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on Education |
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Issue of 2018‒05‒21
seventeen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Han Yu; Naci Mocan |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causal effect of high school curriculum on various student outcomes including academic performance at the university, happiness, physical and mental health, self-confidence, confidence in academic ability, and attitudes towards studying and learning. We exploit a curriculum reform in China, the implementation of which started in 2004. The reform covered all provinces and municipal cities, and was rolled out in different years in different provinces. The new curriculum pivoted away from the old lock-step course structure where all students took the same courses and only those subject that were covered in the national university entrance exam were considered important. In contrast, the new curriculum introduced a course credit system, changed textbooks, and provided flexibility in course selection. It also introduced elective courses and made such courses as arts and physical education mandatory, and a graduation requirement. Using survey data on university students and employing a difference-in-difference approach, we find that the students who were exposed to the new curriculum in high school have better academic performance in university. They are happier, and their physical and mental well-being is better. These students are more likely to have positive attitudes towards themselves and they are more involved in student clubs. They have more confidence in their academic ability, they have more positive attitudes towards studying, and they have more general self-confidence. These results indicate that the reform had a significant impact on students’ academic success and well-being by allowing them to focus on subject matters in which they are interested, and by reducing undue stress of a regimented curriculum. |
| JEL: | H0 I1 I20 I23 I3 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24573&r=edu |
| By: | Scott E. Carrell (University of California, Davis); Mark Hoekstra (Texas A&M University); Elira Kuka (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | A large and growing literature has documented the importance of peer effects in education. However, there is relatively little evidence on the long-run educational and labor market consequences of childhood peers. We examine this question by linking administrative data on elementary school students to subsequent test scores, college attendance and completion, and earnings. To distinguish the effect of peers from confounding factors, we exploit the population variation in the proportion of children from families linked to domestic violence, who have been shown to disrupt contemporaneous behavior and learning. Results show that exposure to a disruptive peer in classes of 25 during elementary school reduces earnings at age 24 to 28 by 3 percent. We estimate that differential exposure to children linked to domestic violence explains 5 percent of the rich-poor earnings gap in our data, and that each year of exposure to a disruptive peer reduces the present discounted value of classmates’ future earnings by $80,000 |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects, Domestic Violence |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1804&r=edu |
| By: | Ulrik Hvidman; Hans Henrik Sievertsen |
| Abstract: | High-stakes exams provide students with incentives to perform well. This paper uses a reform-induced recoding of grades from completed exams, which caused variation in high school students’ grade point average (GPA), to identify students’ behavioral responses to changes in high-stakes grades. The results show that students who were downgraded by the recoding performed better on subsequent assessments and worked less for pay during high school. Students with downgraded grades were also somewhat more likely to enroll in college. As the recoding did not convey information on academic performance, these results emphasize that changes in incentives are important in understanding students’ responses to high-stakes grades. There is no evidence that the recoding algorithm predicts outcomes for nonaffected cohorts. |
| Keywords: | Student behavior, high-stakes tests, human capital. |
| Date: | 2018–05–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:18/698&r=edu |
| By: | Florian Fuchs; Roland Füss; Tim Jenkisnon; Stefan Morkoetter |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate whether the educational background of private equity managers, which represents an important part of their human capital, impacts fund performance. In particular, we explore three potential channels how the educational background may influence fund performance: (i) institutional quality, (ii) individual performance, and (iii) academic variety. We find that a combination of top-tier education and work experience identifies individual performance in the management team. In addition, academic variety, in particular among graduates of high-ranked universities, rather than uniform institutional quality, is an important return driver. |
| Keywords: | Performance, Buyout, Teams, Education, University |
| JEL: | G11 G15 G24 G34 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2018:06&r=edu |
| By: | Irina V. Volkova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper is dedicated to the education system in the Soviet Union and school-related issues in the context of the “Great Purge of 1937” - a very symbolic time in the Soviet history that became the climax of the Soviet political repressions but also - a time of the successful completion of the second five-year plan of economic development and other great soviet achievements. The intended research is aimed to clarify how all these events were reflected within the school communities, in what way they influenced the belief system, civil position and general trends in behavior of the senior students, who in the coming years would be bound to become the backbone of a war generation. At the same time, it was the period of the most important decisions within the country’s education system aimed at its participation in society consolidation and thorough preparations of the young generation to clash against some very strong foes. This work reveals the practical consequences of the campaign against a “pedological perversion” within Soviet education system and the process of the teacher selection which stimulated school’s development to be in line with the given ideological directions. |
| Keywords: | Great Purge of 1937, school communities, Soviet education system, educational institutions, pedological perversion, teachers |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:166/hum/2018&r=edu |
| By: | Korpi, Tomas (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Tåhlin, Michael (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Lifelong learning research focuses on formal training, documenting a positive correlation between initial education and continuing training. This “training gap” research disregards two important distinctions: (a) between formal and informal training, and (b) between employee skill supply and job demand. A complete account of work-life human capital formation requires simultaneous analysis of formal and informal activities, and of workers current qualifications and the skill requirements of their current jobs. Less-educated workers may hold jobs with low skill requirements providing little training since the use of high skills is irrelevant. Examining workplace training in Sweden, on the basis of indicators from the Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU), we find that informal training quantitatively dominates formal and that both are unequally distributed across skill categories. Job requirements essentially determine the incidence of training, while the net impact of individual education is very small. Employer decisions regarding how to structure jobs and whom to hire appear to be the primary factors behind the training gap in lifelong learning. |
| Keywords: | On-the-job training; lifelong learning; Educational mismatch; formal training; Informal training |
| Date: | 2018–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2018_007&r=edu |
| By: | Nava Ashraf (Harvard University); Natalie Bau (University of Toronto); Corinne Low (University of Pennsylvania); Kathleen McGinn (Harvard Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using a randomized control trial, we examine whether offering adolescent girls non-material resources – specifically, negotiation skills – can improve educational outcomes in a low-income country. In so doing, we provide the first evidence on the effects of an intervention that increased non-cognitive, interpersonal skills during adolescence. Long-run administrative data shows that negotiation training significantly improved educational outcomes over the next three years. The training had greater effects than two alternative treatments (offering girls a safe physical space with female mentors and offering girls information about the returns to education), suggesting that negotiation skills themselves drive the effect. Further evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment, which simulates parents’ educational investment decisions, and a midline survey suggests that negotiation skills improved girls’ outcomes by moving households’ human capital investments closer to the efficient frontier. This is consistent with an incomplete contracting model, where negotiation allows daughters to strategically cooperate with parents. |
| Keywords: | Zambia, critical periods, non-cognitive skills, educational achievement, adolescence, female education |
| JEL: | J24 C93 D19 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-023&r=edu |
| By: | Kuklin, Vladimir (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the results of the analysis of approaches to determining the ratings of higher education institutions and their formation (taking into account foreign experience), approaches to the evaluation of rating systems in education (taking into account foreign experience), and the description of certain methods, algorithms and procedures for evaluating rating systems in education. |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:041822&r=edu |
| By: | Seyedehsahar Shafieiosgouei (Payamme Noir University, Iran); Nava Nourdad (University of Tabriz, Iran); Robab Hassantofighi (Azad University of Tabriz); Seyyedreza Shafieioskouei (Azad University of Iran) |
| Abstract: | The technological advances of the 21st century have impacted all spheres of life, including education. The world of books and pens is being replaced by computers at young ages. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of technology on Iranian elementary school students’ learning and interest in school attendance. The participants were 47 sixth grade students selected from two schools with and without technological support. The results of the study revealed a higher level of interest in school attendance in the group provided with technology. Consequently this study may have beneficial pedagogical implications for learners, teachers, and curriculum developers. |
| Keywords: | E-Learning school, interest in school attendance, technology |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:tpaper:012&r=edu |
| 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)); Semionova, Elena (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Tokareva, Galina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Yakovlev, Ivan (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the results of the fifth wave of the monitoring study of the effectiveness of general education conducted by the Center for the Economics of Continuing Education of the IAER RANEPA. Participants of the sociological survey in 2017 were 41 school principals, 2107 representatives of households, 2038 teachers of general education organizations located in urban settlements and rural areas of the Chelyabinsk region, the Altai and Stavropol regions, and also in St. Petersburg. The positions of teachers on a wide range of issues related to the problems of general education are considered: the personnel situation in schools, the quality of teaching, the requirements of families for the organization of the educational process, and the satisfaction of teachers with professional activities. |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:041818&r=edu |
| By: | Andreu Arenas, Clément Malgouyres |
| Abstract: | We study how economic conditions at the time of choosing post-compulsory education affect intergenerational mobility. Exploiting local variation in birthplace unemployment rate at age 16 across 23 cohorts in France, we find that cohorts deciding on post-compulsory education in bad economic times are more educationally intergenerationally mobile – their level of educational attainment is less related to having a white-collar father. These cohorts are also more occupationally intergenerationally mobile; and a large fraction of this effect is explained by business cycle-induced differences in educational attainment. Results are robust to accounting for differential spatial mobility between birth and age 16 by parental occupation. Finally, we provide additional evidence that high local unemployment at age 16 increases the relative school enrollment rate of children of blue collar workers the year after – at age 17. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, business cycle, human capital, occupational choice |
| JEL: | J24 I21 E24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:679&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Over the next decade, a growing proportion of young adults are expected to attain tertiary education, with China and India leading the way – in particular in the fast-growing and highly relevant fields of STEM. Nonetheless, while women in OECD and G20 countries are expected to experience a greater increase in tertiary attainment than men, they may continue to lag behind in STEM, where they have been consistently under-represented. The challenge for the near future will be to ensure that educational systems are able to provide tertiary degrees that are both of high quality and relevance, in an equitable and inclusive manner. |
| Date: | 2018–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:61-en&r=edu |
| By: | Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Chetty et al. (2014b) show that children from low-income families achieve higher adult incomes, relative to those from higher income families, in some commuting zones (CZs) than in others. I investigate whether children’s educational outcomes help to explain the between-CZ differences. I find little evidence that the quality of schools is a key mechanism driving variation in intergenerational mobility. While CZs with stronger intergenerational income transmission have somewhat stronger transmission of parental income to children’s educational attainment and achievement, on average, neither can explain a large share of the between-CZ variation. Marriage patterns explain two-fifths of the variation in income transmission, human capital accumulation and returns to human capital each explain only one-ninth, and the remainder of the variation (about one-third) reflects differences in earnings between children from high- and low-income families that are not mediated by human capital. This points to job networks and the structure of local labor and marriage markets, rather than the education system, as likely factors influencing intergenerational economic mobility. |
| JEL: | I24 I3 J12 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24537&r=edu |
| By: | Clément Bosquet (Spatial Economic Research Center); Pierre-Philippe Combes (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | Are agglomeration and peer effects at stake in academic research? To tackle this question, we study how departments’ characteristics affect the quantity and quality of academics’ publications in economics in France, controlling for individual time-varying characteristics and individual fixed effects. Department characteristics have an explanatory power at least equal to a quarter of that of individual characteristics and possibly as high as theirs. The quantity and quality of an academic’s publications in a field increase with the presence of other academics specialised in that field and with the share of the department’s publications output in that field. In contrast, department size, proximity to other large departments, homogeneity in terms of publication performance, presence of colleagues with connections abroad, and composition in terms of positions and age matter for some publication measures but only if not controlling for individual fixed effects. |
| Keywords: | Research productivity; Local externalities; Skill sorting; Peer effects; Knowledge spillovers; Co-author networks; Economics of science |
| JEL: | R23 J24 I23 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4jn6cjcel9913942jpruv3pju6&r=edu |
| By: | Philipp Lergetporer; Katharina Werner; Ludger Wößmann |
| Abstract: | The gap in university enrollment by parental education is large and persistent in many countries. In our representative survey, 74 percent of German university graduates, but only 36 percent of those without a university degree favor a university education for their children. The latter are more likely to underestimate returns and overestimate costs of university. Experimental provision of return and cost information significantly increases educational aspirations. However, it does not close the aspiration gap as university graduates respond even more strongly to the information treatment. Persistent effects in a follow-up survey indicate that participants indeed process and remember the information. Differences in economic preference parameters also cannot account for the educational aspiration gap. Our results cast doubt that ignorance of economic returns and costs explains educational inequality in Germany. |
| Keywords: | inequality, higher education, university, aspiration, information, returns to education, survey experiment |
| JEL: | D83 I24 J24 H75 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7000&r=edu |
| By: | Belyakov, Sergei (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The development of medium-term forecasts of the economy and finance of the education system, conducted by the Center for Continuous Education Economics of the RANEPA in previous years, made it possible to determine a number of requirements for this work. In particular, the initial data for the development of forecasts should be data from official statistics, as well as reports on the implementation of the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation in terms of education expenditure. In addition, for the development of forecasts, some ratios of normative nature are necessary: funding standards, permissible ratios of the number of children attending pre-school educational institutions, the number of places in them, the ratio of the number of children and pedagogical workers, the established (certain) ratios between the number of students in organizations of general school) education and teachers in them and some others. The possibility of changing these ratios allows the development of various variants of forecasts, which creates an information basis for the adoption of appropriate managerial decisions. |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:041821&r=edu |
| By: | Graeme Newell |
| Abstract: | Universities internationally have recently increased their campuses to attract a broader coverage of students in a very competitive university education market (e.g.: international students). This has seen many universities establish a CBD office presence via vertical campuses in addition to their traditional campuses. Universities have considered a range of options to access the office property space, with the attractiveness of universities as major office space tenants and university education assets now being critically assessed as a potential property sector for investors; e.g.: included in a property fund. Using an extensive survey of Australian universities, superannuation funds, property funds and valuers, critical issues in the successful delivery of education assets as a new property sector are assessed for these various stakeholders in the education asset delivery process. A number of local and international case-studies are also presented to highlight specific strategic and practical issues for education assets as a property sector and universities as major office space tenants. |
| Keywords: | CBD office space; Pension funds; Property funds; University education assets; Vertical campuses |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2017–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2017_31&r=edu |