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on Education |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jack Britton (IFS - Laboratory of the Institute for Fiscal Studies - Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | The persistent high wage premium associated with college education, despite increasing participation rates, continues to generate a great deal of academic and policy interest. While it is widely agreed that the financial benefits associated with college completion outweigh the costs, modelling and empirically estimating the returns are complicated. A simple theoretical framework on educational investment illustrates the decision-making processes and key factors, such as expected returns, that guide the choice of an individual to engage in higher education and to achieve an optimal level of educational investment. Broadening the investment model, however, is instrumental to account for potential heterogeneous returns to higher education – the variation in returns by institution, field of study, and students' background characteristics, among others – and to recognise the wider societal benefits of higher education, beyond private returns. The challenges involved in estimating the returns to higher education, and the heterogeneity in returns, are central in the discussion. Interpreting a naïve correlation between education and wages is complicated by the non-random selection of individuals into higher education, such that individuals who are most likely to benefit from higher education are also those most likely to attend. Advancements in data collection, the ability to track individuals from compulsory education to the labour market, and improvements in econometric methodologies have enabled researchers to causally estimate the impact of higher education on earnings and allow for an improved insight into the disparities in returns to higher education. Recognising the links between students' characteristics (or backgrounds) and associated constraints helps to understand differences in higher education choices. Similarly, identifying differences in labour market returns associated with attending certain colleges or in pursuing particular academic disciplines are as important in shedding light on the complex nature of human capital disparities and the signalling effect of higher education. As the costs of higher education provision constitute an increasingly large share of government spending all over the world, the high returns to college raise questions associated with who should pay for attending college, and the role of the state. Internalizing the social returns to education and their broader implications on the growth and the persistence of inequality complicates this discussion. Higher education funding is one potential policy instruments to influence college attendance and returns. It is not, however, the only one. Better information on returns to education, or access policies that target members of certain social groups, might be other potential tools to overcome constraints. |
| Keywords: | higher education returns, welfare, education, labour market, student loans |
| Date: | 2024–04–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04709561 |
| By: | Costa, Francisco J M (FGV EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance); Goldemberg, Diana (Minerva Schools at KGI) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of cumulative heat exposure on dropout rates for K10-12 students across Brazil, using data from over 30, 000 schools and 80 million enrollments between 2007 and 2016. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in the share of days above 34°C raises dropout rates by 0.36 percentage points, representing a 5.1% increase in the average dropout rate. The effects are concentrated in public schools, particularly in urban areas, where poor infrastructure amplifies the impact of heat. In contrast, private schools show no significant effects, likely due to better resources, such as air conditioning. These findings highlight the need to improve learning environments, particularly in public schools, to help students cope with rising temperatures and reduce dropout rates and educational inequality. |
| Date: | 2024–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:apu6j |
| By: | Forsberg, Erika (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Khan, Akib (Department of Economics at Uppsala University); Rosenqvist, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Family background shapes individual outcomes throughout life. While the existing literature documents how the importance of family background, typically measured by the degree of sibling correlation in socioeconomic outcomes, varies across countries, less is known about heterogeneities across social groups within a country. Using Swedish register data, we compare sibling correlations in skills, schooling, and earnings across fine-grained groups defined byparental socioeconomic status (SES). We find that sibling correlations generally decline in parental SES. This pattern holds for skills, schooling, and earnings, and is robust to alternative definitions of parental SES. These results align with theories suggesting that parental investments reinforce disparities, although other mechanisms such as complementarities between parental investments and child ability could also be at play. While the exact mechanisms behind the observed socioeconomic gradient in sibling similarity are hard to identify, the results suggest that life is more formed by individual endowments and considerations for children from high SES backgrounds as compared to their low SES counterparts. |
| Keywords: | sibling correlations; education; earnings; skills; parental socioeconomic status |
| JEL: | I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2024–09–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2024_014 |
| By: | Schilter, Claudio (University of Bern); Lüthi, Samuel (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We merge experimental data on competitiveness of a large sample of students with their complete educational history for up to ten years after the initial assessment. Exploiting quasi-random class assignments, we find that having competitive peers as classmates makes students choose and secure positions in higher-paying occupations. These occupations are also more challenging and more popular. On the cost side, competitive peers do not lead to a lower probability of graduating from the subsequent job-specific education, but they significantly increase the probability of requiring extra time to do so. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, competitiveness, occupational choice |
| JEL: | C93 D91 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17289 |
| By: | Pelli , Martino (Asian Development Bank); Tschopp , Jeanne (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how school-age exposure to storms impacts the education and primary activity status of young adults in India. Using a cross-sectional cohort study based on wind exposure histories, we find evidence of a significant deskilling of areas vulnerable to climate change-related risks. Specifically, our results show a 2.4 percentage point increase in the probability of accruing educational delays, a 2 percentage point decline in post-secondary education achievement, and a 1.6 percentage point reduction in obtaining regular salaried jobs. Additionally, our study provides evidence that degraded school infrastructure and declining household income contribute to these findings. |
| Keywords: | climate change; storms; education; human capital |
| JEL: | I25 O12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2024–10–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0743 |