|
on Education |
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Issue of 2026–06–29
thirty-one papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Andrea Caria; Daniele Checchi; Dimitri Paolini; Paolo Pinotti |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of expanded entertainment television on children's academic performance leveraging the staggered transition from analog to digital TV across Italian provinces between 2008 and 2012, which greatly increased children's entertainment content, and administrative data on standardized test scores for entire cohorts of primary and middle school students. Availability of digital TV reduced literacy and math performance by 0.08 and 0.12 standard deviations, respectively, implying effects of −0.20 and −0.30 standard deviations among children who acquired access to digital TV along the transition. Effects are larger among younger children and among students attending school only in the morning. |
| Keywords: | Television, Schooling, Standardized test scores |
| JEL: | I21 J13 L82 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26168 |
| By: | Chang, Eunsik (Mississippi State University); Padilla-Romo, María (University of Tennessee); Peluffo, Cecilia (University of Florida) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of early academic rank in elementary school on later cognitive and noncognitive outcomes in the context of Mexico. We use linked administrative records to compare students with similar third-grade achievement but different ordinal positions. These rank differences arise from idiosyncratic variation in the achievement distributions of elementary-school cohorts. We find that a higher third-grade rank increases performance on a high-stakes high school admission exam. Both broader school-cohort rank and classroom rank contribute to this achievement gain when estimated jointly. Higher rank leads to more selective high school choices and improves self-reported measures of self-perception, academic aspirations, classroom responsibility, learning strategies, and teamwork attitudes by the end of ninth grade. We also provide evidence that higher elementary school rank improves students' high school placement outcomes. |
| Keywords: | school-cohort rank, classroom rank, high-stakes test scores, noncognitive skills |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18683 |
| By: | Christopher Campos; John D. Singleton |
| Abstract: | Although use of generative AI tools has quickly become widespread in education settings, emerging evidence suggests that effects on learning will depend on how that use is supported and guided. This paper reports findings from an original national survey of K-12 school principals designed to measure institutional integration of AI in schools through policies, teacher training, guidance for student use, leadership engagement, and the availability of AI-enabled tools. We find that AI use has spread rapidly across schools, largely as a productivity aid. Students mainly use AI for homework help and writing, while educators primarily use it for lesson planning and administrative tasks. The development of teacher training, guidance, and school policies has lagged adoption. We next document two diffusion gaps across schools: First, lower AI integration is associated with a higher share of disadvantaged students (a one standard deviation increase in disadvantage is associated with a 0.07-0.11 SD lower score on an index of AI integration); Second, private and charter schools score 0.23-0.44 SD lower on the AI integration index than traditional public schools. Although several surveyed school-level factors strongly predict AI integration, they do little to explain these gaps. Differences in district size account for roughly one-third of the disadvantage gap between public schools. These findings suggest that the factors associated with greater AI integration differ from those needed to narrow disparities in how schools support and guide AI use. |
| JEL: | I21 O30 O32 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35347 |
| By: | Flagner, Stefan (Maastricht University); Eichholtz, Piet (Maastricht University); Kok, Nils (Maastricht University); Kramer, Rick (Eindhoven University of Technology); Künn, Steffen (Maastricht University); van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter (Maastricht University); Plasqui, Guy (Maastricht University); Sun, Xudong (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how improvements in indoor environmental quality affect student satisfaction and academic performance in higher education. We conducted a randomized field experiment involving 1, 258 first-year undergraduate students at Maastricht University, who were randomly assigned to tutorial groups located either in a recently renovated building with improved indoor environmental quality or in a conventional control building. We find that students in the treatment building report significantly higher satisfaction with indoor environmental quality and the overall learning environment. However, these improvements do not translate into measurable effects on academic performance, study effort, or tutor evaluations. |
| Keywords: | indoor environmental quality, higher education, human capital accumulation, satisfaction, field experiment |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I31 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18697 |
| By: | Mihaescu, Diana; Biclea, Diana; Bologa, Lia |
| Abstract: | Math anxiety and self-efficacy are critical interdependent factors that influence not only academic performance, but also the development of long-term attitudes toward mathematics, through complex mechanisms that include cognitive and emotional interference, as well as the impact of the educational environment and social interactions. The present research examines the interdependence between math anxiety and math self-efficacy, two essential constructs that influence school performance and math attitudes among elementary school students. It emphasizes the importance of correct and simultaneous assessment of both dimensions, using innovative methods adapted to the children's age. The pilot program was implemented with the participation of two teachers and 48 students of 3rd grade, using visual self-report tools (reflective journals, emoticon scales) to assess the confidence and anxiety levels of the schoolchildren, worksheets observation to identify avoidance and engagement behaviours in math activities and structured interview guides for teachers and parents designed to provide a multidimensional perspective on students' reactions. The interventions included practical activities to provide students with experiences of success in simple tasks, such as math games or tasks involving educational robots, alongside relaxation exercises and techniques to encourage positive thinking integrated into math lessons. Teachers attended specific training in recognizing and managing math anxiety, as well as promoting self-efficacy using constructive feedback. The results indicated significant improvements in students; mathematical self-efficacy and a considerable reduction in anxiety, which led to better engagement of children in mathematical activities. The feedback provided by teachers and parents confirmed the progress, revealing the success of the interventions. This study highlights the need for an early intervention based on accurate assessments to prevent the long-term effects of math anxiety on school performance and academic development. The future research directions proposed include longitudinal studies to analyze the impact of these strategies on elementary school students; achievement and the development of a positive attitude toward mathematics. The results of the study underline the relevance of educational approaches that promote emotional resilience and self-efficacy, contributing to the creation of an educational environment favorable to mathematical learning in primary school. |
| Keywords: | Math anxiety, education, self-efficacy, primary school, emotional resilience. |
| JEL: | I23 I26 I31 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:129236 |
| By: | Peter Bergman; Nat Chowanajin; Peter Leopold S. Bergman |
| Abstract: | We conduct a meta-analysis of 82 randomized controlled trials across more than 20 countries to estimate the effects of low-cost, remote parental engagement interventions delivered through text messages, phone calls, and apps. We estimate a joint likelihood function that incorporates both written studies and unwritten studies identified through trial registries, funder records, research labs, evidence clearinghouses, and other sources. By also recording sample sizes for unwritten studies, the model estimates the distribution of standard errors, identifies write-up probabilities conditional on significance, and characterizes the file drawer by estimating effect distributions for written and unwritten studies. Bias-corrected effects are 0.05 SD for test scores, 0.07 SD for grades, 0.05 SD for attendance, and 0.03 SD for enrollment. In the best-identified domain, test scores, statistically insignificant results are still written up at high rates. We also find that larger studies tend to estimate smaller latent effects, which could indicate that true effects are correlated with study precision, violating a common meta-analysis assumption. In smaller-sample domains, our approach helps identify selection probabilities by anchoring the absolute write-up rates. Finally, we estimate the value of additional RCTs to inform adoption decisions. Any single study estimate is unlikely to dissuade adoption because parent interventions have high marginal value of public funds. Instead, future research is most valuable when it can explain heterogeneity across settings. |
| Keywords: | meta-analysis, parent engagement, publication bias, randomized trials |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12718 |
| By: | Strömberg, David; Lei, Victor; Wu, Yanhui |
| Abstract: | Using 30 months of panel data on 26, 811 Chinese students in grades 7--12, we study how generative AI affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine monthly closed-book exams, high-school and college entrance exams, and homework scores and completion time across nine subjects. We exploit staggered AI adoption in a difference-in-differences design. AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months. High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects, followed by STEM and languages, and are especially large for junior students, high-achieving students, and boys. The learning losses are concentrated among roughly 80% of AI users whose behavior is consistent with homework outsourcing, as indicated by exceptionally short homework completion time coupled with high homework scores. AI users who maintain similar homework completion time as non-AI users experience small learning losses. |
| Keywords: | Generative AI; Education; Human capital accumulation; China shock |
| JEL: | O15 I20 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21577 |
| By: | Simon Calmar Andersen (Aarhus University [Aarhus]); Bastien Michel (Aarhus University [Aarhus], LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Nantes Univ - IAE Nantes - Nantes Université - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Sociétés - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université); Helena Skyt Nielsen (Aarhus University [Aarhus]) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of peer coaching separately from the effect of training on teachers' implementation of new teaching techniques. We conducted a preregistered field experiment involving 68 teachers and 1490 students in Denmark. Teachers in an active control group took part in a teaching program that introduced new teaching techniques. On top of the teaching program, the treatment group received coaching from peers. External observers, blinded to the treatment status, assessed teachers' use of the program techniques in the classroom. While we observe greater implementation by teachers, the overall effects are mixed, calling for caution. |
| Keywords: | Coaching, knowledge transfer, school teachers, field experiment |
| Date: | 2025–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05627631 |
| By: | Aderonke Osikominu; Gregor Pfeifer; Tim Ruberg |
| Abstract: | We estimate heterogeneous returns to STEM education by leveraging relative distances to technical versus general universities in Switzerland. While individuals who choose a STEM education gain on average, a declining marginal treatment effect curve indicates positive selection on gains, suggesting that low-resistance individuals benefit the most. Through policy simulations aimed at increasing STEM enrollment and estimating corresponding policy-relevant treatment effects, we demonstrate that these policies' effectiveness critically depends on both observable and unobservable characteristics of affected individuals. Furthermore, we highlight how policies should be designed to both increase STEM enrollment and generate positive returns for targeted groups, particularly women. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education; STEM; MTE; PRTE; Gender |
| JEL: | C26 I26 I28 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26160 |
| By: | Simon Calmar Andersen (Aarhus University [Aarhus]); Bastien Michel (Nantes Univ - IAE Nantes - Nantes Université - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Sociétés - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université, LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Nantes Univ - IAE Nantes - Nantes Université - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Sociétés - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université); Helena Skyt Nielsen (Aarhus University [Aarhus]) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of peer coaching separately from the effect of training on teachers' implementation of new teaching techniques. We conducted a preregistered field experiment involving 68 teachers and 1490 students in Denmark. Teachers in an active control group took part in a teaching program that introduced new teaching techniques. On top of the teaching program, the treatment group received coaching from peers. External observers, blinded to the treatment status, assessed teachers' use of the program techniques in the classroom. While we observe greater implementation by teachers, the overall effects are mixed, calling for caution. |
| Keywords: | Coaching, Knowledge transfer, School teachers, Field experiment |
| Date: | 2026–03–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05644075 |
| By: | Bergman, Peter (University of Texas at Austin); Chowanajin, Nat (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a meta-analysis of 82 randomized controlled trials across more than 20 countries to estimate the effects of low-cost, remote parental engagement interventions delivered through text messages, phone calls, and apps. We estimate a joint likelihood function that incorporates both written studies and unwritten studies identified through trial registries, funder records, research labs, evidence clearinghouses, and other sources. By also recording sample sizes for unwritten studies, the model estimates the distribution of standard errors, identifies write-up probabilities conditional on significance, and characterizes the file drawer by estimating effect distributions for written \textit{and} unwritten studies. Bias-corrected effects are 0.05 SD for test scores, 0.07 SD for grades, 0.05 SD for attendance, and 0.03 SD for enrollment. In the best-identified domain, test scores, statistically insignificant results are still written up at high rates. We estimate the value of additional RCTs to inform adoption decisions. Any single study estimate is unlikely to dissuade adoption because parent interventions have high marginal value of public funds. Future research is most valuable if it can explain heterogeneity across settings. |
| Keywords: | meta-analysis, parent engagement, randomized trials |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18701 |
| By: | Daniel Goller; Enzo Brox; Stefan C. Wolter |
| Abstract: | Why do people sort into poorly fitting occupations? This paper shows that imperfect self-knowledge about skills is an important source of skill mismatch at labor market entry. We use unique data from standardized professional aptitude tests linked to administrative records on educational trajectories and early labor market outcomes in Switzerland. The data allow us to observe objective skills and subjective skill beliefs for many productivity-relevant skills in a high-stakes setting. We document large differences among individuals in how well their beliefs align with their skills. Imperfect self-knowledge predicts misaligned occupational aspirations, higher realized skill mismatch, and a higher probability of dropout. Guided by a Roy-style model of occupational choice with imperfect self-knowledge, we interpret these findings as evidence that distorted self-assessments at the school-to-work transition contribute to the misallocation of talent. |
| Keywords: | Information frictions, Occupational choice, Skill mismatch, Self-knowledge |
| JEL: | D83 J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26166 |
| By: | Mihaescu, Diana; Bologa, Lia; Biclea, Diana |
| Abstract: | Math anxiety affects students' performance. It has a long-term negative impact on their relationship with math. Research indicates that math anxiety, which often stems from early negative experiences and social stereotyping, affects not only performance but emotional well-being, causing students to avoid math-related activities and domains. Another highlighted aspect shows that teachers with high math anxiety are more likely to transmit this fear to students, thus limiting their learning potential. Pre-service teachers, attending specialized workshops, will learn to manage their emotions and implement educational methods that reduce mathematics-related stress. Recognizing the critical role that teachers play in alleviating or, conversely, intensifying this anxiety, our study investigates the effectiveness of a structured training program designed to provide future educators with evidence-based skills and strategies to reduce mathematics anxiety in primary school students. The proposed and implemented program employs cognitive-behavioral techniques in the workshops, focusing on self-awareness, adapting robot-based teaching methods and developing resilience, combating mathematical myths, and promoting self-efficacy identified as a key factor in tackling mathematics anxiety, to create a classroom environment conducive to positive engagement in mathematics learning. Evaluations show that 80 pre-service teachers experience a reduction in their level of math anxiety and show increased confidence in managing student anxiety. These results suggest that targeted educator training can be a powerful tool in breaking the negative loop between math anxiety and performance, promoting a culture of resilience and enthusiasm towards mathematics in the early stages of education. Frequently, this anxiety stems from early educational experiences and negative influences from teachers, parents and society. |
| Keywords: | Math anxiety, pre-service teachers, education, cognitive-behavioral techniques |
| JEL: | I23 I31 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:129235 |
| By: | Stefano Carattini; Pamela Giustinelli; Marcella Veronesi; Pamela Giustinelli |
| Abstract: | Knowledge gaps and biased beliefs concerning both climate change and climate policy represent major obstacles to the decarbonization process. Climate education may offer a scalable solution to address such obstacles. In the context of a national reform of the school curriculum in Italy, we implemented a nationwide field experiment, training thousands of secondary school teachers across thousands of schools using a staggered design. Our intervention, a comprehensive course on climate change and climate policy, goes beyond the light-touch interventions typical in the literature. Using extensive survey data, we examine how training affects teachers' knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and policy preferences and, in turn, those of students. Our study highlights important initial knowledge gaps and biased beliefs about climate change among teachers and students, and provides evidence that climate education can address them at scale. Following our intervention, teachers and students also reconsider their support for climate policies. |
| Keywords: | climate change and policy, field experiment, biased beliefs, public support, climate education, secondary schools |
| JEL: | C93 D72 D83 Q54 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12720 |
| By: | Egyir, John |
| Abstract: | Literacy and numeracy unarguably are at the heart of human and economic development and, as a result, have received widespread attention in recent decades. Yet, there are still issues related to the effective strategies of creating such basic skills. In this paper, I show how a free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) policy in Ghana helped improve skills attainment. I employ a difference-in-differences strategy to assess the long-term causal impact of FCUBE using the Ghana Living Standard Survey 2012-2017. Overall, I find that FCUBE increased literacy and numeracy by 4.6 and 3.0 p.p respectively, but had a larger effect for urban and less disadvantaged students, thereby exacerbating inequality in skills attainment. Additionally, my results show that only the lower secondary education, and not primary education, was sufficient to guarantee skills attainment. |
| Keywords: | Literacy, numeracy, human capital accumulation, education policy, Ghana |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:341307 |
| By: | Kennedy Johnston; Jonathan Meer; Danila Serra |
| Abstract: | Existing studies show that high school counselors can significantly influence students' graduation rates and college enrollment; less is known about their ability to direct students toward particular fields of study. We evaluate an information intervention aimed at increasing counselors' awareness of economics, a major often associated with misconceptions about its content and career opportunities, and characterized by substantial under-representation of women and racial and ethnic minorities. Counselors from randomly selected Texas high schools were invited to participate in a one-day information workshop on the economics major. We evaluate the impact of the intervention on students' major preferences and outcomes using application and admissions data from a large public university attended by many graduates from the treatment schools, as well as enrollment and course-taking records from the Texas Education Research Center. The intervention led to substantial increases in interest in economics at the college application stage, particularly among high-achieving women, but did not lead to significant changes in college major outcomes. We conclude that high school counselors can play an important role in shaping students' field-of-study preferences, but translating preferences into enrollment requires additional exposure and reinforcement. |
| JEL: | C93 D83 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35365 |
| By: | Rupieper, Li Kathrin Kaja (Leibniz University Hannover); Thomsen, Stephan (Leibniz University Hannover) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of voluntary, non-formal adult education on political attitudes, participation, and partisanship, exploiting the expansion of courses at East German Volkshochschulen (VHS) after reunification. Combining administrative VHS data with individual survey data and federal election results, we use quasi-random variation in local course availability to identify causal effects in two-way fixed effects models. We find no significant impact on political attitudes and partisanship, suggesting that political socialization and ideologization play limited roles in adult education. Yet, courses significantly affect some forms of political participation, as they increase volunteering and reduce turnout. These effects are not driven by civic education courses. Further participatory behaviors remain unaffected. This variation in effects across participatory behaviors hints to a more complex relationship than commonly assumed: One may only understand the effect of adult education on political participation when understanding its effects on other areas of life as well, given the interplay of the productive and political roles of human capital. |
| Keywords: | lifelong learning, democracy, political participation, turnout, East Germany, German reunification |
| JEL: | H52 I26 N34 P20 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18729 |
| By: | Sonkurt Sen |
| Abstract: | Access to resources significantly influences academic success, particularly for students facing disadvantages. This study, focusing on females, examinestheeffectsofareform in Turkeythat provided free school textbooksto all students. Usingprimaryschoolen rollment eligibility cutoffs and implementing a Regression Discontinuity design, I find that providing free textbooks in primary school improves females’ likelihood of com pleting high school. In terms of labor market outcomes, I find that females are more likely to be in employment and less likely to be out of labor force. Additionally, males are also less likely to be out of labor force. There is no impact on earnings, nor on the socio-economic classification of the job. |
| Keywords: | Textbooks, Access to Resources, Returns to Education, Earnings, Employment |
| JEL: | I12 I21 I26 J13 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_758 |
| By: | Georgy Egorov; Konstantin Sonin |
| Abstract: | Consider a society that faces uncertainty about a payoff-relevant state and wants to train students to make correct decisions. In educational institutions, students learn from their teachers, but they also get outside information, and later learn from peers. We show that privately Bayesian actions need not be optimal inputs into social learning: when students' actions reflect teacher-side information that is correlated across peers, observing many such actions can give this information excessive social weight. A social planner may therefore optimally reduce the precision of instruction, inducing students to rely more on outside information before their actions become signals for others, and students can end up better informed despite learning less from their teachers. The case for a precision cap is stronger when peer interaction is homophilous, because same-teacher information is more likely to survive aggregation, and weaker when outside information is itself systematically distorted. This provides an informational rationale for viewpoint neutrality as an institutional policy: it limits the social overrepresentation of correlated teacher-side information when students mostly learn from peers exposed to similar sources. |
| JEL: | D83 D85 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35351 |
| By: | Dennis Facius; Roberto Iacono |
| Abstract: | Does Generative AI displace early-career workers? We provide population-wide evidence from Norwegian administrative registers, 2015 through March 2025, exploiting the November 2022 release of ChatGPT as an availability shock. Using the within-firm composition difference-in-differences employed in recent work, supplemented with a synthetic difference-in-differences at the occupation level and a firm-level shift-share design, we find no robust evidence of employment displacement among young workers in highly AI-exposed occupations, nor any robust response across other age cohorts or on incumbent labor-market outcomes. While estimated coefficients for young workers are negative, in line with the existing literature, they are small and statistically insignificant. A backdating exercise on the synthetic difference-in-differences yields larger absolute estimates than the actual treatment date across most age bands. This suggests the apparent post-2022 decline reflects, at least in part, pre-existing secular trends rather than a clean AI-period break. |
| Keywords: | generative artificial intelligence, large language models, automation, labor demand |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12752 |
| By: | Tatiana Klyachko (RANEPA) |
| Abstract: | Over recent years, the higher education system has seen a concentration of student enrollment, student numbers, academic staff, and financial resources in the universities |
| Keywords: | Education system, general education, vocational education, distance learning, higher education |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gai:ppaper:ppaper-2026-1612 |
| By: | Anna Bindler; Barbara Boelmann; Lena Janys and Luisa H. Santiago Wolf |
| Abstract: | How do labor demand shocks affect workforce diversity in the absence of targeted diversity policies? A conceptual framework illustrates the potential trade-off between the demographic and quality composition of a workforce when there is a positive labor demand shock. Exploiting the German reunification as a natural experiment, we analyze the academic labor market where nearly all social sciences professors in East Germany were replaced while STEM faculty remained largely unchanged. Using administrative data and a regional difference-in-differences design, we find increased dispersion in the institutional quality of hires, indicating that the new hires came from less select departments. At the same time, female representation did not increase despite qualified women in the pipeline. Instead, East German hiring patterns converged to those in West Germany in terms of gender composition. In simulations, we investigate implied losses: Under conservative assumptions, we show that, considering the pipeline of qualified applicants, the marginal female hire’s quality is approximately half a standard deviation higher than the marginal male hire’s quality. |
| Keywords: | Labor demand, diversity, higher education, universities |
| JEL: | I23 J23 J45 J70 J82 N34 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2169 |
| By: | Pineda-Hernandez, Kevin (Free University of Brussels); Rycx, François (Free University of Brussels); Senterre, Thomas (ULB and UMONS); Volral, Melanie (UMONS) |
| Abstract: | Although educational attainment is known to moderate immigrant-native wage gaps, the role of the field of study remains largely unexplored. Drawing on detailed data for master's graduates in Belgium (1999-2016), we show that the immigrant-native wage gap narrows over two generations but persists in higher-paying fields (STEM, LEM), while disappearing in lower-paying ones. Wage decompositions reveal a small positive quantity effect (immigrants favour higher-paying fields), outweighed by a negative price effect (as returns to fields are lower for immigrants). This price effect halves across generations. Together, both effects explain 28-37% of the overall pay gap. Sensitivity tests refine these findings. |
| Keywords: | immigrant-native wage gap, first- and second-generation immigrants, field of study, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I25 I26 J31 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18728 |
| By: | Möller, Joachim (University of Regensburg and Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | During and after World War II, West Germany absorbed around eight million refugees and displaced persons, including nearly two million children. This provides a natural experiment to examine whether birthplace characteristics exert persistent effects on later labor-market outcomes. Using administrative labor-market biographies for the 1935–1950 birth cohorts combined with geocoded information on birthplaces and workplaces, we find that birthplace urbanicity is strongly associated with later labor-market outcomes not only among both native-born individuals but also among expellees. Individuals originating from urban regions earn systematically higher daily wages than those born in rural areas, even after controlling for workplace region, education, and occupation. Among displaced individuals, the effects are considerably stronger for women than for men and are especially pronounced for expellees from the Czech lands. The findings suggest that urban-origin advantages were transmitted across generations through education, occupational sorting, and family-specific social and cultural capital. |
| Keywords: | urban origins, forced migration, birthplace effects, lifetime earnings, labor-market outcomes, regional mobility, gender differences, intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | R12 R23 J24 J61 N34 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18725 |
| By: | de Hoyos, Rafael; Munteanu, Andrei; Pop-Eleches, Cristian |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the impact of the Romania Secondary Education Project, which was designed to improve student retention, graduation rates and pass rates on a national end-of-high-school exam for low-achievement high schools in Romania. The program was implemented in three waves, September 2017, September 2018, and September 2020, with eligible high schools randomly assigned to each. The study exploits this staggered implementation to measure the project’s causal impacts on students. The estimates indicate that the Romania Secondary Education Project had no significant impact on (i) student preferences for attending a program high school, (ii) student retention rates, (iii) high school graduation rates, (iv) enrollment in the post-high school baccalaureate exam, (v) baccalaureate exam pass rates, or (vi) baccalaureate exam scores. There was a small increase in girls’ passing rates (3 percentage points). However, there was little heterogeneity in the null effects by grant size, urban-rural status, student achievement levels, town income levels, and type of curriculum taught. |
| Date: | 2026–06–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11408 |
| By: | Lorenzo Navarini |
| Abstract: | While social skills have become increasingly important in the labour market, other skills may have lost relevance. Estimating these changes is challenging because skills measured before tertiary education affect wages both directly and indirectly through educational sorting. This paper develops a sequential model with cognitive, social, and diligence skills measured at age 17 to estimate direct and total early-career returns across recent German cohorts, while accounting for unobserved ability. Direct returns to social skills increased by 6 percentage points, whereas total returns to diligence declined. Among individuals with low cognitive skills, returns to diligence fell by 10 percentage points, consistent with high-diligence workers sorting into routine-intensive occupations whose value declined under deroutinisation. |
| Keywords: | Multidimensional skills; returns to skills; dynamic treatment effects |
| JEL: | J24 I21 I26 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26170 |
| By: | Landry Kuate; Amélie Lafrance-Cooke; Jenny Watt |
| Abstract: | This study examines the educational pathways and outcomes of first-generation postsecondary students—students whose parents did not complete postsecondary education (PSE)—relative to non-first-generation students. Using descriptive statistics, this article leverages a unique integrated dataset formed by 2006 Census data and the Postsecondary Student Information System to examine (1) enrolment rates, (2) the graduation and persistence rates per enrolled cohorts from 2010/2011 to 2015/2016, and (3) the students’ time to graduation. The findings suggest a higher enrolment rate (75.08%) for potential non-first-generation individuals, compared with first-generation ones (58.91%). Results also suggest that among those enrolled students, the graduation rate was also higher for non-first-generation postsecondary students (73.66%) compared with first-generation students (68.60%). Furthermore, the persistence rate—the proportion of students in the entry cohort who are still enrolled in the program at the designated graduation threshold time—is 4.30% for non-first-generation postsecondary students, compared with 5.44% for first-generation students. Breaking down the results by selected characteristics, larger differences are observed by education qualifications, sex, student entry age and racialized population group. |
| Keywords: | first-generation students, postsecondary education, educational outcomes, Canada |
| JEL: | J23 M21 |
| Date: | 2026–02–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp8e:202600200004e |
| By: | Powdthavee, Nattavudh (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) |
| Abstract: | Many universities in middle-income countries lack the peer-review infrastructure to assess research quality directly and instead tie financial rewards to publication in journals classified as Q1 under the SCImago Journal Rank system. By converting continuously varying journal quality into discrete institutional categories, these systems create sharp incentive discontinuities at quartile boundaries. In a pre-registered study, we apply a bunching estimator to 149, 402 Scopus-indexed publications from Thailand over 2016–2025, exploiting Thailand's 2019 higher-education reform as a source of temporal variation. We find no significant bunching before 2019 but substantial excess concentration immediately above the Q1 boundary afterwards — a pattern not observed in Singapore, whose publication environment is not organised around explicit quartile-based financial rewards. The post-reform excess mass corresponds to roughly 1, 575 additional publications over 2020–2025, implying an estimated 39 million THB in cumulative institutional expenditure. The findings suggest that quartile-based classification systems may redirect research effort towards threshold optimisation rather than research quality. |
| Keywords: | bunching estimation, publication metrics, journal quartile thresholds, higher-education reform, Goodhart’s law |
| JEL: | I23 O31 C14 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18680 |
| By: | Krieger, Bastian; Kroll, Henning; Schubert, Torben; Strecke, Linus; Garcia Chavez, Cecilia |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the local economic effects of niche university actors depend on regional context. Focusing on private university campuses in Germany, it exploits their staggered foundation between 1990 and 2020 and estimates their effects using a conditional staggered difference-in-differences design at the postal code level. Campus foundations raise local economic activity, but only gradually, with effects becoming statistically significant after about ten years. The effects are strongest in rural and intermediate regions, while urban regions show no significant effects. This pattern supports the argument that niche universities have greater potential to become significant actors in institutionally thinner rural regions. |
| Keywords: | Regional Growth, Private Universities, Place-Based Leadership, Urban-Rural |
| JEL: | O12 O18 O38 O47 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:341410 |
| By: | Luskova, Martina; Buliskeria, Nino; Elminejad, Ali; Havranek, Tomas; Irsova, Zuzana; Jurajda, Stepan; Kapicka, Marek |
| Abstract: | We revisit a central estimate in the economics of education: the human-capital loss associated with COVID-19 school closures. Estimates of pandemic learning loss may be affected by publication bias, p-hacking, and the mechanical correlation between standardized effect sizes and their standard errors. We conduct a comprehensive multi-method assessment of bias by applying a wide range of correction techniques, including PET-PEESE, three-parameter selection models (3PSM), Robust Bayesian Meta-Analysis (RoBMA), Meta-Analysis Instrumental Variable Estimation (MAIVE), Right-Truncated Meta-Analysis (RTMA), and multi-bias sensitivity analysis. Our preferred specifications, RoBMA and MAIVE, rely on different assumptions yet converge on an effect size of approximately −0.12 SD, equivalent to a learning loss of about 30% of a school year. Although some methods reveal signs of publication bias and selective reporting, these findings do not explain away the central finding: the COVID-19 learning deficit is economically meaningful and statistically robust. |
| Keywords: | Meta-analysis, Publication bias, p-hacking, COVID-19, Learning loss |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 C18 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:341461 |
| By: | Soobedar de Villeneuve, Zeenat |
| Abstract: | Assessment in higher education often suffers from a critical disconnect where student feedback benefits future cohorts rather than current participants. This study presents SHARP (Strategic, Holistic, Adaptive, Reflective, Process), a systematic framework for embedding real-time student voice into assessment design. SHARP was piloted across three mathematics tests with 246 students at a foundation-level UK university programme using a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design. Post-assessment surveys from 108 students captured perceptions of fairness, clarity, and engagement before grade release. Quantitative analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in clarity ratings, from 3.98 to 4.44 (Cohen's d = 0.51, p = 0.03), whilst fairness perceptions rose from 70.3% to 96.0%, and 100% supported continuing the process. Quasi-experimental comparison with historical controls demonstrated 73% reduction in assessment volatility (Volatility Index: 1.54 to 0.41). This pilot demonstrates SHARP's potential as a transferable framework for student-informed assessment practice, though replication is needed to establish broader generalisability. |
| Keywords: | assessment design; co-creation; higher education partnership; inclusive assessment; student voice |
| JEL: | A2 A21 C14 |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:129335 |