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on Education |
| By: | Ilya Prakhov (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Denis Sergienko (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | It is assumed that a perfect balance between student academic achievement and university quality is beneficial both for students and higher education institutions (HEIs). Matching theory predicts the existence of perfect matching between the two groups in the absence of transaction costs associated with university enrollment. However, in this study we show cases of mismatch situations in Russia under the Unified State Exam (USE) – the standardized student admission mechanism. This research studies the reasons for this phenomenon for minimal transaction costs and the emergence of unequal access to HEIs. Based on data on Moscow high school graduates who entered university, the determinants of the mismatch between the quality of universities and applicant abilities are assessed. It is shown that although in most cases favorable matching results are established, the individual student achievement results themselves are subject to the influence of school and family characteristics. Thus, inequality of access can be formed at stages preceding HEI enrollment |
| Keywords: | matching, mismatch, admission, accessibility of higher education, the Unified State Exam |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:45edu2017&r=edu |
| By: | Grenestam, Erik (Department of Economics, Lund University); Nordin, Martin (AgriFood Economics Centre, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of super-fast internet connections on the academic achievement of students in upper secondary school. We link detailed register data on around 250,000 students to local levels of access to optic fiber broadband, in order to estimate a causal effect of broadband on student GPA. We show that reaching full coverage in the student’s parish of residence causes a GPA reduction ranging from 3 to 6 percent of a standard deviation. Estimates are consistently more negative for boys and students with low ability and/or low-educated parents. Using PISA survey data, we provide evidence that students living in areas with the greatest high-speed broadband expansion also spend more time online during weekdays, suggesting student time use as a potential mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Education; Broadband; Internet; High-school; GPA |
| JEL: | H52 I24 I28 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2017_017&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Standardised tests help measure student’s progress at school and can inform education policy about existing shortfalls. However, too much testing could lead to much pressure on students and teachers to learn and teach for a test, something that would take the joy out of the learning process. Many parents and educators are all too familiar with this quandary: they recognise that good measurement can drive improvement, but often argue that too much testing can make students anxious without improving their learning. In particular, standardised tests that determine the academic and life pathways of students may trigger anxiety, and if conducted too frequently might lead to poorer performance, absenteeism and lower self-confidence. But are standardised tests really used all that frequently? And what do PISA data show about the relationship between performance, anxiety and the frequency of testing? |
| Date: | 2017–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:79-en&r=edu |
| By: | Hofmann, Sarah; Mühlenweg, Andrea |
| Abstract: | In this study, we analyze health effects of a recent education reform in Germany exposing students to increased schooling intensity. The reform shortened the higher secondary education track by one year. As the overall curriculum required for graduation was held constant, this led to an increase in instruction hours in the remaining school years. The reform has been introduced at different points in time across federal states, providing us with a difference-in-difference setup for analysis. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), our results imply that the reform significantly reduced adolescents' self-rated mental health status. The overall effect on the mental component summary score (MCS) is about a quarter of a standard deviation. Examining MCS sub-dimensions, we find detrimental effects of the reform on vitality and on emotional balance. We also observe significant impacts on self-assessed general physical health. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent health; schooling intensity; school reform; natural experiment |
| JEL: | J24 I14 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-622&r=edu |
| By: | Imed Limam (Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development); Abdelwahab Ben Hafaiedh |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at identifying the main determinants of earnings, estimating the private returns to education and highlighting the main sources of heterogeneity in these returns in Tunisia. The estimation results show that education is an important determinant of private earnings. However, the private rate of return to schooling is relatively low by international standards, especially for basic education. It is argued that in addition to the limited capacity of the economy to create high-productivity jobs, institutional factors such as the low quality of education, rigid tracking system after secondary education, inadequacy of the available skills for the need of the private sector and nepotism may explain the low and heterogeneous returns to education in Tunisia. The returns to schooling are found to increase by level of education showing a systematic bias toward higher levels of education at the expense of basic education, due to credentialism and focus on certification. We find evidence of heterogeneity of returns to higher education across varying regions and socioeconomic backgrounds, which undermines the role of education as a social elevator. Regional disparities by place of residence, both in earnings and returns to higher education, may be explained by the lack of economic opportunities and low exposure to market forces in many inland regions, which is reminiscent of an unbalanced regional development. These disparities may also be attributed to information failure as good employment opportunities are less visible to jobseekers in rural and inland areas. We also argue that rural-urban disparity in returns to higher education by place of birth may be explained by differentiated early-life conditions in terms of socio-economic and family backgrounds as well as inequality of opportunity in access to quality education. Moreover, educational wage differentials are found to be significant between the formal private sector and the informal sector, between the public and private sectors and across occupational categories. These results are used to suggest directions to strengthen the role of public policies in reducing inequality of opportunities in both schooling and earnings. |
| Date: | 2017–06–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1162&r=edu |
| By: | Nayana Bose (Department of Economics, Scripps College, Claremont); Shreyasee Das (Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the intergenerational effects following the positive changes in women’s inheritance rights. The amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, the law governing inheritance for Hindus, empowered unmarried daughters at the time of the reform to have equal rights to inherit ancestral property as their brothers. We employ a difference-in-differences strategy and exploit the state level variation in a woman’s exposure to the reform. Using the Indian Human Development Survey data for rural India, we find that the property rights reform significantly increased women’s education. We find a significant decrease in her sons’ education, the effect is magnified in households where fathers are less educated than mothers. We further explore the role of birth order and the gender composition of children to assess the intergenerational impact of this more gender equal inheritance law. Regardless of the child’s gender, our results show a significant decrease in educational attainment for younger children. |
| Keywords: | Property Rights, Hindu Inheritance Law, Education, Intergenerational Transfers, India |
| JEL: | D13 I25 J16 K36 O12 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uww:wpaper:17-01&r=edu |
| By: | McGuigan, Martin; McNally, Sandra; Wyness, Gill |
| Abstract: | Many students appear to leave full-time education too soon, despite the possibility of high returns from further investment in their education. One contributory factor may be insufficient information about the potential consequences of their choices. We investigate students’ receptiveness to an information campaign about the costs and benefits of pursuing postcompulsory education. Our results show that students with higher expected net benefits from accessing information are more likely to avail themselves of the opportunity presented by our experiment. Their intention to stay on in post-16 education is strongly affected by the experiment, though not their intention to apply to university. Effects are heterogeneous by family background and gender. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2016–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68896&r=edu |
| By: | Bethlehem Argaw (Leibniz Universität Hannover); Patrick Puhani (Leibniz Universität Hannover) |
| Abstract: | We use administrative panel data on about a quarter of a million students in the German state of Hesse to estimate the causal effect of class size on school tracking outcomes after elementary school.Our identification strategy relies on the quasi-random assignment of students to different class sizes based on maximum class size rules.In Germany,students are tracked into more orless academic middle school types at about age ten based,to a large extent,on academic achievement in elementary school. We mostly find no or small effects of class size in elementary school on receiving a recommendation or on the actual choice to attend the more academic middle school type.For male students,we find that an increase in class size by 10 students would reduce their chance of attending the higher school track which more than 40 percent of students attend by 3 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | class size, panel, administrative data, education production |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1715&r=edu |
| By: | Peter Savelyev (The College of William & Mary); Kegon Teng Kok Tan (University of Rochester) |
| Abstract: | We use the high IQ Terman sample to estimate relationships between education, socioemotional skills, and health-related outcomes that include health behaviors, lifestyles, and health measures across the lifecycle. By both focusing on a high IQ sample and controlling for IQ in regression models, we mitigate ability bias due to cognitive skill. In addition, we control for detailed personality measures to account for socioemotional skills. We model skills using factor analysis to address measurement error and adopt a powerful stepdown procedure to account for multiple hypothesis testing. We find that among high IQ subjects, education is linked to better health-related outcomes, in contrast to previous evidence. Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism are linked to various health-related outcomes across the lifecycle. Furthermore, we find that accounting for a comprehensive set of skills, measurement error, and multiple hypothesis testing not only provides greater confidence in several established relationships but also generates novel results. |
| Keywords: | college education, Big Five, health behavior, lifestyle |
| JEL: | I12 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-086&r=edu |
| By: | Aysıt Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany; Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt); Halil İbrahim Keskin (Department of Econometrics, Cukurova University, Saricam, Adana, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | The strong relationship between various health indicators and education is widely documented. However, the studies that investigate the nature of causality between these variables became available only recently and provide evidence mostly from developed countries. We add to this literature by studying the causal effect of education on days hospitalized and days out of work for health reasons. We consider two educational reforms. One is the educational expansion of the early 1960s and the other is the 1997 increase in compulsory level of schooling from five to eight years. However, due to the possibility of weak instruments we do not further pursue this avenue. We focus on individuals in two cohorts namely, 1945-1965 which is an older cohort and 1980-1980 which is a younger cohort. We estimate Tobit models as well as Double Hurdle models. The results suggest that an increase in years of education causes to reduce the number of days hospitalized for both men and women unambiguously and the number of days out of work only for men while an increase in education increases the number of days out of work for a randomly selected women. |
| Keywords: | Education, Days hospitalized, Days out of work, Education reform, Tobit model, Double Hurdle model, Gender, Turkey. |
| JEL: | I15 J16 J18 C34 C36 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1715&r=edu |
| By: | Mathematica Policy Research staff |
| Abstract: | This infographic describes states’ progress in developing and implementing systems that rate early childhood education programs on quality and help them improve. |
| Keywords: | Race to the Top, Early Learning Challenge, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, QRIS |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:cba9aa1a01424cdeb2e7ab96f4704dea&r=edu |
| By: | Francesca Borgonovi (OECD); Artur Pokropek (Joint Research Centre - European Commission) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines between-country differences in the mechanisms through which education could promote generalised trust using data from 29 countries participating in the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). Results indicate that education is strongly associated with generalised trust and that a large part of this association is mediated by individuals’ literacy skills, income and occupational prestige. However, education gradients in levels of generalised trust and in the extent to which they are due to social stratification mechanisms or cognitive skills mechanisms vary across countries. Differences across countries in birthplace diversity and income inequality are correlated with how strongly education is associated with trust in different countries, as well as in the relative magnitude of direct and indirect associations. In particular, the relationship between literacy skills and generalised trust is stronger in the presence of greater birthplace diversity but is weaker in the presence of greater income inequality. |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:164-en&r=edu |
| By: | Da Silva, Sergio; De Faveri, Dinorá; Matsushita, Raul |
| Abstract: | We gather survey evidence for the influence of the HEXACO personality traits on the phenomenon of hyperbolic discounting. We also consider the demographics of age, sex, income and education, and evaluate how these interact with personality and hyperbolic discounting. Due to a sampling technique of “snowball,” we assembled a sample of well-educated and relatively wealthy adults from both sexes. Most respondents escaped hyperbolic discounting, and for those affected there was no “magnitude effect.” Those participants showing higher conscientiousness were less hyperbolic. Moreover, those more open to experience who were more extroverted at the same time were also less hyperbolic. We also detail how such personality traits influence hyperbolic discounting mediated by the demographics of age, sex, income and educational attainment. Thus, conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion are traits that contribute to rational decisions in intertemporal choice in our sample, in that participants with these personality traits are less hyperbolic. |
| Keywords: | intertemporal choice, hyperbolic discounting, impatience, personality, HEXACO, Big Five |
| JEL: | D90 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83171&r=edu |
| By: | Dario Sansone (Department of Economics, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an algorithm to predict which students are going to drop out of high schools relying only on information from 9th grade. It verifies that using a parsimonious early warning system - as implemented in many schools - leads to poor results. It shows that schools can obtain more precise predictions by exploiting the available high-dimensional data jointly with machine learning tools such as Support Vector Machine, Boosted Regression and Post-LASSO. It carefully selects goodness-of-fit criteria based on the context and the underlying theoretical framework: model parameters are calibrated by taking into account policy goals and budget constraints. Finally, it uses unsupervised machine learning to divide students at risk of dropping out into different clusters. |
| Keywords: | High School Dropout, Machine Learning, Big Data |
| JEL: | C53 I20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~17-17-09&r=edu |
| By: | Petar Vujanovic; Christine Lewis |
| Abstract: | Switzerland makes more use of its human resources than most other OECD countries. Labour force participation is high and the unemployment rate low for most segments of society. This ensures a high standard of living for most Swiss people. Nevertheless, productivity growth is relatively slow. While this may in part be attributable to already being an advanced economy, it also means that Switzerland cannot be complacent with regard to education and skills. Its admirably low youth joblessness suggests that the transition from education to work is functioning soundly. However, there is mounting evidence that as the structure of industry is changing, due to globalisation and digitalisation for instance, vacancies and skills mismatches are spreading. The mix of skills being taught differs from those taught in most other high income OECD countries in which a common secondary school track predominates and the emphasis is on equipping young adults with academic tertiary qualifications. In this context, it is important that the system is flexible enough to respond to shifts in the demand for skills and that workers continue to learn. While the participation of women and immigrants in the economy compares relatively well, more can still be done to improve equity in the accumulation of skills. This Working Paper relates to the 2017 OECD Economic Survey of Switzerland (http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economi c-survey-switzerland.htm). |
| Keywords: | skills, Switzerland, training, vocational education |
| JEL: | I24 I25 I28 J24 J48 |
| Date: | 2017–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1444-en&r=edu |
| By: | Catherine Porter (Heriot-Watt University); Danila Serra (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | Women have been traditionally underrepresented in several fields of study, notably those with the highest returns. While in the last two decades many disciplines, including mathematics and physical sciences, have made significant progress in attracting and retaining women, there has been little improvement in the field of economics, which remains heavily male-dominated. We report results from a field experiment aimed at increasing the percentage of women majoring in economics through exposure to carefully chosen female role models. We randomly selected a subset of Principles of Economics classes to be assigned to our role model treatment. Since the same classes were also offered and taught by the same instructors the previous year, we are able to employ a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to test whether the role model intervention increased the percentage of women planning to major in economics (survey-based) and enrolling in intermediate economics classes (administrative data) the semester and year following the intervention. Our results suggest that, while the role model intervention had no impact on male students, it significantly increased female students' likelihood of expressing interest in the economics major and enrolling in further economics classes. |
| Keywords: | education gender gap, role models, field experiment, economics. |
| JEL: | A22 I23 I24 J16 C93 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1705&r=edu |
| By: | Gretchen Kirby; Pia Caronongan; Andrea Mraz Esposito; Lauren Murphy; Megan Shoji; Patricia Del Grosso; Wamaitha Kiambuthi; Melissa Clark; Lisa Dragoset |
| Abstract: | This report describes states’ progress in developing and implementing systems that rate early childhood education programs on quality and help them improve. It focuses on the nine states that received the Round 1 Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. |
| Keywords: | Race to the Top, Early Learning Challenge, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, QRIS |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:de8ae38d35ec4ce89e6b66d01bcdcbbb&r=edu |
| By: | Tansel, Aysit; Keskin, Halil Ibrahim |
| Abstract: | The strong relationship between various health indicators and education is widely documented. However, the studies that investigate the nature of causality between these variables became available only recently and provide evidence mostly from developed countries. We add to this literature by studying the causal effect of education on days hospitalized and days out of work for health reasons. We consider two educational reforms. One is the educational expansion of the early 1960s and the other is the 1997 increase in compulsory level of schooling from five to eight years. However, due to the possibility of weak instruments we do not further pursue this avenue. We focus on individuals in two cohorts namely, 1945-1965 which is an older cohort and 1980-1980 which is a younger cohort. We estimate Tobit models as well as Double Hurdle models. The results suggest that an increase in years of education causes to reduce the number of days hospitalized for both men and women unambiguously and the number of days out of work only for men while an increase in education increases the number of days out of work for a randomly selected women. |
| Keywords: | Education, Days hospitalized, Days out of work, Education reform, Tobit model, Double Hurdle model, Gender, Turkey |
| JEL: | C34 C36 I15 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2017–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83227&r=edu |
| By: | Zubair, Muhammad; Bögenhold, Dieter |
| Abstract: | Migration is a global phenomenon and has gained worldwide recognition for its socioeconomic impacts on host and home country. According to the literature, one of the most important emanations of migration are remittances. They facili-tate poverty reduction, education improvement, entrepreneurial investments and even the economic evolution of the home state. Globally, India and Paki-stan are in the top ten money receiving-countries. This paper provides an over-view about migration, and the worldwide remittance flow of migrants from India and Pakistan to their home countries. We sought to make a nonlinear model by dividing remittance per person with the number of immigrants from India and Pakistan worldwide, also focusing on the ratio of male and female immigrants in the population. The results show that remittance change exponentially over the years. This increase is stronger in the case of India than Pakistan and, more interestingly, gender ratios have influenced remittance per year. |
| Keywords: | migration; immigrant; immigration; remittance, gender, finance; diaspora; entrepreneurship; Pakistan; India |
| JEL: | F22 J6 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83116&r=edu |
| By: | Beatriz Pont; Romane Viennet |
| Abstract: | This literature review focuses on education policy implementation, its definition, processes and determinants. It aims to clarify what implementing policies involve in complex education systems to support policy work, building on the literature and country examples. An introduction delves into the reasons behind the need to update the concept of education policy implementation, which is defined as a purposeful and multidirectional change process aiming to put a specific policy into practice and which affects an education system on several levels. The paper then analyses the determinants that hinder or facilitate the process and groups them under four dimensions which support effective implementation: smart policy design, inclusive stakeholder engagement, conducive context and a coherent implementation strategy. Based on these dimensions, the paper proposes a generic framework and a complementary set of questions and principles for action that can guide policy makers to design, analyse and carry out their education policy implementation processes. |
| JEL: | A |
| Date: | 2017–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:162-en&r=edu |
| By: | Philip M. Gleason |
| Abstract: | This article summarizes the research on factors associated with successful charter schools. |
| Keywords: | charter schools, student achievement, school best practices, impact heterogeneity |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:37e85fde64c34b2daa1fda749b60de81&r=edu |
| By: | David Jose Jaume |
| Abstract: | Most countries are rapidly increasing the educational attainment of their workforce. This paper develops a novel framework to study, theoretically and empirically, the effects of an educational expansion on the occupational structure of employment and distinct aspects of the wage distributionâwage levels, wage gaps, and poverty and inequality indicatorsâwith an application to Brazil. I proceed in three steps. First, I provide some stylized facts of the Brazilian economy between 1995 and 2014: A large educational expansion took place; the occupational structure of employment remained surprisingly fixed; workers of all educational groupsâprimary or less, secondary, and universityâwere increasingly employed in occupations of lower ranking as measured by average wages over the period; and wages of primary educated workers increased while wages of more educated workers declined, bringing forth reductions in poverty and inequality. Second, I build a model that traces these heterogeneous patterns of occupations and wages to the educational expansion. The model assigns workers with three levels of education to a continuum of occupations that vary in complexity and are combined to produce a final good. I investigate three different policy experiments: An increase in university level, an increase in secondary level, and a simultaneous increase in both. The predicted effects depend on the policy analyzed. Considering the educational expansion that took place in Brazil (simultaneous increases in university and secondary levels), the model predicts qualitatively all the observed labor market changes in the occupational structure of employment and the wage distribution. Finally, I calibrate the model with the data from 1995 and show that, through its lens, the observed educational expansion in Brazil explains 66 percent of the occupational downgrading and around 80 percent of the changes in wage levels, inequality, and poverty during the period of 1995-2014. |
| JEL: | I25 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jmp:jm2017:pja468&r=edu |
| By: | Naomitsu Yashiro; Koen De Backer; Andrés Fuentes Hutfilter; Marco Kools; Zuzana Smidova |
| Abstract: | Stronger integration in global value chains would speed up economic convergence to advanced OECD economies and raise living standards. Participation in global value chains (GVCs) offers opportunities for boosting productivity through knowledge transfer and intensive use of technologically advanced inputs. It also enables Latvia to diversify exports into high value added goods and services. Latvia’s participation in GVC lags behind its Baltic and Central European peers. It also draws less value added from GVCs compared to many OECD economies. Nevertheless, GVC participation boosts the productivity of Latvian firms and enables them to increase employment and wages. Strong skills, high innovation capabilities and efficient resource allocation are essential for Latvian firms to engage in more knowledge intensive activities within GVCs. Improving access to higher education, promoting innovation cooperation between Latvian firms and foreign research institutes, reducing the large informal economy and establishing an effective judiciary and insolvency regime would unlock productivity growth through stronger integration in GVCs. This Working Paper relates to the 2017 OECD Economic Survey of Latvia. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-surve y-latvia.htm). |
| Keywords: | education, global value chains, innovation |
| JEL: | F12 F43 O38 |
| Date: | 2017–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1438-en&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Grech (StrategyWorks); Anthony Camilleri (StrategyWorks) |
| Abstract: | This report introduces the fundamental principles of the Blockchain focusing on its potential for the education sector. It explains how this technology may both disrupt institutional norms and empower learners. It proposes eight scenarios for the application of the Blockchain in an education context, based on the current state of technology development and deployment. |
| Keywords: | blockchain, blockchain in education, recognition of non-formal learning, formal learning accreditation, reputation systems, diploma supplement, digitisation of credentials, open education |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc108255&r=edu |
| By: | Jan Paul Heisig; Heike Solga |
| Abstract: | Using PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) data for 21 countries, we study interrelationships between formal qualifications, cognitive skills, and labour market outcomes, focusing on comparisons between less and intermediate-educated adults (i.e. between adults with a degree below the upper secondary and at the upper secondary level). Less-educated adults tend to have lower cognitive skills than intermediate-educated adults, yet both groups are internally heterogeneous. In country-specific individual-level regressions, cognitive skills partly explain the lower occupational status of less-educated adults, but cross-national variation in their disadvantage remains substantial after accounting for skills. Country-level regressions show that the remaining disadvantage increases with the aggregate skills gap and with the internal homogeneity of the two educational groups. We further show that the association between skills and occupational attainment is weaker among the less educated than among the intermediate group. These findings are consistent with the idea that employers statistically discriminate on the basis of formal qualifications. |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:163-en&r=edu |