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on Education |
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Issue of 2017‒12‒11
twenty-six papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Juan F. Castro (Universidad del Pacifico); Bruno Esposito (Universidad del Pacifico) |
| Abstract: | Teachers tend to avoid working in places with poor basic services, where transport costs are high and students show low performance. As a result, less advantaged students living in rural areas usually get paired with less qualified teachers. In many developing countries, teachers are offered monetary incentives to work in rural or remote schools. The literature, however, offers very little evidence about their effect on teacher qualifications. Moreover, this is the first study to produce causal evidence about the effect on these incentives on learning outcomes. This paper analyses the effect of unconditional monetary incentives on learning outcomes and the distribution of teacher skill in public rural schools in Peru. Teachers working in a rural school receive, on average, an additional 430 soles each month (around US$ 130 and approximately 30% of the starting salary). Schools are classified as rural based on the population of their community and their distance to the nearest province capital. We use a regression discontinuity design that exploits the exogenous shift in the amount of the bonus that occurs around the population and distance thresholds used to classify a school as rural. We find that the average bonus had a positive effect of around 0.16 standard deviations on reading comprehension and mathematics test scores obtained by second grade students in the 2014 and 2015 national evaluations. One of the mechanisms by which teacher bonuses can have a positive effect on learning is by making rural schools more attractive for talented teachers. We find evidence in favor of this channel. In fact, the bonus caused a shift of 0.38 standard deviations in the average score obtained by rural school teachers in the 2015 recruitment evaluation. |
| Keywords: | Teacher incentives, rural schools, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I21 C26 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apc:wpaper:2017-104&r=edu |
| By: | Sawada Yasuyuki; Mahmud Minhaj; Seki Mai; Le An; Kawarazaki Hikaru |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on the results from a field experiment that tests the effectiveness of the globally popular Kumon learning method in improving the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities of disadvantaged pupils in Bangladesh. Using a randomized control trial design, we study the impact of this individualized self-learning approach among third and fourth graders studying at BRAC non-formal primary schools. The results show that students of both grades in the treatment schools record substantial and significant improvement in their cognitive abilities as measured by two different mathematics tests (Kumon diagnostic test score per minute and proficiency test score) after a period of 8 months, compared to students in the control schools. In terms of non-cognitive abilities, the results give some evidence of positive and significant impacts, particularly on the self-confidence of the pupils. Interestingly, this intervention also had a positive and significant impact on the ability of teachers’ to assess their students’ performance. Overall our results suggest the wider applicability of a properly designed non-formal education program in solving the learning crisis in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | education, self-learning, cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, developing countries, randomized control trial |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:156&r=edu |
| By: | Stefan C. Wolter (University of Bern, CESifo, IZA); Maria Zumbuehl (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we follow the students that took the PISA 2012 test in Switzerland and analyze their transition into and progress in upper-secondary education. We observe a substantive difference in the rate of progress between natives and students with a migration background. One year after leaving compulsory school, the gap between the natives and migrants that are on-track - entering the second year of upper-secondary education - is 15 percentage points. Observable differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills can explain the gap in the success rate within upper-secondary education, but cannot fully explain the difference in the transition rate into upper-secondary education. More refined analyses present results that are consistent with the hypotheses of differences in tastes, aspirations and incomplete or inaccurate information about the education system explaining the gap in the transition into post-compulsory education. |
| Keywords: | education, migration, occupational choice |
| JEL: | I24 J15 J24 J62 J71 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0139&r=edu |
| By: | BARONE, Adriana (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy); NESE, Annamaria (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy) |
| Abstract: | This study reports new evidence on the association between educational outcomes for young adults in Italy (in terms of both schooling levels and type of education) and selected health behaviours (simultaneously taken). The results indicate the following: i) individuals who decide to stay at school longer also do things that improve their own health, such as not smoking, practicing physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and low consumption of unhealthy food (snacks, cakes, etc.), thereby confirming complementarities between investment in education and health (Fuchs, 2004, Becker 2007); and ii) particularly for females, a positive association is observed between the choice of Sciences vs. Humanities, a normal body weight and the adoption of healthy behaviours (not smoking, practising physical activity, and consuming healthy food). |
| Keywords: | Human capital; Education; Health Behaviour; Gender; Microeconometrics |
| JEL: | C25 I12 I21 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:0146&r=edu |
| By: | Inés P. Murillo (Universidad de Extremadura); José L. Raymond (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Jorge Calero (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This study (i) compares the competence levels of the adult population in a set of OECD countries; (ii) assesses the comparative efficiency with which the education system in each country transforms schooling into competences, distinguishing by educational level, and (iii) tracks the evolution of this efficiency by birth cohorts. Using PIAAC data, the paper applies standard parametric frontier techniques under two alternative specifications. The results obtained under both specifications are similar and identify Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Japan as being the most efficient and Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland and Poland as the least efficient. The evolution of the efficiency levels by age cohorts shows that higher education is more efficient for younger cohorts, while lower and upper secondary education present a stable trend over cohorts. |
| Keywords: | adult population competences; efficiency; PIAAC; parametric frontier techniques. |
| JEL: | I21 C13 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2017-11&r=edu |
| By: | Gloria L. Bernal ; Jeffrey Penney; Jeffrey Penney |
| Abstract: | The Colombian high school exit exam, which most student must take in order to graduate, exhibits a pattern in test scores wherein younger students perform better on average. This is a counterintuitive phenomenon since age-at-test effects predict instead that students should perform better with age. In this paper, we examine several possibilities as to why this unexpected relationship exists. We conclude that it is likely due to some combination of patterns in grade repetition and school entry decisions based on student ability. *********** El examen de salida de la escuela secundaria colombiana, que la mayoría de los estudiantes deben tomar para graduarse, muestra un patrón en los puntajes de las en donde los estudiantes más jóvenes tienen un mejor desempeño en promedio. Esto es un fenómeno contra-intuitivo puesto que la relación de la edad sobre las pruebas predice que los estudiantes deben tener un mejor rendimiento conforme son mayores. En este documento, examinamos varias posibilidades de por qué existe esta relación inesperada. Concluimos que el fenómeno puede deberse a una combinación de patrones en la repetición de grado y a las decisiones de entrada al colegio basadas en la capacidad del estudiante. |
| Keywords: | age of starting school, age at test, Colombia, month of birth, relative age, test scores |
| JEL: | I21 I25 |
| Date: | 2017–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000416:015889&r=edu |
| By: | Juan F. Castro (Universidad del Pacifico) |
| Abstract: | The literature shows evidence of dynamic complementarity in the production of cognitive skill. This means that skill attained at earlier stages increases the productivity of inputs occurring later in the life of children. For educational inputs, however, the relation between their productivity and prior cognitive achievement might not always be positive. If the input has a low cognitive demand, more advantaged students will not necessarily benefit from it, but it can be productive among less advantaged children. This is the first study to explore this possibility. I find evidence of heterogeneity in the relation between preschool cognitive achievement and the effect of primary school inputs in Peru. I find dynamic complementarity but only in the upper quintile of the school quality distribution. In the lower 20% of this distribution, a raise in preschool skill reduces the productivity of school inputs. I also propose a decomposition strategy that accounts for complementarity between preschool skill and school inputs. I use it to measure the contribution of school influences to the cognitive skill gap observed between urban and rural children in Peru. I obtain an estimate for this contribution (37%) larger than that found in previous studies that relied on a linear production function. An important implication of this is that one does not need to wait until urban and rural children share similar levels of preschool skill to exploit the equalizing potential of school influences. It is not “too late” for rural children currently at school, despite their preschool skill deficits. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive skill, dynamic complementarity, cognitive skill gap decomposition, Peru |
| JEL: | I24 O15 C18 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apc:wpaper:2017-105&r=edu |
| By: | Liwiński, Jacek |
| Abstract: | Purpose: This paper tries to identify the impact of international student mobility on the first wages of tertiary education graduates in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: The author uses data from the nationwide tracer survey of Polish graduates (Graduate Tracer Study 2007) and regresses the hourly net wage rate in the first job after graduating from a higher education institution (HEI) on a rich set of individuals' characteristics. In order to reduce the bias due to selection to international student mobility the author includes a set of variables representing abilities and skills, characteristics of studies and international experience as control variables. The author addresses the possible selection to employment bias by using the Heckman correction with various exclusion restrictions. Findings: After controlling for observed heterogenity the author finds that Polish graduates who studied abroad for at least one month earn on average 18% more on their first job than those who studied in Poland only. However, the author also finds that this wage premium is partly explained by international economic migration after graduation. Studying abroad brings a wage premium only if it is followed by working abroad. Those who perform their first job in Poland do not obtain any wage premium from international student mobility. Originality/value: The main contribution of the paper is that it identifies international economic migration after graduation as another mechanism explaining why those, who studied abroad, earn more. |
| Keywords: | international student mobility,wages,wage premium,Heckman correction |
| JEL: | I29 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:150&r=edu |
| By: | Liwiński, Jacek; Pastore, Francesco |
| Abstract: | We test for the signalling hypothesis versus human capital theory using the Wiles test (1974) in a country which has experienced a dramatic increase in the supply of skills. For this purpose, we construct a job match index based on the usefulness of the school-provided skills and the relevance of the job performed to the field of study. Then we regress the first earnings of graduates on this index using OLS and Heckit to control for omitted heterogeneity of the employed. The data we use come from a representative tracer survey of Poles who left secondary schools or graduated from HEIs over the period of 1998-2005. We find that only the HEI graduates obtain a wage premium from skills acquired in the course of formal education. This finding is robust to a large number of robustness checks with different indicators of the educational mismatch and instrumental variables. |
| Keywords: | education,skills,signalling,job matching,wages,Heckman correction |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:151&r=edu |
| By: | Cockx, Bart; Picchio, Matteo; Baert, Stijn |
| Abstract: | A dynamic discrete choice model is set up to estimate the effects of grade retention in high school, both in the short-run (end-of-year evaluation) and in the long-run (drop-out and delay). In contrast to other evaluation approaches, this model captures essential treatment heterogeneity and controls for grade-varying unobservable determinants. In addition, forced track downgrading is considered as an alternative remedial measure. Our results indicate that grade retention has a neutral effect on academic achievement in the short-run. In the long-run, grade retention, just like forced downgrading, has adverse effects on schooling outcomes and, more so, for less able pupils. |
| Keywords: | Education,grade retention,track mobility,dynamic discrete choice models,heterogeneous treatment effects |
| JEL: | C33 C35 I21 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:148&r=edu |
| By: | Maximilian Goethner (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration); Michael Wyrwich (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Over the past decades, entrepreneurial activity has started to be considered a third mission of higher education institutions. Our study examines the extent to which entrepreneurship at universities is driven by spatial proximity between university faculties. To this end, we use a new dataset that links information on business idea generation by faculties of German universities between 2007 and 2014 with comprehensive data on structural characteristics of these universities and faculties (e.g., number of academic staff, students, industry funding). Our analysis shows that the emergence of entrepreneurial ideas in natural sciences is positively affected by proximity to business schools. This pattern suggests the presence of knowledge flows between university faculties as an important source of science-based and technology-oriented business ideas. |
| Keywords: | Academic entrepreneurship, Knowledge Spillover, Spatial Proximity, Entrepreneurial Human Capital |
| JEL: | D24 L26 M13 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2017-017&r=edu |
| By: | IOVINO, Giorgia (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy) |
| Abstract: | In the last decade the university system in Italy has shrank and a larger heterogeneity has emerged among universities located in different areas of the country. The Italian Mezzogiorno has been hit the most in terms of enrolled students, academic staff, financial resources, number and variety of courses offered. At the same time a large migration of students from southern to northern areas took place. In this work we investigate these issues and we disentangle the possible causes at the origin of these phenomena. We highlight, in particular, the role of new regulatory policies and the funding mechanisms based on performance indicators for the emergence of new forms of territorial disparities. We conclude that, to implement austerity plans required by the fiscal conditions in the aftermath of the crisis, the policy course taken on tertiary education is actually endangering future perspectives of most vulnerable households in less advanced regions of the country. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary education; Geographical unbalances; Student mobility; Educational policies; |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:0147&r=edu |
| By: | Cattan, Sarah (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London,); Kamhofer, Daniel A. (Paderborn University); Karlsson, Martin (CINCH); Nilsson, Therese (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Instructional time is seen as an important determinant of school performance, but little is known about the effects of student absence. Combining historical records and administrative data for Swedish individuals born in the 1930s, we examine the impacts of absence in elementary school on short-term academic performance and long-term socio-economic outcomes. Our siblings and individual fixed effects estimates suggest absence has a moderate adverse effect on academic performance. The detrimental effect fades out over time. While absence negatively correlates with final education, income and longevity, we only find robust evidence that it lowers the probability of employment at age 25–30. |
| Keywords: | Absence in school; Educational performance; Long-term effects; Register data |
| JEL: | C23 I14 I21 |
| Date: | 2017–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1188&r=edu |
| By: | Justin van de Ven; Cain Polidano; Sarah Voitchovsky |
| Abstract: | Education and training among the working-age population has become an increasingly important policy issue as working lives have lengthened and the pace of technological change has quickened. This paper describes the effects of a reform that broadened access to public subsidies for adult Vocational Education and Training. Difference-in-differences analysis reveals that the large-scale reform, which was introduced in the Australian state of Victoria from 2009, increased participation in VET among the population aged 25-54, and corresponded with an improved match between subsidised VET courses taken and ex ante measures of labour market demand. Indeed, the scheme was so popular that it resulted in a budget over-run by 2012 of $400 million (AUD, on a total budget of $1.3 billion). |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:480&r=edu |
| By: | Bernhard Enzi |
| Abstract: | Information about teachers’ effectiveness at the hiring stage is particularly scarce despite its importance for personnel decisions. Using the German setting of teacher training, I investigate the relationship of teachers’ pre-service cognitive and pedagogical skills as measured by two state examinations and the high-school GPA on later effectiveness. I apply standard value-added models to rich German student-achievement panel data and find that being in the top quartile in these skill domains is linked with significantly higher teacher effectiveness. Better teacher skills are associated with a more efficient way of classroom management. |
| Keywords: | Teacher, value-added, cognitive skills, student achievement |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J45 H75 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_243&r=edu |
| By: | Hussinger, Katrin; Pellens, Maikel |
| Abstract: | Recent highly publicized cases of scientific misconduct have raised concerns about its consequences for academic careers. Previous and anecdotal evidence suggests that these reach far beyond the fraudulent scientist and her career, affecting coauthors and institutions. Here we show that the negative effects of scientific misconduct spill over to uninvolved prior collaborators: compared to a control group, prior collaborators of misconducting scientists, who have no link to the misconduct case, are cited 8 to 9% less afterwards. We suggest that the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is stigmatization by mere association. The result suggests that scientific misconduct generates large indirect costs in the form of mistrust against a wider range of research findings than was previously assumed. The broad fallout of misconduct implies that potential whistleblowers might be disinclined to make their concerns public in order to protect their own reputation and career. |
| Keywords: | scientific misconduct,prior collaborators,stigma |
| JEL: | O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:17051&r=edu |
| By: | Nadir Altinok; Manos Antoninis; Phu Nguyen-Van |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of teacher subject knowledge on student achievement in mathematics and reading by using a dataset from six Sub-Saharan African countries. By using a difference-indifference between pupils’ and teachers’ scores in two skills, we are able to avoid potential endogeneity bias. In most estimations, we do not find a significant teacher knowledge effect in most countries. The main reason is teacher absenteeism and the need to focus on core knowledge. Indeed, more knowledgeable teachers improve student learning only if certain conditions are met. For instance, a high level of teacher absenteeism and low teacher performance in a subset of items that are also administered to students can dampen the teacher subject knowledge effect on student learning. When these conditions are met, teacher subject knowledge has a significant and positive effect on student achievement in most countries. |
| Keywords: | Teacher knowledge; Africa; Learning; SACMEQ; cognitive skills. |
| JEL: | I2 O12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2017-35&r=edu |
| By: | Cappelen, Alexander W (The Choice Lab); Charness, Gary (University of California); Ekström, Mathias (The Choice Lab); Gneezy, Uri (University of California); Tungodden, Bertil (The Choice Lab) |
| Abstract: | We report the results of a randomized controlled trial testing whether incentivizing physical exercise improves the academic performance of college students. As expected, the intervention increases physical activity. The main result is that it generates a strong and significant improvement in academic performance, particularly for students who struggled at the baseline in terms of lifestyle habits. We also provide evidence on the underlying mechanisms: Students who were incentivized to exercise have a healthier life style and improved self-control. Overall, the study demonstrates that incentivizing students to exercise can be an important tool in improving educational achievements. |
| Keywords: | C93; I12; I18; I21; Z20 |
| JEL: | C93 I12 I18 I21 |
| Date: | 2017–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1180&r=edu |
| By: | Gabriella Berloffa; Eleonora Matteazzi; Alina Sandor; Paola Villa |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new approach to evaluating individuals' employment quality, considering the evolution of individuals' employment conditions over a period of time, instead of the quality of jobs held at a certain point in time. In particular, we present a new definition of employment quality, based on four dimensions: employment security, income security, economic success and the successful match between education and occupation. Using EU- SILC data, we analyse the extent to which the achievement of employment quality five years after leaving education varies according to gender, education, country groups and time periods. Our findings suggest that there is still a pressing need to enhance women's chances to remain continuously in employment and to move up in the labour income distribution. Loosening the rules on the use of temporary contracts actually generates more difficulties for women and low-educated individuals and it also appears to worsen youth employment prospects in general. |
| Keywords: | Employment quality, Employment security, Income security, Young people, Employment protection legislation |
| JEL: | J81 J69 J13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwprg:2017/05&r=edu |
| By: | Abdurrahman B. Aydemir (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University, IZA, CREAM-UCL); Hakki Yazici (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides two contributions to the study of intergenerational mobility. First, we render a thorough characterization of education mobility in Turkey at the national level, including a three-generation mobility analysis. We find that the education mobility is significantly lower in Turkey compared to developed economies. Second, by exploiting large regional variation in the level of economic development across Turkey, we find that intergenerational education persistence is lower for females who grow up in more developed regions. The evidence is mixed for males. Interestingly, the development level of place of residence during earlier stages of childhood has much stronger association with education mobility compared to development level of place of residence during later stages. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, education, economic development, three generations. |
| JEL: | J6 I2 R0 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1717&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Despite the obvious benefits derived from education, governments face difficult trade-offs when balancing the share of public and private contributions to education. Understanding how private expenditure is sourced, through public transfers or through private funds, can make a difference in enabling access to education and provide insights into how the cost of education shifts between public and private sources of funding over time. |
| Date: | 2017–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:56-en&r=edu |
| By: | Eduardo Minuci (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Amir B. Ferreira Neto (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Joshua Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | West Virginia schools are consistently below the national average on the NAEP. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, we estimate the technical efficiency of West Virginia school districts. We find less variation in technical efficiency in West Virginia than in similar studies conducted in other states. This appears to be because of state policy imposing homogeneity of input usage. Due to the limited variation in technical efficiency across districts, we cannot analyze how non-school inputs such as socioeconomic factors affect technical efficiency across districts. Summary statistics organized by county economic status, however, suggest that socioeconomic status plays a role. Our results highlight an important limitation of DEA analysis on schools. |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Government, Public Schools |
| JEL: | H41 H76 I29 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-28&r=edu |
| By: | Sephavand, Mohammad (Department of Economics); Shahbazian, Roujman (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes for three risk domains in Burkina Faso. First, our results shows a strong transmission of attitudes from parents to children. Although, estimates from intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes in developing countries should not be compared directly with those from developed countries, our results goes in the same direction as previous literature from Germany. That is risk attitudes are transmitted from; parents to children, local enviorment to children and positive assortative mating of parents strengthens the parents’ transmission of attitudes to her child. Second we analyze three generations of risk attitude transmission. Our results indicates that it exist a transmission of risk attitudes from grandparents to their grandchildren. The strength and significance of this socialization decreases when we control for parents risk attitudes. Third, since there are strong gender roles in Burkina Faso, we test if mothers and fathers transmission of risk attitudes on their daughter is the same as on their son. We find that mother’s transmission of risk attitudes is stronger on their daughters than sons. For fathers the pattern is reverse. However, our findings show that it exist a heterogenity in the transmission of risk attitudes in male and female dominated risk domains. This gives support for the gender-specific role model hypothesis in terms of risk attitudes. |
| Keywords: | risk attitudes; inter and multigenerational transmission; socialization; Burkina Faso |
| JEL: | D81 |
| Date: | 2017–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2017_013&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua C. Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Serkan Karadas (Sewanee, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrollment at public institutions seemingly did not play a role in Amendment 2 losing. |
| Keywords: | Amendment 2, tuition increases |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-29&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas F. Remington (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Around the world employers complain of shortages of skilled workers. Meantime, educational and training institutions often function as “bridges to nowhere.” This has implications for both social and economic development. When VET systems are ineffective, they either turn out individuals with skills that are poorly matched to the demands of the labor market, or replicate existing social divisions between rich and poor. Economic inequality, both cross-sectional and spatial, undermines the ability of educational and skill-forming institutions to equalize opportunities for young people to acquire skills usable in the labor market. This bifurcates society between a low-wage, low-skill, often informal employment sector, and a higher-skill, higher-wage sector. This problem has grown more acute everywhere as a result of automation and globalization. For this reason, experts and policy-makers around the world have called for upgrading the quality and effectiveness of vocational education and training (VET), in particular by encouraging closer cooperation between employers and schools. They seek to adapt elements of the German and other continental systems where apprenticeships are the most common pathway leading from school to jobs. Building firm-school partnerships requires overcoming two sets of collective action dilemmas, however: coordinating the interests of firms around setting professional standards and curricular goals, and establishing cooperation between employers and schools. The paper argues that cooperative arrangements vary along two dimensions: the “breadth” of collaboration by schools and firms, i.e. how many firms and schools pool their efforts to upgrade VET; and the “depth” of commitment, that is, how costly is the joint commitment by firms and schools to VET. The evidence suggests that there is typically a trade-off between deepening and broadening. The paper compares China and Russia --two large, relatively decentralized countries with different economic systems—with respect to current efforts to close the gap between skills and jobs. It draws conclusions about the nature of the circumstances under which reforms are likely to result in greater deepening or broadening of cooperation. The paper argues that the formation of effective institutions for resolving collective dilemmas result from government initiatives mobilizing existing capacities to respond to challenges in the external environment |
| Keywords: | Vocational Education and Training (VET), Public-Private Partnerships, skills-jobs gap, China, Russia |
| JEL: | I28 I25 J24 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:53/ps/2017&r=edu |
| By: | Rita Ginja (Uppsala Universitet); Jenny Jans (Uppsala University); Arizo Karimi (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We study how parental resources early in life affect children’s health and education exploiting the so-called speed premium (SP) in the Swedish parental leave system. The SP grants mothers higher parental leave benefits for the subsequent child without re-establishing eligibility through pre-birth market work if the two births occur within a pre-specified interval. This allow us to use a Regression Discontinuity framework. We find that the SP improves the educational outcomes of the first-born child, but not of the second-born. Impacts are driven by a combination of a positive income shock, and substitution from informal care to maternal time. |
| Keywords: | parental leave, Earnings, time investments, child outcomes |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J18 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-085&r=edu |