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on Education |
| By: | Houndetoungan, Aristide (Université de Paris); Kouame, Cristelle (World Bank); Vlassopoulos, Michael (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | Peer influence on effort devoted to some activity is often studied using proxy variables when actual effort is unobserved. For instance, in education, academic effort is often proxied by GPA. We propose an alternative approach that circumvents this approximation. Our framework distinguishes unobserved shocks to GPA that do not affect effort from preference shocks that do affect effort levels. We show that peer effects estimates obtained using our approach can differ significantly from classical estimates (where effort is approximated) if the network includes isolated students. Applying our approach to data on high school students in the United States, we find that peer effect estimates relying on GPA as a proxy for effort are 40% lower than those obtained using our approach. |
| Keywords: | social networks, peer effects, academic achievement, unobserved effort, isolated agents |
| JEL: | C31 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16998&r= |
| By: | Andrés Barrios Fernández; Marc Riudavets-Barcons |
| Abstract: | This paper uses rich administrative data from Chile to estimate teacher value added (TVA) on test scores and on an educational attainment index. We allow each teacher to have a different TVA for male and female students and show that differences in TVA explain an important part of the gender gaps we observe in test scores and postsecondary education trajectories. The gaps in gender-specific teaching effectiveness are especially pronounced in mathematics. Indeed, eliminating within-teacher differences in math test score VA would reduce the gender gap in math performance by 67%. We explore what could be behind these gaps in gender-specific TVA and find no significant differences in what makes teachers effective for male and female students. We do find, however, significant associations between teacher characteristics-e.g., gender and performance in the college admission exam-and practices-e.g., paying attention to low-performing students, congratulating students who improve, and having a good relationship with students-with teacher effectiveness. Finally, we also show that math teachers tend to be biased in favor of male students and that teachers with smaller gender biases are more effective for both, male and female students. |
| Keywords: | teacher value-added, education gender gaps, teaching practices |
| Date: | 2024–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1995&r= |
| By: | Matthew A. Lenard; Mikko Silliman |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of informal social interactions on academic achievement and behaviour using idiosyncratic variation in peer groups stemming from changes in bus routes across elementary, middle, and high school. Our results suggest that student interactions outside the classroom—especially in adolescence—may be an important factor in the education production function for both academic and, particularly, behavioral skills. The effects of interactions on the bus are also related to neighborhood measures—suggesting that one way that interactions on the bus may matter is by amplifying interactions in the neighborhood. |
| Keywords: | social interactions, peer effects, education, behavior |
| JEL: | I21 C31 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11115&r= |
| By: | Inoue, Atsushi (Nippon Institute for Research Advancement); Tanaka, Ryuichi (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we examine the impact of a student's household socioeconomic status (SES) rank within a class on two critical factors affecting the accumulation of human capital: school bullying victimization and school absence. We identify the effect from the variation of a within-class SES rank of students assigned to different schools and classes, controlling the absolute level of SES and class fixed effects. Using the data from middle-school students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), we find that, although the absolute level of SES is negatively associated with these incidences, students with a high SES rank within a class are more likely to be the victims of school bullying and to be absent from school. We confirm that these results are robust when the sample is restricted to schools where students' assignment to classes is as good as random. |
| Keywords: | rank, socioeconomic status, school bullying, school absence |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16975&r= |
| By: | Alexandra de Gendre; Krzysztof Karbownik; Nicolás Salamanca; Yves Zenou |
| Abstract: | We develop a multi-agent model of the education production function where investments of students, parents, and teachers are linked to the presence of minorities in the classroom. We then test the key implications of this model using rich survey data and a mandate to randomly assign students to classrooms. Consistent with our model, we show that exposure to minority peers decreases student effort, parental investments, and teacher engagement and it results in lower student test scores. Observables correlated with minority status explain less than a third of the reduced-form test score effect while over a third can be descriptively attributed to endogenous responses of the agents. |
| JEL: | D13 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32429&r= |
| By: | Altmejd, Adam (Stockholm University); Jansson, Thomas (Sveriges Riksbank); Karabulut, Yigitcan (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) |
| Abstract: | Using university admission cutoffs that generate exogenous variation in college-major choices, we provide causal evidence that enrollment in a business or economics program leads individuals to invest significantly more in the stock market, earn higher portfolio returns, and ultimately accumulate higher levels of wealth later in life. Underlying these effects, beyond differences in risk-taking, innate ability, labor market outcomes, or scale effects, is the enhanced ability of business educated individuals to acquire and process economic information and make informed investment decisions. Early investments in financial literacy thus play an important role in generating higher returns that significantly alter individuals' life-cycle wealth profiles. |
| Keywords: | portfolio choice, financial literacy, portfolio returns, household wealth, returns to education, distribution of wealth |
| JEL: | G11 G51 G53 I26 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16976&r= |