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on Education |
| By: | Albiez, Janine (Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education); Strazzeri, Maurizio (Bern University of Applied Sciences); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We examine the association between the personality trait grit and post-compulsory educational choices and trajectories using a large survey linked to administrative student register data. Exploiting cross sectional variation in students' self-reported grit in the last year of compulsory school, we find that an increase in students' grit is associated with a higher likelihood to start a vocational education instead of a general education. This association is robust to the inclusion of cognitive skill measures and a comprehensive set of other students' background characteristics. Moreover, using novel data on skill requirements of around 240 vocational training occupations, we find that grittier vocational education students sort into math-intensive training occupations. Similarly, students in general education with more grit select themselves more often into the math-intensive track. Finally, we do not find evidence that students with a higher grit have lower dropout rates in post-compulsory education. |
| Keywords: | non-cognitive skills, personality traits, grit, educational choices |
| JEL: | D01 I20 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16945&r= |
| By: | De Vera, Micole (University College London); Garcia-Brazales, Javier (CEMFI); Rello, Luz (IE University) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a reading intervention involving 600 third-grade students in Chilean schools catering to disadvantaged populations. The intervention features an adaptive computer game designed to identify and improve weaknesses in literacy and cognitive skills, and is complemented by a mobile library and advice to parents to increase student's interest and parental involvement. We first quantify the impact on non-cognitive skills and academic perceptions. We find that, after just three months of intervention, treated students are 20–30 percent of a standard deviation more likely to believe that their performance is better than that of their peers, to like school, to have stronger grit, and to have a more internal locus-of-control. Gains in aspirations and self-confidence are particularly large for students that we identify as at-risk-of-dyslexia. These improvements are reflected in better performance on a nation-wide, standardized language test. Our results show that non-cognitive skills, particularly of at-risk-of-dyslexia students, can be changed through a short, light-touch, and cost-effective education technology intervention. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, computer-based reading intervention, non-cognitive skills, Chile, dyslexia |
| JEL: | I24 I31 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16937&r= |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Khalifany-Ash Shidiqi (Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta and University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyse the effect of educational attainments on interethnic marriages in Indonesia, a multi-ethnic emerging country. The empirical analysis is based on data from the Java Island obtained from the 2014 wave of the Indonesian Family Life Survey, combined with administrative data about the location and year of establishment of Higher Education Institutions (HEI). To estimate causal effects, we exploit variation in exposure to HEI by birth year and district of residence in an IV/TSLS framework. Specifically, we employ as instrument for education the number of HEI located in a radius of 10 kilometres from the centroid of the district of residence at age 18. The analysis is carried out at the individual level, with separate estimations for males and females. The results indicate that years of schooling, college attendance and completion positively affect the likelihood of exogamy, i.e. having a partner from a different ethnicity. The estimated coefficients are somewhat larger for females than for males, and all the robustness checks provide stable results, supporting their causal interpretation. The effect of schooling does not appear to be heterogeneous depending on parental education, and mixed parental ethnicity. However, it is lower for individuals with Javanese ethnicity compared to those belonging to other ethnic groups. We also analyse potential mechanisms, highlighting that migration/residential location and changes in social norms could be significant channels underlying the causal chain between higher education expansion, educational attainments, and interethnic marriages. Overall, the results reported in this paper point out that the increase in educational attainments induced by the expansion of higher education could contribute to the reduction of ethnic segregation. |
| Keywords: | Education, interethnic marriages, higher education expansion, Indonesia JEL classification: I21, I23, J12 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202403&r= |
| By: | Kathryn Christine Beck; Julia Hellstrand (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Period fertility has declined rapidly in Norway in the 2010s, reaching record lows. While there is a clear education-fertility dynamic, significant educational shifts have occurred and it’s unclear how much this contributed to recent fertility declines. To disentangle this, we utilize high-quality Norwegian register data and model yearly transitions between educational enrolment, attainment and childbearing for men and women born in 1964-2002. Using a counterfactual approach, we explore the contribution of educational expansion versus lower fertility by education to the decline in period and cohort fertility. Forecasting is used to complete fertility for cohorts aged 30+. We found that educational expansion contributed partially to the observed cohort fertility decline (2.11-2.01) for 1964-1974 female cohorts but stagnated for younger cohorts and the predicted decline thereafter (1.76 by the 1988 cohort), and the 2010s period fertility decline, is fully driven by decreased fertility across educational levels. For men, educational expansion was slower and didn’t contribute to the fertility decline. For both genders, the contribution of changed fertility behavior was strongest among the lower educated, particularly for predicted ultimate childlessness. Our results suggest that increased education isn’t the main fertility barrier in contemporary Norway. Instead, socioeconomic resources increasingly promote childbearing for both genders. Keywords: Educational attainment, educational enrollment, fertility decline, Norway, multi-state model, fertility forecasting |
| Keywords: | Norway |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-009&r= |
| By: | Ayyar, S.; Bolt, U.; French, E.; O’Dea, C. |
| Abstract: | Using a digitized sample of thousands of essays written by 11-year-olds in 1969, we construct an index which measures the extent to which girls’ imagined futures conform to gender norms in Britain at the time. We link this index to outcomes over the life-cycle. Conditional on a large set of age-11 covariates, a one standard deviation increase in our index is associated with a decrease in lifetime earnings of 3.5%, due to both lower wages and fewer hours worked. Half of this earnings decline is mediated by reduced educational attainment, selection into lower-paid occupations, and earlier family formation of those who conform more strongly to prevalent gender norms. Holding skills constant, girls whose essays conform less to gender norms, live in regions with higher female employment and educational attainment. This highlights that the wider environment in which girls grow up shapes gender conformity. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Children, Text Analysis |
| JEL: | J16 J13 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2422&r= |
| By: | M. Antonella Mancino, Leonardo Fabio Morales, Diego F. Salazar (Wilfrid Laurier University) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the returns to signaling occupation-specific skills using unique administrative data from a nationwide certification program in Colombia. The program certifies skills and issues three certificates: basic, intermediate, and advanced. We use regression discontinuity methods to compare workers’ earnings around certificate assignment thresholds. Signaling advanced occupation-specific skills yields significant returns: 9.7%, on average, within two years of certification. Instead, we find no effects from signaling basic or intermediate occupation-specific skills. Our analysis reveals that the primary mechanism behind the observed income effects associated with the advanced certificate is the ability to signal occupation-specific skills to potential employers. |
| JEL: | J01 J31 J44 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wlu:lcerpa:bm0143&r= |