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on Education |
| By: | Stenberg, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Tudor, Simona (Arbetsförmedlingen) |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether field of study assigned at age 16 impacts mental health in adulthood. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits GPA cut-offs, we find that admission to the preferred study field improves mental health, lowering both the incidence of antidepressant prescriptions and of mental health-related hospitalizations. Engineering contributes strongly but not uniquely to the positive results. As for mechanisms, earnings explain 40% of the estimates, but earlier proposed hypotheses based on school-age peer characteristics have little explanatory power. Our findings imply that restrictions on individuals’ choices, to improve human capital allocations, entail costs that may have been underestimated. |
| Keywords: | field of study; health; secondary education |
| JEL: | I10 I21 I24 J24 J28 J32 |
| Date: | 2024–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2024_001&r=edu |
| By: | Oberrauch, Luis (University of Kaiserslautern); Kaiser, Tim (University of Kaiserslautern) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of low-intensity digital financial education interventions on undergraduate students' financial knowledge in a small-scale RCT. We test the substitutability or complementarity of two treatments: an online video financial education treatment and an incentive-based approach where students are issued pre-paid voucher cards worth 50 EUR to register with a broker specializing in roboadvised investment in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Three months after the intervention, the video treatment enhanced financial knowledge scores by more than 50 percent of a standard deviation. Conversely, the vouchers showed no effect. The findings suggest that subsidies encouraging roboadvised investment into ETFs cannot substitute direct financial education in our setting, and there is no evidence for complementarity between these interventions in creating human capital in the domain of financial decision-making. |
| Keywords: | digital intervention, financial literacy, financial knowledge, financial education, robo-advisor, ETFs |
| JEL: | G53 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16811&r=edu |
| By: | Allen IV, James |
| Abstract: | Across sub-Saharan Africa, countries with a greater percentage of overlapping days in their school and farming calendars also have lower primary school survival rates. In theory, greater overlap between the school and farming calendars should indeed reduce schooling investments, and farm-based child labor too, as it constrains the time allocation opportunity set for both productive activities. I causally identify such effects by leveraging a four-month shift to the school calendar in Malawi that exogenously changed the number of days that the school calendar overlapped with specific crop calendars, which differentially affected communities based on their pre-policy crop allotments. Using panel data for school-aged children, I find that a 10-day increase in school calendar overlap during peak farming periods significantly decreases school advancement by 0.34 grades (one lost grade for every three children) and the share of children engaged in peak-period household farming by 11 percentage points after four years. Secondary analyses reveal stronger negative schooling impacts for girls and poorer households driven by overlap with the labor-intensive planting period. A policy simulation illustrates that adapting the school calendar to minimize overlap with peak farming periods is a highly cost-effective educational intervention to increase school participation by better accommodating farm labor demand. |
| Keywords: | education; child labour; households; crop production |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2235&r=edu |
| By: | Holmlund, Helena (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Häggblom, Josefin (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Lindahl, Erica (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the “Boost for Reading”, an in-service training program for teachers aimed at improving the teaching of literacy and boosting students’ reading and writing proficiency. The program provides research summaries about teaching strategies as a basis for group-based discussion, lesson preparations and evaluations under the supervision of a coach. The program was rolled out across Swedish compulsory schools in school years 2015/16–2017/18. We analyze the effects of the intervention using a staggered difference-in-differences strategy excluding treated schools as controls. We find that in lower secondary school, the program shifted the teaching towards a stronger focus on “reading strategies” and raised student test scores in the Swedish language, social study subjects, and science studies by on average 2–5 percent of a standard deviation, respectively. However, we find no effects on teaching practices at stage 1, and accordingly, no effects on the youngest students’ test scores. |
| Keywords: | teacher training; professional development; literacy; |
| JEL: | I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2024–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2024_006&r=edu |
| By: | Fouarge, Didier (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, ROA / Labour market and training); Steens, Sanne (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training); Wetzels, Martin |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate students’ responses to labour market information by using eye-tracking technology to measure the visual attention students pay to labour market indicators of study programmes they are interested in. We relate these measures of visual attention to their recall of information and the likelihood that they re-rank their preferred study choice. In a sample of 63 students in the pre-academic track of a Dutch secondary school, we find that the dwell time (i.e., the time students spend looking at the labour market information we provide) is positively correlated with finding future changes of work and earnings prospects important. Students who report they find our information useful correct their expectations more often. However, we do not find a correlation between dwell time and informational recall on measures of unemployment, working hours and wages in their preferred study programme. The evaluation of the information by students suggests a generally positive response to the information, with a high level of interest and perceived ease of understanding. Despite that, only a small percentage of students plan to use the information in their programme choice, indicating a potential gap between interest and practical application for some students. |
| Date: | 2024–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umarot:2024004&r=edu |