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on Education |
| By: | Maria Zumbuehl (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Nihal Chehber (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Rik Dillingh (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | Tracking early in the school career can influence a student's further educational path significantly. We study the track advice at the end of primary school in the Netherlands, where teachers give a track advice based on a student's previous performance and their impression of the student's ability. If the student outperforms the initial advice in the subsequent nationwide test, the school reevaluates the student and can – but does not have to – update the final advice. We use cognitive and non-cognitive skills measurements that are collected three years before the tracking decision is made, linked with the teachers initial and revised advice, as well as background information from register data. We find that with equal skills, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds receive on average lower advice, while students with a migration background receive on average higher advice. A decomposition of the total difference in initial advice between students from high versus low educated parents shows that around 55% of the difference in advice can be explained by differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Adding additional information about the family, school and place of residence, we can explain about 71% of the difference between students with low and high educated parents. We do not find a significant change in the gap in advice between children from different socio-economic backgrounds after the nationwide test and reevaluation procedure. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:439&r= |
| By: | Sandra McNally; Luis Schmidt; Anna Valero |
| Abstract: | Further Education colleges are a key way in which 16-19 year olds acquire skills in the UK (much like US Community Colleges), especially those from low income backgrounds. Yet, little is known about what could improve performance in these institutions. We design and conduct the world’s first management practices survey in these colleges (based on the World Management Survey) and match this to administrative longitudinal data on over 40,000 students. Value added regressions with rich controls suggest that structured management matters for educational outcomes (e.g. upper secondary qualifications), especially for students from low-income backgrounds. In a hypothetical scenario where a learner is moved from a college at the 10th percentile of management practices to the 90th, this would be associated with 8% higher probability of achieving a good high school qualification, which is nearly half of the educational gap between those from poor and non-poor backgrounds. Hence, improving management practices may be an important channel for reducing inequalities. |
| Keywords: | management practices, further education |
| JEL: | I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9694&r= |
| By: | Balazs Egert; Christine de la Maisonneuve; David Turner |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a new measure of human capital using PISA and PIAAC surveys, and mean years of schooling. The new measure is a cohort-weighted average of past PISA scores (representing the quality of education) of the working age population and the corresponding mean years of schooling (representing the quantity of education). In contrast to the existing literature, the relative weights of each component are not imposed or calibrated but directly estimated. The paper finds that the elasticity of the stock of human capital with respect to the quality of education is three to four times larger than for the quantity of education. The new measure has a strong link to productivity with the potential for productivity gains being much greater from improvements in the quality than quantity component of human capital. The magnitude of these potential gains in MFP is considerable but the effects materialise with long lags. The paper simulates the impact of a particular reform to education policy (pre-primary education) on human capital and productivity to demonstrate the usefulness of the new measure for policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | human capital, PISA, PIAAC, mean years of schooling, education policies, productivity, OECD countries |
| JEL: | E24 I20 I25 I26 I28 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9728&r= |
| By: | Adriana Camacho; Catherine Rodríguez; Fabio Sanchez |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of a postgraduate merit-based financial aid program in Colombia. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design using rich survey and administrative data, we find three main results by. First, credit constraints are binding and important even for talented individuals with higher education degrees. Our results indicate that financial aid beneficiaries increase their probability of attaining any graduate education by 33% and a graduate education at a top university abroad by 50%. Second, the labor market highly rewards this education. Beneficiary individuals earn an average a monthly labor income 45% higher than non-beneficiaries. Mediation analyses suggest that at least 50% of the impact is due to the signaling effect of being a financial aid scholar. Importantly, effects are driven by male candidates and in a higher proportion by those who attended private higher education institutions in their undergraduate studies. Third, back-of-the-envelope cost-benefit analyses suggest that this credit scholarship has a private and social IIR of 22% and 29%, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Merit-based financial aidGraduate educationReturns to educationColombiaInternational StudiesRegression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2022–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:020124&r= |
| By: | Sameh Hallaq; Ayman Khalifah |
| Abstract: | The current study aims to investigate the impact of academic achievement on child labor. The study utilizes survey data collected from Palestinian children in West Bank schools who are in the primary grades (5th-9th). The results show that increasing a child's academic achievement is significantly associated with decreasing the probability that a child works for money in the following period. Our findings varied among children according to their gender, age, and parental academic background. Our analyses are subject to different specifications, including two-stage least squares (2SLS) to account for potential endogeneity. The results provide robust evidence about the linkage between school performance and child labor in the West Bank. Further, the study proposes an assessment of the child’s mental health problems by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a potential mechanism through which the child's achievement at school affects child labor. |
| Keywords: | Academic Achievement; Child Labor; West Bank |
| JEL: | D15 I21 J13 I12 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_1007&r= |
| By: | Merkel, Axel (Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI)); Lindgren, Samuel (Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI)) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to provide empirical insights into how shipowners’ fleet deployment decisions are affected by changes in vessel-specific voyage costs. Voyage cost components which are fixed with respect to sailed distance, e.g., port charges or other infrastructure fees, may significantly influence the competitiveness of a maritime transport service, for instance if the level of such costs necessitate a very high degree of capacity utilization. We investigate empirically the effect of charges on the deployment and utilization of vessels in short-sea shipping by using the most recent reform of the Swedish fairway dues system as a natural experiment. Exploiting a stepwise differentiation of fees with respect to size, we utilize a regression discontinuity approach to elicit plausibly causal effects of increased fees on the deployment and utilization of vessels. The results show that increased voyage costs in the form of raised charges lead to affected vessels being deployed on fewer calls but with a slightly higher degree of capacity utilization. Heterogeneity analyses reveal estimates for port calls are larger for small shipowners and for vessels in high-frequency traffic. Overall, the results of the study highlight that charges levied on ships affect the supply structure of short-sea shipping by inducing shipowners to mitigate increased costs through adjusted deployment strategies. |
| Keywords: | Short-sea shipping; Capacity utilization; Fleet deployment; Regression discontinuity; Infrastructure pricing |
| JEL: | C36 R40 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2022–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2022_003&r= |