nep-edu New Economics Papers
on Education
Issue of 2023‒12‒04
seven papers chosen by
Nádia Simões, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa 


  1. The Effect of Schooling on Parental Integration By Ann-Marie Sommerfeld
  2. Can a low emission zone improve academic performance? Evidence from a natural experiment in the city of Madrid By Manuel T. Valdés; Mar C. Espadafor; Risto Conte Keivabu
  3. Writing Matters By Feld, Jan; Lines, Corinna; Ross, Libby
  4. Heterogeneous Returns to Education across Hukou-Migration Subgroups in China By Juan Huang; Weerachart Kilenthong
  5. A Tale of Two Fields? STEM Career Outcomes By Xuan Jiang; Joseph Staudt; Bruce A. Weinberg
  6. Less debt, more schooling? Evidence from cross-country micro data By Marin Ferry; Marine de Talancé; Miguel Niño-Zarazúa
  7. From public labs to private firms: magnitude and channels of R&D spillovers By Antonin Bergeaud; Arthur Guillouzouic; Emeric Henry; Clement Malgouyres

  1. By: Ann-Marie Sommerfeld (Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
    Abstract: Exploiting the age-at-enrollment policies in 16 German states as exogenous source of variation, I examine whether the schooling of the oldest child in a migrant household affects parents' integration. My analysis links administrative records on primary school enrollment cutoff dates with micro data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP). Using a regression discontinuity design around the school enrollment cutoff and an instrumental variable approach I show that children's schooling improves the integration of parents along several dimensions, such as labor market outcomes, financial worries, and German language skills. Labor market outcomes are most positively affected for mothers. Additional analysis of underlying mechanisms suggests that results are driven by gains in disposable time and exposure to the German language and culture.
    Keywords: international migration, assimilation, integration, education, schooling, family, regression discontinuity, instrumental variables
    JEL: F22 I24 I26 J16
    Date: 2023–11–14
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-018&r=edu
  2. By: Manuel T. Valdés; Mar C. Espadafor; Risto Conte Keivabu (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)
    Abstract: -In late 2018, the government of Madrid instituted a low emission zone (LEZ) in the central district of the city, aiming primarily to alleviate traffic-related emissions and enhance air quality. Extensive research has documented the adverse effects of air pollution on academic performance. Consequently, the success of Madrid’s LEZ in reducing traffic-related emissions could potentially translate into improved performance among students schooled in the designated area. Through a difference-in-differences design, we demonstrate the policy's effectiveness in improving air quality during the four years following its implementation. Subsequently, we show a noteworthy increase of 0.17 standard deviations in the average EvAU scores (high-stakes examinations for university admittance) of high schools within the LEZ, a crucial advantage for gaining entry into the most competitive university programs. Importantly, our findings reveal positive spillover effects in the surroundings of the LEZ area and a larger effect the longer and earlier the exposure to cleaner air. In sum, our study offers compelling empirical evidence of the beneficial educational impacts resulting from the implementation of a low emission zone successful in improving air quality.
    JEL: J1 Z0
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2023-048&r=edu
  3. By: Feld, Jan (Victoria University of Wellington); Lines, Corinna (Write Limited in Wellington); Ross, Libby (Write Limited in Wellington)
    Abstract: For papers to have scientific impact, they need to impress our peers in their role as referees, journal editors, and members of conference committees. Does better writing help our papers make it past these gatekeepers? In this study, we estimate the effect of writing quality by comparing how 30 economists judge the quality of papers written by PhD students in economics. Each economist judged five papers in their original version and five different papers that had been language edited. No economist saw both versions of the same paper. Our results show that writing matters. Compared to the original versions, economists judge edited versions as higher quality; they are more likely to accept edited versions for a conference; and they believe that edited versions have a better chance of being accepted at a good journal.
    Keywords: academic writing, writing quality, economics, randomized experiment
    JEL: A10
    Date: 2023–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16571&r=edu
  4. By: Juan Huang; Weerachart Kilenthong
    Abstract: This paper uses the China Household Income Project 2018 dataset to estimate returns to education for various Hukou-migration subgroups. We overcome the endogeneity problem of years of schooling using an instrument based on the Great Expansion of Higher Education policy. Our results indicate that the highest returns are for urban native workers (27.4%), followed by urban Hukou-converted (25.0%) and rural native workers (14.7%). In contrast, the returns to education for rural-urban migrant workers are insignificant. Further analyses suggest that Hukou conversion significantly increased the returns to education for rural-origin people by enabling them access to better job opportunities.
    Keywords: returns to education; Hukou system; migration; China
    JEL: I24 I26 J15 J61
    Date: 2023–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pui:dpaper:210&r=edu
  5. By: Xuan Jiang; Joseph Staudt; Bruce A. Weinberg
    Abstract: Is the labor market for US researchers experiencing the best or worst of times? This paper analyzes the market for recently minted Ph.D. recipients using supply-and-demand logic and data linking graduate students to their dissertations and W2 tax records. We also construct a new dissertation-industry “relevance” measure, comparing dissertation and patent text and linking patents to assignee firms and industries. We find large disparities across research fields in placement (faculty, postdoc, and industry positions), earnings, and the use of specialized human capital. Thus, it appears to simultaneously be a good time for some fields and a bad time for others.
    JEL: I23 J24 O3
    Date: 2023–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31835&r=edu
  6. By: Marin Ferry (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel, LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marine de Talancé (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel, LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Miguel Niño-Zarazúa
    Abstract: Soaring levels of public debt in low-income countries are fuelling concerns about their ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, such as free access to primary education. In the late 1990s and 2000s, international financial institutions introduced a series of debt relief initiatives aimed to restore debt sustainability among highly indebted countries. This study examines the impact of these initiatives on primary school attendance. We exploit the temporal variation in the implementation of these policies, in combination with individual-level data from 177 Demographic and Health Surveys covering more than 1.5 million school-age children from 44 low-income countries to implement difference-in-differences and spatial difference-in-discontinuity estimators. Results suggest that debt relief initiatives, by freeing up additional public resources, have significantly contributed to increasing primary school attendance in heavily indebted countries. Impact heterogeneity analysis also shows that debt relief has been effective at reducing wealth-based, intergenerational, religious, ethnic and spatial inequalities in education. Our results provide robust evidence to assert that debt relief, in combination with other financing sources, can contribute to improving educational outcomes in highly indebted poor countries.
    Keywords: Debt relief, Education, Financing for development
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04258128&r=edu
  7. By: Antonin Bergeaud; Arthur Guillouzouic; Emeric Henry; Clement Malgouyres
    Abstract: Introducing a new measure of scientific proximity between private firms and public research groups and exploiting a multi-billion euro financing program of academic clusters in France, we provide causal evidence of spillovers from academic research to private sector firms. Firms in the top quartile of exposure to the funding shock increase their R&D effort by 20% compared to the bottom quartile. We exploit reports produced by funded clusters, complemented by data on labor mobility and R&D public-private partnerships, to provide evidence on the channels for these spillovers. We show that spillovers are driven by outsourcing of R&D activities by the private to the public sectors and, to a lesser extent, by labor mobility from one to the other and by informal contacts. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.
    Keywords: knowledge spillovers, policy instruments, technological distance
    Date: 2022–10–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:poidwp:041&r=edu

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