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on Education |
| By: | Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Psacharopoulos, George |
| Abstract: | The evidence underscores the need to shift attention from school attainment to actual learning. While the average global return to an additional year of schooling is about 10 percent, a one standard deviation increase in test scores raises earnings by 15 percent. Studies show that including direct measures of skills reduces the estimated return to schooling, revealing the stronger role of quality. These findings suggest that education policy should prioritize learning outcomes, not just years in school, to more accurately reflect the economic value of education. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, cognitive skills, earnings |
| JEL: | I21 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1616 |
| By: | Elizabeth Setren |
| Abstract: | Over sixty years following Brown vs. Board of Education, racial and socioeconomic segregation and lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Across the country, voluntary desegregation busing programs aim to ameliorate these imbalances and disparities. A longstanding Massachusetts program, METCO, buses K-12 students of color from Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts to 37 suburban districts that voluntarily enroll urban students. Supporters of the program argue that it prepares students to be active citizens in our multicultural society. Opponents question the value of the program and worry it may have a negative impact on suburban student outcomes. I estimate the causal effect of exposure to diversity through the METCO program by using two types of variation: difference-in-difference analysis of schools stopping and starting their METCO enrollment and two-stage least squares analysis of space availability for METCO students. Both methods rule out substantial test score, attendance, or suspension effects of having METCO peers. Classroom ability distribution and classroom suspension rates remain similar when METCO programs start and stop. There is no negative impact on college preparation, competitiveness, persistence, or graduation. |
| Keywords: | school integration, school segregation, school choice |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11893 |
| By: | Dou, Jialu (University of Pittsburgh); Gihleb, Rania (University of Pittsburgh); Giuntella, Osea (University of Pittsburgh); Lonsky, Jakub (University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the impact of California’s SB 328, the first statewide mandate delaying school start times for middle and high schools, on adolescent sleep, mental health, and academic outcomes. Using YRBS, ATUS, SEDA, and SAT data, we apply difference-in-differences and matched DID methods. SB 328 led to significant improvements in sleep duration and academic performance. We find suggestive mental health benefits, though estimates are imprecise, and substantial heterogeneity in effects, with stronger gains among boys and Hispanic students across both sleep and academic outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Mental Health, Sleep, School Start Times, Academic Achievement |
| JEL: | I10 I20 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17930 |
| By: | Nano Barahona; Cauê Dobbin; Sebastián Otero |
| Abstract: | We study supply-side responses to student financial aid, focusing on how tuition responds to the targeting of aid. Our framework identifies two mechanisms: a direct effect, which raises tuition, and a composition effect, which can lower tuition if aid targets price-sensitive students. Leveraging a reform in Brazil's student loan program, we provide descriptive evidence that both mechanisms are quantitatively important. We then estimate an equilibrium model of higher education to quantify the impact of alternative targeting schemes. We find that a loan program with merit-based targeting increases tuition by 3%, while need-based targeting raises tuition by only 0.4%. This difference arises because low-income students—targeted under the need-based scheme—are more price-sensitive. These price adjustments have a strong impact on enrollment decisions, emphasizing the importance of targeting in student financial aid policy design. |
| JEL: | H22 H52 I22 I23 I24 L10 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33833 |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Bruce Sacerdote |
| Abstract: | We study the determinants of poor mental health among students at an elite private institution. Survey measures of well-being have declined significantly over the last decade for both high school students and those of college age. This is an international phenomenon that appears to have started in the US around 2013 and that was not caused by but was exacerbated by COVID and the associated lockdowns. We focus on elite and non-elite institutions and examine Dartmouth as a special case. Dartmouth ranks well compared to other institutions. However, around a quarter of Dartmouth students (26%) report they suffer from moderate to severe depression and 22% that they suffer from moderate, to severe, anxiety and 10% say they contemplated suicide. Student’s wellbeing appears to be impacted negatively by stress over finances. We find broad patterns in the data, that ill-being is higher among females, those who engage in little exercise, have low GPAs, are not athletes nor in academic clubs nor religious organizations, reside in fraternity housing or are on financial aid. |
| JEL: | I20 I3 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33742 |
| By: | Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. (Sabanci University); Ersan, Yasar (Ankara University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the causal effect of education on financial outcomes related to stock markets and retirement savings, leveraging a major compulsory school reform and a unique data set covering the universe of investors in Türkiye. The estimates show no effects on participation rates, portfolio composition, or return performance. Moreover, education does not appear to influence behavioral biases or heuristics in retirement plans. The reform leads to a 3% increase in pension savings for females, with no significant effect on males. Higher earnings and increased employment with employer-sponsored pension plans appear as potential mechanisms driving the wealth effect. |
| Keywords: | Wealth, Retirement, Education, Investment Decisions |
| JEL: | I21 I26 G11 G41 G50 G53 J32 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17927 |
| By: | Larivière, Jérôme |
| Abstract: | This study uses rich Canadian census and administrative data to examine the causal ef- fects of early academic ranking on educational diagnoses and long-term mental well-being. Leveraging within-classroom variation among students with similar abilities, I find that mov- ing from the 0–5th to the 10–15th percentile reduces learning disability diagnoses by 34% and mental health conditions by 16%. Conversely, shifting from the 85–90th to the 95–100th percentile increases gifted diagnoses by 27%, showing that teacher perceptions and behaviors are influenced by relative performance. Similar rank variation also lower adult mental health challenges by 12% and boost learning-related self-esteem by 21%. |
| Keywords: | Academic Rank; Educational Diagnosis; Rank Effect; Teacher Bias |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–04–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124861 |