that students substitute off-campus with on-campus physical activities during the day but do not signi?cantly increase the overall frequency. Our ?ndings suggest that students spend more time on campus and are better able to integrate studying and exercising, which may enhance the effectiveness of studying and thus improve student performance.
    Keywords: Sports, physical activity, human capital, student achievement, randomized experiment
    JEL: C93 I12 I18 I23 J24
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2017:07&r=edu
  22. By: Schiff, Maurice; Wang, Yanling
    Abstract: This paper examines the impact of North-South trade, education, governance and North-South distance, on technology diffusion and total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the South, focusing on LAC and East Asia over the 32 years before the Great Recession (1976-2007). Findings are: i) TFP rises with education, trade, governance (ETG) and imports’ R&D content, and falls with distance to the North; ii) an increase of LAC’s ETG to East Asia’s levels raises TFP by 165%, fully accounting for its TFP gap with East Asia; iii) the impact of the education gap equals the sum of the governance and openness gaps; and iv) South America’s loss of TFP relative to Mexico associated with its greater distance to US-Canada (both Europe and Japan) is 9.3 (0) percent.
    Keywords: Trade,Governance,Education,Distance,Technology Diffusion,Productivity growth
    JEL: F22 J61
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:72&r=edu
  23. By: Susan Zief; Theresa Schulte
    Abstract: This issue brief documents the implementation infrastructure that four states—California, Maine, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina—developed to support implementation of their Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP)-funded evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs.
    Keywords: teen, pregnancy, prevention, PREP, evidence-based programs
    JEL: I
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:dbd46b3b41e944d79515c629b644f1a3&r=edu
  24. By: Klyachko, Tatiana (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA))
    Abstract: The paper examines the main results, consequences and risks of the reforms carried out in recent years in Russian higher education. In particular, the consequences and risks of the introduction of the USE for the development of regional HEIs, the problems associated with monitoring the effectiveness of HEIs and the transition to higher education for normative per capita financing are analyzed.
    Date: 2017–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:041732&r=edu
  25. By: Paul A. Gompers; Kevin Huang; Sophie Q. Wang
    Abstract: We study the role of homophily in group formation. Using a unique dataset of MBA students, we observe homophily in ethnicity and gender increases the probability of forming teams by 25%. Homophily in education and past working experience increases the probability of forming teams by 17% and 11 % respectively. Homophily in education and working experience is stronger among males than females. Further, we examine the causal impact of homophily on team performance. Homophily in ethnicity increases team performance by lifting teams in bottom quantiles to median performance quantiles, but it does not increase the chance of being top performers. Our findings have implications for understanding the lack of diversity in entrepreneurship and venture capital industry.
    JEL: J15 J16
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23459&r=edu
  26. By: Rodney J. Andrews; John Thompson
    Abstract: The competitive application process is the traditional path to gain access to selective public universities. There is little research on alternative pathways to gain access to selective public universities. In this manuscript, we use the fuzzy regression discontinuity design to study the impact of transferring to the University of Texas at Austin. We find that gaining access via this path has an impact on choice of major, financial aid, and earnings.
    JEL: I21 I22 I26 J24
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23442&r=edu
  27. By: Roland G. Fryer, Jr
    Abstract: This study examines the impact on student achievement of implementing management training for principals in traditional public schools in Houston, Texas, using a school-level randomized field experiment. Across two years, principals were provided 300 hours of training on lesson planning, data-driven instruction, and teacher observation and coaching. The findings show that offering management training to principals significantly increases student achievement in all subjects in year one and has an insignificant effect in year two. We argue that the results in year two are driven by principal turnover, coupled with the cumulative nature of the training. Schools with principals who are predicted to remain in their positions for both years of the experiment demonstrate large treatment effects in both years – particularly those with principals who are also predicted to implement the training with high fidelity – while those with principals that are predicted to leave have statistically insignificant effects in each year of treatment.
    JEL: I20 J0 M10
    Date: 2017–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23437&r=edu

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