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on Education |
| By: | Michela Carlana; Enrico Miglino; Michela M. Tincani |
| Abstract: | Affirmative action and preferential admission policies play a crucial role in fostering social mobility by bolstering the prospects of disadvantaged groups. In this paper, we analyze the long-term effects of a Chilean policy (PACE) that targets students in underprivileged schools, offering guaranteed admission to selective colleges to those graduating in the top 15 percent of their high school class. Leveraging both the randomized expansion of PACE and the admission discontinuity, our analysis reveals that PACE yields positive labor market effects for the average targeted student, especially women, driven by the selectivity of the attended colleges. However, for marginally eligible students, higher dropout rates and negative labor market outcomes emerge, suggesting PACE may induce a mismatch between their skills and the academic rigor of selective programs. Finally, we find that students in the bottom 85 percent of their schools experience positive effects on labor market outcomes. We identify equilibrium effects on local labor markets as a potential mechanism. The results suggest that there is a limit to how far preferential admissions can go while delivering on their promises. |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32525&r= |
| By: | Osea Giuntella; Silvia Saccardo; Sally Sadoff |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence on the importance of sleep for productivity, but little is known about the impact of interventions targeting sleep. In a field experiment among U.S. university students, we show that incentives for sleep increase both sleep and academic performance. Motivated by theories of cue-based habit formation, our primary intervention couples personalized bedtime reminders with morning feedback and immediate rewards for sleeping at least seven hours on weeknights. The intervention increases the share of nights with at least seven hours of sleep by 26 percent and average weeknight sleep by an estimated 19 minutes during a four-week treatment period, with persistent effects of about eight minutes per night during a one to five-week post-treatment period. Comparisons to secondary treatments show that immediate incentives have larger impacts on sleep than delayed incentives or reminders and feedback alone during the treatment period, but do not have statistically distinguishable impacts on longer-term sleep habits in the post-treatment period. We estimate that immediate incentives improve average semester course performance by 0.075--0.088 grade points, a 0.10--0.11 standard deviation increase. Our results demonstrate that incentives to sleep can be a cost-effective tool for improving educational outcomes. |
| JEL: | C93 I1 I20 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32550&r= |
| By: | J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz; Juan-José Ganuza; Manuel García-Santana; Carlos Victoria |
| Abstract: | This article examines gender gaps in higher education in Spain from 1985 to 2023 in the context of technological advancements, particularly digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI). We identify significant disparities, with women over represented in health-related fields and underrepresented in STEM disciplines. This imbalance is concerning as STEM fields offer better employment prospects and higher salaries. We analyze university degrees' exposure to technological change through Routine Task Intensity (RTI) and AI exposure indices. Our findings show that women are more enrolled in degrees with high RTI, prone to automation, and less in degrees with high AI exposure, likely to benefit from technological advancements. This suggests technological change could widen existing labor market gender gaps. To address this, we recommend policies to boost female participation in STEM fields and adapt educational curricula to reduce routine tasks and enhance AI complementarities, ensuring equitable labor market outcomes amid technological change. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, artificial intelligence, higher education, STEM, technological change, self-actualization |
| JEL: | I23 I26 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1450&r= |
| By: | de Gendre, Alexandra (University of Melbourne); Karbownik, Krzysztof (Emory University); Salamanca, Nicolás (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Zenou, Yves (Monash University) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | minorities, indigenous students, peer effects, student effort, parental investments, teachers |
| JEL: | I23 I26 D13 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16969&r= |