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on Education |
| By: | David N. Figlio; Umut Özek |
| Abstract: | Cellphone bans in schools have become a popular policy in recent years in the United States, yet very little is known about their effects on student outcomes. In this study, we try to fill this gap by examining the causal effects of bans on student test scores, suspensions, and absences using detailed student-level data from Florida and a quasi-experimental research strategy relying upon differences in pre-ban cellphone use by students, as measured by building-level Advan data. Several important findings emerge. First, we show that the enforcement of cellphone bans in schools led to a significant increase in student suspensions in the short-term, especially among Black students, but disciplinary actions began to dissipate after the first year, potentially suggesting a new steady state after an initial adjustment period. Second, we find significant improvements in student test scores in the second year of the ban after that initial adjustment period. Third, the findings suggest that cellphone bans in schools significantly reduce student unexcused absences, an effect that may explain a large fraction of the test score gains. The effects of cellphone bans are more pronounced in middle and high school settings where student smartphone ownership is more common. |
| JEL: | I28 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34388 |
| By: | Åstebro, Thomas (HEC Paris); Hällerfors, Henrik (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Bergh, Andreas (Department of Economics, Lund University, and); Tåg, Joacim (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Many countries have established new local colleges to increase access to education for disadvantaged populations. However, many of these expansions have not reduced educational inequality. Drawing on evidence from a large-scale college expansion initiative, we find that increased college availability did not lead to a differential increase in attendance among students from parents with less education. Rather, the expanded access primarily benefited students with marginal academic ability. These results suggest that higher education enrollment is largely determined by inherent scholastic ability and that the expansion of higher education tends to attract students at the upper margin of this ability distribution. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational correlations; University expansion; Access to education; Higher education |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I28 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–10–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1538 |
| By: | Ziwei Rao; Julia Hellstrand (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Understanding how education policies influence fertility behavior may reveal how education can shape population trends. However, the long-term demographic effects of structural reforms, such as school tracking – separating students into vocational or academic paths – remain underexplored. This study uses Finnish population register data to evaluate the fertility responses to a Finnish comprehensive school reform implemented in the 1970s that offers a unique opportunity to study completed fertility over the entire lifespan. The reform replaced the existing two-track system with a uniform nine-year comprehensive school, thereby delaying the age at which pupils are selected into vocational and academic tracks. Adopting a difference-in-differences method that is robust to heterogeneous effect and multiple treatment timing, this study explores the time-varying dynamic impact of the reform. The findings indicate increased lifetime childlessness and delayed age at first birth. The reform was also associated with higher educational attainment and reduced prevalence of vocational tracks. Further analysis suggests that the greater childlessness and delayed childbearing were likely driven by weaker early-life labor market performance following non-vocational education. This paper contributes to the literature on the education-fertility nexus by showing that education policies that delay tracking age and reduce emphasis on vocational education may unexpectedly shape the fertility landscape. Keywords: fertility, education policy, educational tracking, early-life employment |
| Keywords: | educational policy, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2025-030 |
| By: | Calsamiglia, Caterina (IPEG); Fawaz, Yarine (CEMFI, Madrid); Fernández-Kranz, Daniel (IE University); Lee, Junhee |
| Abstract: | Prior research has found that boys often outperform girls in high-stakes math exams, raising the question of whether these gender differences under pressure stem from nature or nurture. This relative female disadvantage can influence access to selective university programs and subsequent career paths. Using administrative and survey data linked to a lottery-based school assignment system, we show that this disadvantage is reversed in single-sex schools: girls randomly assigned to SS schools devote more effort, outperform boys in high-stakes math exams, and have a higher likelihood of enrolling in university STEM degrees (excluding biology). These positive effects come at a cost to well-being in terms of higher stress and worse mental health. These effects are not driven by differences in teacher gender or school resources due to public versus private management. Our findings are consistent with theories emphasizing the social costs of norm violation: in single-sex schools, girls are freed from peer norms that may otherwise discourage overt academic ambition, allowing them to sustain higher effort in competitive and male-dominated domains. |
| Keywords: | Korea, high-stakes exams, education, nurture, single-sex schooling, random assignment, gender, gender gap, natural experiment |
| JEL: | I21 J16 I24 D91 J24 I28 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18208 |