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on Education |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Babs Jacobs; Guido Schwerdt; Rolf van der Velden; Stan Vermeulen; Simon Wiederhold |
| Abstract: | The extensive literature on intergenerational mobility highlights the importance of family linkages but fails to provide credible evidence about the underlying family factors that drive the pervasive correlations. We employ a unique combination of Dutch survey and registry data that links math and language skills across generations. We identify a causal connection between cognitive skills of parents and their children by exploiting within-family between-subject variation in these skills. The data also permit novel IV estimation that isolates variation in parental cognitive skills due to school and peer quality. The between-subject and IV estimates of the key intergenerational persistence parameter are strikingly similar and close at about 0.1. Finally, we show the strong influence of family skill transmission on children’s choices of STEM fields. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, parent-child skill transmission, causality, STEM |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J12 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9388&r= |
| By: | ISOZUMI Koji; ITO Hirotake; NAKAMURO Makiko; YAMAGUCHI Shintaro |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data from one of the most selective secondary schools in Japan, this paper shows that students’ ordinal rank in their first exam at the school has a significant positive effect not only on their subsequent test scores but also on the quality of the college by which they are accepted after school. This may explain why students with a lower rank based on the exams in their early days of school life remain low achievers in later school years, which is referred to as the "deep-sea-fish" phenomenon. The results imply that attending a selective school should not be the ultimate goal because achieving a good grade in the first exam after enrollment is important for subsequent accomplishment. |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:21086&r= |
| By: | Valentine Jacobs (Université de Mons (humanOrg) and Université libre de Bruxelles (CEBRIG and DULBEA)); François Rycx (Université libre de Bruxelles (CEBRIG and DULBEA), GLO, humanOrg, IRES and IZA); Mélanie Volral (Université de Mons (humanOrg) and DULBEA) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the influence of educational mismatch on wages according to workers’ region of birth, taking advantage of our access to rich matched employer-employee data for the Belgian private sector for the period 1999-2010. Using a fine-grained approach to measuring educational mismatch and controlling for a large set of covariates, we first find that workers born in developed countries benefit from positive wage returns to their years of attained-, required and over-education, and that these returns are significantly higher for them than for their peers born in developing countries. Second, our results show that the wage return to a year of over-education is positive but lower than that to a year of required education. This suggests that over-educated workers suffer a wage penalty compared to their well-matched former classmates (i.e. workers with the same level of education in jobs that match their education). However, the magnitude of this wage penalty is found to vary considerably depending on the origin of the workers. Indeed, all else being equal, our estimates show that it is much greater for workers from developing countries – especially for those born in Africa and the Middle and Near East – than for those from developed countries. Regardless of workers’ origin, our estimates further indicate that the wage penalty associated with over-education is higher for workers who: i) have attained tertiary education, ii) are male, iii) have more seniority in employment, iv) are employed in smaller firms, and v) are covered by a collective agreement at the firm level. Yet, whatever the moderating variable under consideration, the estimates also show that the wage penalty associated with over-education remains higher for workers born in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, educational mismatch, wage gap, linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J15 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2021–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2021025&r= |
| By: | Samuel Nursamsu (Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development (PROSPERA)); Wisnu Harto Adiwijoyo (University of Göttingen); Anissa Rahmawati (Presisi Indonesia) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to shed light on the impact of socio-economic disparity on learning engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Utilising search intensity data from Google Trends, school data from Dapodik (Education Core Database), and socio-economic data from the National Socioeconomic Survey, we conduct descriptive analysis, an event study, and difference-in-difference estimations. First, school quality differs in terms of the regions’ development level, especially between western and eastern Indonesia. However, densely populated and well-developed areas generally have lower offline classroom availability. In addition, the quality of public schools is generally lower than private schools. Second, our estimation results show that only online-classroom related search intensity that increased significantly after school closures on 16 March 2020, not in self-learning related search intensity. Further the analysis shows that socio-economic disparity within provinces widens the gap in online learning engagement, albeit with weak evidence from per capita expenditure. Interestingly, provinces with a higher inequality and rural population tend to have higher self-learning related search intensity due to students’ necessity to compensate for low learning quality from schools. In addition, technology adoption does not seem to give much of an increase to online-classroom related search intensity but contributes to lower self-learning related search intensity due to increased academic distraction. Our study provides evidence for the Indonesian government to make more precise policy in improving learning quality during the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19 Impact, Education Inequality, Online learning |
| JEL: | I24 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2021-41&r= |
| By: | Oded Gurantz (University of Missouri); Ryan Sakoda (University of Iowa); Sahyak Sarkar (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how financial aid reform based on postsecondary institutional performance impacts student choice. Federal and state regulations often reflect concerns about the private, for-profit sector’s poor employment outcomes and high loan defaults, despite the sector’s possible theoretical advantages. We use student-level data to examine how eliminating public subsidies to attend low-performing for-profit institutions impacts students’ college enrollment and completion behavior. Beginning in 2011, California tightened eligibility standards for their state aid program, effectively eliminating most for-profit eligibility. Linking data on aid application to administrative payment and postsecondary enrollment records, this paper utilizes a difference-in differences strategy to investigate students’ enrollment and degree completion responses to changes in subsidies. We find that restricting the use of the Cal Grant at for-profit institutions resulted in significant state savings but led to relatively small changes in students’ postsecondary trajectories. For older, nontraditional students we find no impact on enrollment or degree completion outcomes. Similarly, for high school graduates, we find that for-profit enrollment remains strong. Unlike the older, nontraditional students, however, there is some evidence of declines in for-profit degree completion and increased enrollment at community colleges among the high school graduates, but these results are fairly small and sensitive to empirical specification. Overall, our results suggest that both traditional and nontraditional students have relatively inelastic preferences for for-profit colleges under aid-restricting policies. |
| Keywords: | financial aid reform, postsecondary education, gainful employment, consumer protection |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:21-356&r= |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A.; Jacobs, Babs (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); Schwerdt, Guido; van der Velden, Rolf (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Vermeulen, Stan (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | The extensive literature on intergenerational mobility highlights the importance of family linkages but fails to provide credible evidence about the underlying family factors that drive the pervasive correlations. We employ a unique combination of Dutch survey and registry data that links math and language skills across generations. We identify a causal connection between cognitive skills of parents and their children by exploiting within-family between-subject variation in these skills. The data also permit novel IV estimation that isolates variation in parental cognitive skills due to school and peer quality. The between-subject and IV estimates of the key intergenerational persistence parameter are strikingly similar and close at about 0.1. Finally, we show the strong influence of family skill transmission on children’s choices of STEM fields. |
| JEL: | I24 J12 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2021007&r= |
| By: | Cnossen, Femke; Piracha, Matloob; Tchuente, Guy |
| Abstract: | Technological change and globalization have sparked debates on the changing demand for skills in western labour markets, especially for middle skilled workers who have seen their tasks replaced. This paper provides a new data set, which is based on text data from curricula of the entire Dutch vocational education system. We extract verbs and nouns to measure social, technical and basic skills in a novel way. This method allows us to uncover the skills middle-skilled students learn in school. Using this data, we show that skill returns vary across students specialized in STEM, economics or health, as well as across sectors of employment. |
| Keywords: | Curriculum skills,vocational education and training,skill returns |
| JEL: | J24 I26 I21 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:979&r= |
| By: | Agurto, M.; Bazan, M.; Hari, S.; Sarangi, S. |
| Abstract: | Gender disparities in STEM fields participation are a major cause of concern for policymakers around the world. In addition to talent misallocation, low female enrollment rates in STEM careers contribute to gender-based inequalities in earnings and wealth, given the higher average level of earnings in these fields. This paper studies the effects of exposure to role models on female preferences for STEM majors. We conduct a randomized control trial where female senior students currently enrolled in engineering programs at an elite private university in Peru give talks about their experiences at randomly selected high schools. We find that exposure to this treatment increases high ability female students' preferences for engineering programs by 14 percentage points. The effect is only statistically significant for the subgroup of female students with baseline math scores in the top 25 percentile, and who reside close to the city where the role models' university is located. We also find positive but smaller effects on "low ability" male students. In a context where females are discouraged from enrolling in STEM fields, our results have important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Enrollment gender gap,field experiment,role models,Higher Education,career choices,stereotypes |
| JEL: | C93 I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:975&r= |
| By: | Rasmane Ouedraogo; Nicolas Syrichas |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 crisis has a severe impact on education and employment and exposed the many social inequities that make some populations more vulnerable to shocks. Despite a vast literature on social mobility in advanced economies, little is known about it in African countries, mainly due to data limitations. Using a large harmonized dataset of more than 72 million individuals, we fill this gap and examine socioeconomic status mobility across generations, measured by educational and occupational attainment. We uncover the substantial geographical variations in the degree of upward/downward educational and occupational mobility across and within African countries, and the gender and rural/urban divide. Additionally, we explore the determinants of social mobility in the African region. We find that social mobility on the continent could be partly explained by observable individual characteristics (gender, marital status, age, etc.), and that educational mobility is a driver of occupational mobility. Lastly, we show that the quality of institutions, the level of public spending on education, social protection coverage, natural resource endowments, and countries' fragility are strong predictors of social mobility in Africa. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility; occupational mobility; social mobility; educational mobility; socioeconomic status mobility; Africa |
| Date: | 2021–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/215&r= |
| By: | Tammy Campbell; Polina Obolenskaya |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the existing literature on what the Free School Meals ('FSM') measure in the National Pupil Database (NPD) can proxy, and on ways in which the measure is used and understood. Through new empirical analyses of data for Reception-aged children in the NPD, and of the DWP's Household Below Average Income (HBAI) data, it then highlights inconsistencies and change in the characteristics of Reception pupils recorded as 'FSM,' over time, place, and family background. It also suggests increased under-ascription of young children from low-income families / families living in poverty over the recent decade. Implications for research, interpretation, policy-making, and practice are critically discussed. |
| Keywords: | Free School Meals (FSM), National Pupil Database (NPD), Measurement, Education, Schools, Poverty |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 I32 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/225&r= |
| By: | Jacobs, Babs (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); van der Velden, Rolf (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work) |
| Abstract: | For decades, researchers tried to get a deeper understanding of the intergenerational transmission of education to shed light on inequality of educational opportunities (IEO) that determine social mobility. The underlying drivers of IEO can stem from three types of parental resources: parent’s key skills (i.e., proficiency in important domains like math and language), parent’s soft skills (i.e., the skills needed to navigate successfully in education), and parent’s financial resources. Previous research was not able to accurately distinguish between the contributions of these different resources, mainly because adequate data on the intergenerational transmission of key skills was missing. This study aims to fill this gap. We developed a unique and unparalleled dataset, the Intergenerational Transmission of Skills (ITS) dataset, combining key skills of more than 25,000 Dutch parents and their children measured with the same test at age 12 with detailed information on the educational pathways and household income. We demonstrate that parent’s key skills is the most important mechanism driving IEO. One standard deviation increase in parent’s key skills is associated with almost one-third of a standard deviation increase in the key skills of their offspring. The intergenerational transmission of key skills accounts for 50-60% of the effect of all measured resources available in the family. The role of financial resources available to the family is a bit stronger than the role of parent’s soft skills, accounting for some 25-30% of the total effect of family resources, with parent’s soft skills taking up some 20-25%. |
| JEL: | I24 J12 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2021006&r= |