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on Education |
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Issue of 2026–05–18
thirteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Jacob Arendt; Anders Holm |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of private school attendance on segregation and student achievement in compulsory school in Denmark. We show that increased private school attendance is driven by students from high socio-economic groups. Leveraging variation across municipalities, grade and calendar years and instrumental variables based on private school openings, we find that higher private school enrollment is associated with higher segregation of disadvantaged children. From event study models of the private school openings and a mover design that controls for student parental background, peer parental background, past achievement and non-cognitive scores, we find small achievement effects of private school attendance. |
| Keywords: | Private schools; socio-economic and ethnic segregation; student achievement |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J15 R28 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26133 |
| By: | Judith M. Delaney; Paul J. Devereux |
| Abstract: | We use population-level administrative data covering secondary school students in England to study how mathematical and verbal skills shape education and labour market outcomes. Following cohorts completing national exams at age 16 through higher education and into employment until age 34, we show that mathematics and verbal skills operate through fundamentally different pathways. Verbal skills strongly predict educational attainment-including college enrolment, graduation, and postgraduate study-while mathematics skills generate substantially larger earnings returns. At ages 30-34, moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile of the mathematics skill distribution is associated with 29% higher earnings, compared with 14% for verbal. This divergence operates partly through field-of-study choice: individuals with stronger verbal skills disproportionately select into fields with higher graduation rates but lower earnings returns, while those with stronger mathematics skills enter STEM and other high-paying majors. Gender differences in skills explain the female advantage in college attendance and part of the STEM gap but have little effect on the gender earnings gap due to offsetting effects across these pathways: women's verbal advantage facilitates educational access but also steers them toward lower-return fields. |
| Keywords: | returns to skills |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26114 |
| By: | Jialu (Gloria) Dou; Rania Gihleb; Osea Giuntella; Jakub Lonsky |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of California’s Senate Bill 328 (SB 328), the first statewide mandate requiring later school start times for middle and high schools, on adolescent sleep, mental health, and academic outcomes. Using difference-in-differences and eventstudy designs across five data sources, we find that SB 328 increased the share of students sleeping at least 8 hours per night by 13%, meeting the CDC-recommended minimum for this age group. Average mental health effects are imprecisely estimated, but boys show significant reductions in sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation, and Hispanic students, who experienced the largest sleep-timing shifts, show parallel reductions in difficulty concentrating; together these patterns are consistent with a dose-response relationship between sleep improvement and mental well-being. Math and English scores in grade 8 improved by approximately 0.08–0.10 standard deviations, with the largest gains among Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. A within-state analysis using teachers’ commute arrival times as a proxy for pre-policy school start times corroborates these findings, and shows academic gains accumulating over 2023–2025 alongside a suggestive decline in high school dropout rates. The absence of effects on chronic absenteeism rules out an attendance-driven mechanism, pointing instead to the direct cognitive benefits of aligning school schedules with adolescents’ biological rhythms. |
| JEL: | I0 I1 I20 J0 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35184 |
| By: | Henrik Kleven; Camille Landais; Anne Sophie Lassen; Philip Rosenbaum; Herdis Steingrimsdottir; Jakob Egholt Søgaard |
| Abstract: | We study whether policy can shift gendered beliefs, norms, and labor market outcomes by exploiting a major expansion of earmarked paternity leave in Denmark. The reform generated large first-stage effects, substantially reallocating leave from mothers to fathers. Using a regression discontinuity design combined with new survey data linked to administrative records, we show that the reform makes parents more supportive of paternity leave, shifts gender-role beliefs in a progressive direction, and reduces perceived differences in childcare ability. The reform also narrows gender gaps in earnings and hours worked. The earnings gap falls by 34pp in the first year following childbirth (during leave) and by 2.8pp in the second year (after leave). These results demonstrate that policy can meaningfully influence beliefs, norms, and gender inequality. On the other hand, earmarking restricts families' ability to allocate leave freely and lowers leave satisfaction, highlighting a central trade-off inherent in paternalistic policies. |
| Keywords: | Paternity Leave, Gender Norms, Gender Wage Gap |
| JEL: | J13 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26123 |
| By: | Cristóbal Castro (Auckland University of Technology); Lisa Meehan (Auckland University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of tuition subsidies on tertiary education outcomes in a setting where financial barriers are already substantially reduced. We study the introduction of New Zealand’s Fees-Free policy, which eliminated first-year tuition fees, in a system where tuition is financed through widely accessible student loans that require no upfront payment and are interest-free for borrowers who remain in the country, and where means-tested allowances provide non-repayable support toward living costs for some students. Using administrative data and a cohort-based empirical strategy, we estimate effects on participation, retention, and completion. We find little evidence that the policy increased participation or improved progression outcomes, and socioeconomic gaps in participation do not narrow. These findings are consistent with a setting in which tuition costs are not the primary constraint on tertiary enrolment. Instead, opportunity costs and prior academic preparation appear more important in shaping participation decisions. Our results identify a boundary condition for the effectiveness of tuition subsidies: in systems where upfront costs are deferred and borrowing costs are low, tuition subsidies primarily reduce future student debt rather than altering constraints at the point of enrolment, and may therefore have limited effects on access and may not improve, and may even worsen, equity, with implications for the cost-effectiveness of universal tuition subsidies in such settings. |
| Keywords: | tertiary education, tuition subsidies, free tuition, difference-in-differences, New Zealand, Fees-Free, educational inequality, administrative data |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I28 H52 |
| Date: | 2026–05–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aut:wpaper:2026-03 |
| By: | Ali Abboud; Samuel Bazzi; Serena Canaan; Antoine Deeb; Pierre Mouganie |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how authority figures in higher education shape gender norms over the long run. We exploit the random assignment of first-year students to faculty advisors at an elite university in the Middle East and combine administrative records with an alumni survey measuring gender attitudes up to 24 years later. Women assigned to female advisors adopt more egalitarian views about politics and work, while men become more conservative. These effects are strongest among religious students and in male-dominated STEM fields, where female authority is especially counter-stereotypical. The effects may persist through reinforcement, as women assigned to female advisors later sort toward female instructors and more gender-themed courses. Our results do not appear to be driven by generic exposure to successful women. Instead, they point to a distinct role for authority in transmitting gender norms: randomized exposure to high-achieving female peers has little effect, while the largest impacts come from senior and high-value-added female advisors. A simple framework combining belief updating and identity-based status threat helps explain these patterns of female empowerment and male backlash. More broadly, our findings reveal a progress paradox whereby gains in female representation in elite authority expand opportunities for women while intensifying backlash among men, thereby deepening gender polarization. |
| JEL: | I24 J16 J24 P00 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35174 |
| By: | Christos Genakos; Eleni Kyrkopoulou; Elias Papaioannou |
| Abstract: | We use a unique natural experiment in which families were randomly selected to live in the Olympic Village, constructed for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, to assess the impact of improved neighbourhood conditions on academic achievement. Comparing 12-17-year-old students who relocated and attended the new schools with non-selected applicants from the same origin schools across Attica, we find a positive, gender-neutral, and significant effect of moving on overall performance. Educational gains, primarily in language courses, are concentrated among students who previously performed poorly, indicating a "fresh start" effect. |
| Keywords: | social experiment, housing, neighborhoods, neighbourhoods, peer effects, education |
| Date: | 2026–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2175 |
| By: | Maria Calle; Lucas Gortazar; Maria Hernandez-de-Benito; Claudia Hupkau; Teresa Molina-Millan; Antonio Roldan Mones |
| Abstract: | Can effective tutoring programs survive the transition from pilot to scale, and from researcher to government implementers? We address this question using a randomized controlled trial of an online mathematics tutoring program scaled from a successful pilot and implemented entirely by regional education authorities in Spain. Critically, tutoring was delivered by interim public-school teachers-qualified educators already integrated into the government's teacher registry-rather than specially recruited tutors, offering a test of whether effects persist under a lower-cost, readily scalable staffing model. Assignment to tutoring increased end-of-year grades by 0.15σ and standardized math test scores by 0.11σ - approximately one-third of the original pilot effects. Treated students also reported improved confidence in their math abilities and reduced math anxiety. An experimental socio-emotional training module for tutors improved affective outcomes but did not enhance academic gains. The findings demonstrate that online tutoring can generate meaningful benefits at scale under government implementation, while providing realistic benchmarks for the "voltage drop" policymakers should anticipate when adopting evidence-based interventions. |
| Keywords: | Online tutoring, scale-up, RCT, government implementation, mathematics achievement, socio-emotional learning |
| Date: | 2026–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2176 |
| By: | Yoshdia, Ken |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether instructor attire affects not only standard academic outcomes but also students' voluntary written output. The analysis uses data from six first-year introductory "Information (Data Science)" classes at Chiba University of Commerce. All classes were taught by the same instructor under a common syllabus and grading scheme, and instructor attire was randomly assigned at the class-section level, with three sections in the suit condition and three in the casual condition. To reflect this design, the paper reports student-level regressions with class-clustered standard errors together with randomization-based inference. The results show no significant effect of suit attire on final exam scores or attendance. By contrast, suit attire is associated with fewer reaction-paper submissions and fewer words written. The estimated effect on the sentiment score is positive but imprecisely estimated. Overall, the evidence suggests that instructor attire matters less for standard academic performance than for students' willingness to produce written output. |
| Keywords: | instructor attire; student performance; voluntary student output; reaction papers; sentiment score. |
| JEL: | A22 C93 I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2026–03–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128446 |
| By: | Gabriele Iannotta (Politecnico di Milano); Katharina Hartinger (Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany); Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano) |
| Abstract: | The advent of commission-free trading apps has drawn millions of young, financially inexperienced users into capital markets, raising concerns about their preparedness to navigate behavioral pitfalls embedded in platform design. We evaluate two short and scalable simulation-based financial education interventions in a three-arm randomized experiment with 704 undergraduate students at an Italian university (488 completers). In both treatments, participants trade fictitious assets in an incentivized 20-round game that simulates a trading-app environment, accompanied by introductory educational content on core investment concepts. The augmented treatment additionally embeds short in-game pop-ups addressing behavioral pitfalls relevant to app-based trading, including diversification, overtrading, the disposition effect, availability bias, and herd behavior. Measured two weeks after the intervention, both treatments significantly increase financial knowledge relative to a no-intervention control group, with effect sizes of approximately 0.25-0.30 SD for the baseline Simulation and about 0.5 SD for the pop-up-augmented version. Both treatments also improve portfolio efficiency captured by a design-based Sharpe ratio computed from declared allocations, while the augmented treatment additionally increases realized in-game portfolio efficiency and revealed risk-taking during the incentivized simulation. By contrast, stated risk attitudes remain unchanged, indicating that the intervention improves how financial knowledge is translated into portfolio decisions rather than altering underlying risk preferences. |
| Keywords: | Financial education, Financial literacy, Trading apps, Portfolio efficiency, Learning-by-doing, Behavioral nudges, Randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | G53 G11 G41 C93 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:2603 |
| By: | Brendon McConnell (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Parunjodhi Munisamy (Smith College); Mariyana Zapryanova (Smith College) |
| Date: | 2026–05–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:26/33 |
| By: | Couto Ribeiro, Beatriz; Castillo, Adriana; Pérez Urdiales, María |
| Abstract: | Limited access to safe and proximate water remains a defining constraint in Haiti, where access to piped water remains limited and school enrollment is not universal. Using a pseudo-panel constructed from four rounds of the Haiti Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), we estimate the causal impact of water hauling time on childrens school enrollment. Our findings reveal a strong and statistically significant, each additional minute spent fetching water reduces the likelihood of enrollment by about 1.3 percentage points, with substantially larger effects in rural areas where hauling time is highest. Gender-specific estimates reveal that the burden of distance is not symmetric. While girls more often perform water collection overall, boys disproportionately undertake long-distance trips, and simulated enrollment probabilities indicate a widening gender gap once collection times exceed 3040 minutes, with boys experiencing steeper enrollment losses. These findings demonstrate how deficient water infrastructure depresses educational participation, underscoring the potential of investments in improved and more proximate water access to generate meaningful school enrollment gains. |
| Keywords: | water;Haiti;children;school enrollment;Education;demographic and health surveys |
| JEL: | Q25 H31 I24 C36 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14591 |
| By: | Holden, Stein T. (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Tione, Sarah (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Tilahun, Mesfin (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Katengeza, Samson (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Trust and trustworthiness are central to economic development and are frequently studied using behavioral experiments. A concern is that such evidence often relies on student samples, raising questions about external validity. While existing studies, largely from high income countries, suggest that students represent a lower bound on pro-social behavior, little is known about whether it generalizes to low-income country contexts. <p> This paper compares trust, trustworthiness, beliefs, and reciprocity norms between large representative samples of university students and rural adults in Malawi using incentivized trustgame experiments with consistent ingroup–outgroup framing. We show that, contrary to prevailing expectations, students exhibit higher levels of trust and trustworthiness than rural adults. While social distance plays a stronger role among rural adults in form of ingroup–outgroup differences in trustworthiness, such a difference was not found for trust. Surprisingly, we found stronger reciprocity norms and more optimistic beliefs about expected returns among students. <p> Analyzing beliefs and norms as mechanisms, we find that beliefs are associated with trust, while reciprocity norms are strongly related to trustworthiness. Strong norms enhance reciprocity behavior, and especially so in the student sample. <p> Overall, the results demonstrate that assumptions about student samples do not transfer straightforwardly across contexts. In low-income countries, students may not provide a lower bound on pro-social behavior. Social distance, reciprocity norms, and beliefs about the trustworthiness of others can strongly influence cooperation. The findings underscore the value of within-country comparisons for assessing external validity and have implications for the design and interpretation of experimental evidence in development research. |
| Keywords: | Trust game; University students; Rural subjects; External validity; Norms; Beliefs |
| JEL: | C92 D01 D64 O12 |
| Date: | 2026–05–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2026_003 |