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on Education |
| By: | Shinsuke ASAKAWA; Mayuko ABE; Fumio OHTAKE; Shinpei SANO |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from public elementary and junior high schools in Amagasaki City between 2018 and 2019, this paper exploits class-size assignment rules within a regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of class size on educational outcomes and household educational investment. We find that class-size reductions have no effect on elementary school students’ Japanese language and mathematics test scores or conscientiousness. In contrast, for junior high school students, smaller class sizes reduce Japanese language and mathematics scores as well as conscientiousness. Among elementary school students who receive school attendance support, class-size reductions increase mathematics scores and conscientiousness, whereas among junior high school students they reduce Japanese language scores. We explore household responses as a potential mechanism and find that increases in class size are associated with increased study time and greater parental involvement, with these responses differing with school attendance support status and between the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for household behavioral responses, in addition to changes in school resources, when evaluating class-size policies. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:26022 |
| By: | ISHIKURA Hideaki; HAYASHI Ryohei; NAKAMURO Makiko |
| Abstract: | This study uses longitudinal data from mock examinations administered to high school students in 12 schools in Saitama Prefecture to examine how the percentage of female students in a class affects STEM-specializations and subsequent college enrollment. The results show that the effect of the ratio of female students varies before and after the institutional reallocation of peer groups induced by the academic tracking decision at the beginning of the second year of high school. During the pre-tracking period, a higher female ratio is associated with a higher likelihood that female students drop out of STEM specializations. In contrast, after tracking, this relationship reverses: female students in classes with a higher female ratio are more likely to persist in STEM specializations. This pattern is observed consistently among female students but not clearly among male students. These findings suggest that high school students’ educational choices are shaped not only by academic ability and relative rank, but also by social interactions such as role model effects and conformity pressures. Furthermore, the classroom female ratio influences not only students’ aspirations during high school but also their actual college enrollment outcomes. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:26019 |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Julien Grenet (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris); Élise Huillery (ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres); Youssef Souidi (IPP - Institut des politiques publiques); Yann Algan (HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of school-level social mixing on social cohesion, socio-emotional development, and educational outcomes. We exploit variation induced by a French Ministry of Education desegregation program, comparing middle schools that increased socioeconomic mixing with observationally similar schools that did not. Focusing on the schools and students with the greatest baseline potential for increased mixing, we find that exposure to a more socioeconomically diverse peer group yields socio-emotional benefits for both high- and low-SES students and strengthens social cohesion, without negatively affecting the academic outcomes of either group. These findings offer actionable insights for policies aimed at fostering social cohesion in an era of rising polarization. |
| Keywords: | Educational Outcomes, Socio-Emotional Outcomes, Desegregation, Social Mixing, School Segregation |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ipppap:halshs-05586531 |
| By: | Youn Baek; Deepak Hegde |
| Abstract: | We study who joins startup accelerators, how founders sort across programs, and which accelerators improve startup outcomes. Using a comprehensive sample of about 750, 000 U.S. startups linked to 329 accelerators, we adapt the teacher value-added framework from education economics to estimate accelerator value added (AVA) while accounting for sorting. Selection is systematic: observably better ventures are more likely to enter accelerators and to sort into higher-AVA programs. Yet accelerator performance is highly dispersed. Most accelerators have negative value added relative to a no-accelerator benchmark, while a small right tail generates large gains. High-AVA accelerators predict better long-term outcomes, including acquisition, employment, revenue, and valuation, and are also more likely to accelerate the shutdown of weaker ventures. We validate AVA using internal applicant data from a large U.S. non-equity accelerator. |
| JEL: | D8 G2 G3 O3 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35063 |
| By: | Antal Ertl (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; University of Iceland, School of Social Sciences); Dániel Horn (Corvinus University of Budapest; ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies); Hubert János Kiss (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University of Budapest) |
| Abstract: | We measured time, risk, social, and competitive preferences in a sample of 1, 035 secondary school students in Hungary. We examine whether meaningful groups of adolescents can be identified based on distinct constellations of these preferences, which we refer to as preference clusters. We also explore whether these clusters are associated with academic outcomes. Using cluster analysis, we consistently identify a group of students who are relatively more patient, less time-inconsistent, more risk-tolerant, more prosocial, and more cooperative. This preference cluster is positively associated with higher scores on standardized math and reading tests. Comparing cluster-based specifications to models with individual preferences entered separately, we find little loss in explanatory power, while preference clusters provide a more compact and interpretable description of how preferences are jointly organized within students. |
| Keywords: | economic preferences, preference profiles, cluster analysis, academic achievement, risk and time preferences, prosocial behavior |
| JEL: | C38 D91 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2605 |
| By: | Manuel Arellano (CEMFI, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros); Orazio Attanasio (Yale University, NBER and CEPR); Margherita Borella (Università di Torino, CeRP-Collegio Carlo Alberto and CEPR); Mariacristina De Nardi (University of Minnesota, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, CEPR and NBER); Gonzalo Paz-Pardo (European Central Bank) |
| Abstract: | We develop a new approach to estimating earnings, job, and employment dynamics using subjective expectations data from the NY Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations. These data provide beliefs about future earnings offers and acceptance probabilities, offering direct information on counterfactual outcomes and enabling identification under weaker assumptions. Our framework avoids biases from selection and unobserved heterogeneity that affect models using realized outcomes. First-step fixed-effects regressions identify risk, persistence, and transition effects; second-step GMM recovers the covariance structure of unobserved heterogeneities such as ability, mobility, and match quality. We find lower risk and persistence of the individual productivity component than in prior work, but greater heterogeneity in ability and match quality. Simulations show that reduced-form estimates overstate persistence and volatility on individual-level productivity due to job transitions and sorting. After accounting for heterogeneity, volatility declines and becomes flat across the earnings distribution. These results underscore the value of expectations data. |
| Keywords: | Subjective expectations, earnings dynamics models. |
| JEL: | C23 C81 D15 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2026_2605 |
| By: | Krafft, Caroline; Armas Montalvo, Carmen |
| Abstract: | High rates of unemployment and non-participation in the labor market are often attributed to labor market mismatch. This paper examines the mismatch between job seekers' expectations and Egypt's labor market realities. For the non-employed, analyses examine reservation wages and what occupations the unemployed would accept. For the employed, analyses explore skills and educational attainment relative to the skill and educational requirements of their jobs. The results demonstrate that the non-employed generally have reasonable wage expectations and are willing to accept public sector jobs, but these jobs, and to some degree formal private sector jobs, are not readily available. The non-employed, and especially women, are less likely to accept more readily available informal private sector employment. As a result of women being more selective in what employment they accept, among the employed, women's skills and qualifications better match their job requirements than men's, although overeducation and over-skill are substantial issues for both men and women. There are not differences in overeducation by vocational secondary specialization or among most higher education specializations, suggesting a pervasive problem of mismatch throughout the education system. |
| Keywords: | Mismatch, labor markets, education, skills, unemployment, reservation wages, Egypt |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 J31 J64 I21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1739 |
| By: | Shinsuke ASAKAWA; Mayuko ABE; Fumio OHTAKE; Shinpei SANO; Kazuko NAKATA |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data from Amagasaki City (2019–2023), this study identified the factors associated with long-term absenteeism among elementary and junior high school students. Ordinary least square regressions revealed that students with low mathematics scores and those from single-parent or welfare-recipient households faced a higher risk of long-term absenteeism. Regarding non-cognitive skills, lower levels of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability, and higher openness correlated with increased absenteeism. Notably, the probability of long-term absence remains substantially higher in 2023 than in 2019, even after controlling these characteristics. Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition shows that the increase in absenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic was not driven by changes in student attributes but by the amplified impact of academic achievement, non-cognitive skills, and family environment. For elementary school students, class size was also an influential factor. However, a significant portion of the increase remains unexplained by the observed variables, suggesting that uncaptured structural or environmental shifts likely played substantial roles. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:26026 |
| By: | Louis-Pierre Lepage; Heather Sarsons; Michael Thaler |
| Abstract: | There is widespread opposition to affirmative action policies. We study whether personal disappointments shape preferences for such policies. Specifically, we test whether individuals' college admissions outcomes, relative to their expectations, influence their attitudes toward affirmative action policies. Using a retrospective survey among recent White and Asian college applicants, we find that disappointed individuals - those who were admitted to fewer schools than anticipated - action policies, and are more willing to donate to an anti-affirmative action organization. They also hold more negative views about the academic qualifications of under-represented minorities. To isolate the causal effect of "bad news" from selection, we conduct a complementary survey experiment with parents of future college applicants. We randomize whether parents receive information about their child's admissions prospects. Providing bad news to overconfident parents causes them to increase opposition to affirmative action and donate to an anti-affirmative action organization. Results suggest that some individuals attribute bad news to external factors, specifically policies that benefit out-groups. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action, policy views, disappointment |
| JEL: | I23 I28 D91 D83 J15 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12593 |
| By: | Alison Doxey; Ezra Karger; Peter Nencka |
| Abstract: | Between 1850 and 1910, the share of young Americans living in towns with high schools increased from 17% to 46%—the fastest expansion of school access in U.S. history. Using new data on every high school in the United States, we show that this expansion transformed economic opportunities for many young adults but widened class and racial inequalities. We find sharp increases in school attendance rates for high school-aged children in towns that opened a high school relative to children in nearby towns without one. Linking children to adult outcomes, we show that high schools increased women's labor force participation and job quality, while reducing the probability of early marriage and childbearing. Increased access to high school accounts for a third of the increase in women's labor force participation between 1870 and 1930. High schools had the largest effects on children from already-wealthy families, and did not, on average, benefit Black children. While the high school movement substantially narrowed gender gaps in labor market outcomes, it also widened existing race- and class-based disparities. |
| JEL: | I2 I25 I28 N00 N31 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35068 |