nep-edu New Economics Papers
on Education
Issue of 2025–05–05
six papers chosen by
Nádia Simões, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa 


  1. Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality By Almar, Frederik; Friedrich, Benjamin; Reynoso, Ana; Schulz, Bastian; Vejlin, Rune Majlund
  2. The Impact of Teaching Coping Skills in Schools on Youth Mental Health and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Field Experiment By Mari Rege; Edvin Bru; Ingeborg F. Solli; Maximiliaan W. P. T. Thijssen; Kjersti B. Tharaldsen; Lene Vestad; Sigrun K. Ertesvåg; Terje Ogden; Paul N. Stallard
  3. Long-term Effects of Phonics Approaches to the Development of Reading Skills By Elbro, Carsten; Kristensen, Nicolai; Skov, Peter Rohde
  4. Gendered Impacts of Colonial Education: The Role of Access and Norms Transmission in French Morocco By Amélie Allegre; Oana Borcan; Christa Brunnschweiler; Christa N. Brunnschweiler
  5. Migration, Child Education, Human Capital Accumulation, and a Brain Dilution Tax By Leonid V. Azarnert
  6. Effects of Class Size on Test Scores: Evidence from Japanese Municipal Data By Hirao, Tomotaka; Iida, Seira

  1. By: Almar, Frederik (Aarhus University); Friedrich, Benjamin (Northwestern University); Reynoso, Ana (University of Michigan); Schulz, Bastian (Aarhus University); Vejlin, Rune Majlund (Aarhus University)
    Abstract: This paper revisits the link between education-based marriage market sorting and income inequality. Leveraging Danish administrative data, we develop a novel categorization of “ambition types” that is based on starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with detailed educational programs. We find a substantial increase in assortative matching by educational ambition over time, and the marriage market explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly-used educational level categorization. We conclude that the mapping from education to types matters crucially for conclusions about how education-based marriage market sorting contributes to rising income inequality.
    Keywords: inequality, marital sorting, education
    JEL: D13 D31 I24
    Date: 2025–03
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17814
  2. By: Mari Rege; Edvin Bru; Ingeborg F. Solli; Maximiliaan W. P. T. Thijssen; Kjersti B. Tharaldsen; Lene Vestad; Sigrun K. Ertesvåg; Terje Ogden; Paul N. Stallard
    Abstract: Effective and scalable strategies for promoting youth mental health are urgently needed. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of school-based, teacher-led coping skills instruction on youth mental health and academic achievement. The trial included 84 classes and 1, 879 ninth-grade students (ages 14–15) in Norway. Findings indicate improved mental well-being and reduced emotional distress at a one-year follow-up, particularly among students with low baseline well-being. The intervention also enhanced academic motivation and increased the likelihood of choosing an academic high school track. Additionally, it had a positive effect on math performance among students with initially low academic motivation, but no significant effects on performance in English or Norwegian.
    Keywords: social and emotional skills, preventive mental health policy, school-based intervention, teacher led intervention, education policy
    JEL: I20 J00
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11742
  3. By: Elbro, Carsten (University of Copenhagen); Kristensen, Nicolai (VIVE - The Danish Centre for Applied Social Science); Skov, Peter Rohde (Rockwool Foundation Intervention Unit)
    Abstract: Many studies have documented that a phonics approach is an essential component in the teaching of reading for beginning readers, especially for students at risk of reading disabilities. We study whether phonics approaches, as indicated by the choice of basal readers (materials for the initial teaching of reading) in Grade 1, have long-term effects on adult education levels and labour market outcomes 23 years later. The study shows evidence of a causal link between the choice of basal reader in primary school and school results at the end of lower secondary school as well as labour market outcomes at age 30. Choosing a basal reader that is easily compatible with a phonics approach is a highly cost-effective policy choice.
    Keywords: long-term outcomes, basal reader, reading
    JEL: H52 I28 I38 J13
    Date: 2025–03
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17815
  4. By: Amélie Allegre; Oana Borcan; Christa Brunnschweiler; Christa N. Brunnschweiler
    Abstract: We examine colonial-era primary education as a determinant of modern-day attainment and gender disparities in education. We construct a novel dataset from the French Protectorate in Morocco, combining archival data on colonial school locations in 1931 and 1954 with the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data in arbitrary grids. We analyse the influence of colonial schools on the probability of attaining primary and secondary education in 2004. Overall, schools dedicated to Moroccans in 1931 exhibit a persistent positive impact on education outcomes, but only in the absence of nearby schools reserved for Europeans. Stark gender gaps in access during the Protectorate were narrowed in places with schools for Jewish Moroccans. These had a positive impact on girls’ contemporary levels of education, but a negative impact on the enrolment for boys following the dismantling of Jewish communities after 1948. DHS measures of preferences for female education point to a social norms transmission mechanism between Jewish and Muslim Moroccan communities.
    Keywords: education, colonial legacy, female education, Morocco, French Protectorate
    JEL: N37 O15 I21
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11725
  5. By: Leonid V. Azarnert
    Abstract: I study the effect of educational policy in the host economy on human capital accumulation and growth. The analysis is performed in a two-country growth model with endogenous fertility. I show that providing additional free educational services for immigrant children can increase the attractiveness of migration for less skilled individuals, which can outweigh the positive effect of this policy on the acquisition of human capital. In contrast, imposing taxes on immigrants in the host country reduces low-skilled immigration flows and has the potential to promote human capital accumulation if the resulting revenues are channeled into educational subsidies.
    Keywords: migration, child education, fertility, human capital, growth, brain drain, brain dilution tax
    JEL: D30 F22 J10 J13 J24 O15 O40
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11727
  6. By: Hirao, Tomotaka (Setsunan University); Iida, Seira
    Abstract: Using newly available data on academic performance garnered for a survey conducted by a local government in Japan, this study analyzes the effects of class size on test scores (specifically on the subjects of English, Japanese, and mathematics). Empirical results show that class size has a negative correlation on test scores in mathematics and English. In short, smaller class size was associated with higher test scores in mathematics and English. However, this was low-impact variable compared to other variables such as scholastic year and gender. Additionally, estimation results that investigate the relationship between class size and test scores in Japanese studies lack consistency. Moreover, the relationship between class size and test scores in mathematics has a quadratic function which is convex downward. The extreme value of this quadratic function is 36.2; math test scores decrease as class size increases up to this point, and increase beyond it.
    Date: 2025–04–12
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7jvhn_v1

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