|
on Education |
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Issue of 2026–05–04
thirty-six papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Giorgio Brunello; Francesco Campo; Elisabetta Lodigiani; Martina Miotto; Lorenzo Rocco |
| Abstract: | We investigate the factors influencing the intended college major choices of high school students in Italy, ranking the relative importance of expected earnings, perceived ability, and major-specific tastes, that we measure directly using a Coller and Williams game. We find that major-specific tastes and self-assessed ability are significantly more influential in shaping academic intentions than mean expected earnings at age 30. We estimate that a one standard deviation change in the taste for (resp. perceived ability in) a given major increases the odds of choosing that major (relative to Humanities, our benchmark scenario) by 136.4% (resp. 114.1%), far outweighing the 39.3% increase associated with a one standard deviation change in mean expected earnings. |
| Keywords: | College major choices, student expectations, nonmonetary rewards |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26055 |
| By: | Adriana Di Liberto; Ludovica Giua; Fabiano Schivardi; Marco Sideri; Giovanni Sulis |
| Abstract: | We study how managerial practices of school principals affect student performance and aspirations. For 2011 and 2015, we merge administrative data on Italian high school students with the management quality indices of their principals, constructed using the World Management Survey methodology. The frequent principals' turnover over this period allows us to causally interpret school-fixed-effect estimates. We find that management quality positively and substantially impacts standardized math and language tests and student desire to attend college. The comparison to pooled-OLS suggests that fixed effects correct for the downward bias arising from selection of better principals into more difficult schools. |
| Keywords: | Management; School principals; Student outcomes |
| JEL: | L2 I2 M1 O32 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25121 |
| By: | Andrea Ichino; Fabrizia Mealli; Javier Viviens |
| Abstract: | We study whether access to standardized test scores improves the quality of teachers' secondary school track recommendations, using Dutch data and a metric based on Principal Stratification in a quasi-randomized setting. Allowing teachers to revise their recommendations when test results exceed expectations increases the share of students successfully placed in more demanding tracks by at least 6%, but misplaces 7% of weaker students. However, only implausibly high weights on the short-term losses of students who must change track because of misplacement would justify prohibiting test-score-based upgrades. Access to test scores also induces fairer recommendations for immigrant and low-SES students. |
| Keywords: | principal stratification, secondary school track recommendations |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25125 |
| By: | Hessel Oosterbeek; Tina Rozsos; Bas van der Klaauw |
| Abstract: | Close to 20% of secondary school students in Amsterdam - and elsewhere - transfer between secondary schools at some point, even when initially placed in their most-preferred school. School switching is costly for the students involved and disrupts the learning environment of their former and new classmates. Using data from the Amsterdam secondary-school match linked to administrative registers, we show that switching can be predicted by hard-to-rationalize initial school choices. Over 60% of switchers can be correctly identified at the admission stage. Simulations indicate that encouraging predicted switchers to adjust their preference ranking of schools could reduce the switching rate by almost 15%. |
| Keywords: | secondary education, school choice, school switching, admission lottery |
| JEL: | I21 C35 C53 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25159 |
| By: | Jan Bietenbeck; Matthew Collins; Petter Lundborg; Kaveh Majlesi |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of exposure to income and wealth inequality during adolescence on long-term educational and labor market outcomes. Using detailed Swedish register data covering all students completing compulsory education between 1989 and 2013, we construct measures of inequality among students' school-cohort peers and exploit variation between cohorts within schools to identify plausibly causal effects. We find no evidence that exposure to inequality affects GPA, high school graduation, university enrollment, university completion, or income up to age 35. These null results are precisely estimated and robust to alternative measures of inequality, sample definitions, and specifications. Moreover, we find no evidence of systematic heterogeneity by socioeconomic background. Taken together, these findings provide reassurance that school integration policies mixing students from different socioeconomic backgrounds do not carry hidden long-run costs stemming from exposure to inequality. More broadly, they challenge the view that school-based exposure to peer inequality during adolescence is a causal driver of human capital accumulation or later-life mobility. |
| Keywords: | inequality, education, human capital, peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25142 |
| By: | Miller, Lois (University of South Carolina) |
| Abstract: | Using Texas administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, I study how transferring between colleges affects students' earnings. I leverage applications and admissions data to uncover unpublished GPA cutoffs used for transfer student admissions at each fouryear institution, then use these cutoffs as an instrument for transfer. I do not find positive earnings returns for academically marginal students who transfer from two-year to four-year colleges or from less-resourced four-year colleges to flagship colleges and show suggestive evidence of negative returns. Mechanisms include academic "mismatch" among two-year to four-year transfers, and substitution out of high-paying majors for four-year to flagship transfers. |
| Keywords: | college transfer, returns to education, community college |
| JEL: | I23 I26 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18568 |
| By: | Yu Qin; Michael Vlassopoulos; Jackline Wahba |
| Abstract: | Language proficiency is a key determinant of immigrant integration. This paper examines the causal impact of host-country language proficiency (proxied by reading test scores) on school integration and bullying among first-generation immigrant students across 16 OECD destination countries, using data from the 2015, 2018, and 2022 waves of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We employ an instrumental variable strategy exploiting exogenous variation in exposure to the host-country language, measured through the interaction of immigrants' age at arrival and the linguistic distance between their mother tongue and the host-country language. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in reading proficiency raises a standardized index of school integration by about 0.56 standard deviations, and reduces a standardized bullying index by about 0.59 standard deviations. The protective effect against bullying is stronger for boys, whereas integration gains are more similar across genders. We also find positive effects on academic achievement and grade progression, and links to more ambitious expectations, better teacher relations, and a stronger non-cognitive profile that plausibly explains the integration effects. These results suggest the importance of language proficiency as an input into the joint production of cognitive and psychosocial outcomes for immigrant youth. |
| Keywords: | Language proficiency, immigrant integration, bullying, school belonging, PISA, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I21 J15 I31 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26048 |
| By: | Silke Anger; Bernhard Christoph; Agata Galkiewicz; Shushanik Margaryan; Malte Sandner; Thomas Siedler |
| Abstract: | Tutoring programs for low-performing students, delivered in-person or online, effectively enhance school performance, yet their medium- and longer-term impacts on labor market outcomes remain less understood. To address this gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with 839 secondary school students in Germany to examine the effects of an online tutoring program for low-performing students on academic performance and school-to-work transitions. The online tutoring program had a non-significant intention-to-treat effect of 0.06 standard deviations on math grades six months after program start. However, among students who had not received other tutoring services prior to the intervention, the program significantly improved math grades by 0.14 standard deviations. Moreover, students in non-academic school tracks experienced smoother school-to-work transitions, with vocational training take-up 18 months later being 5 percentage points higher-an effect that was even larger (12 percentage points) among those without prior tutoring. Overall, the results indicate that tutoring can generate lasting benefits for low-performing students that extend beyond school performance. |
| Keywords: | online tutoring; randomized controlled trial; disadvantaged youth; school grades; school-to-work transition |
| JEL: | C93 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25151 |
| By: | Maria A. Cattaneo; Stefan Wolter; Thea Zöllner |
| Abstract: | Switzerland features strong socio-economic segregation and no formal school choice, making residential relocation the only channel through which parents can access preferred schools. Identifying how parents value school attributes is therefore essential but challenging, given that choices bundle multiple characteristics. We address this by conducting a discrete choice experiment with nearly 2, 700 parents with school-aged children, allowing us to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for individual and combined school attributes. We find that a substantial minority of parents value academic quality so highly that their preferences are effectively price-insensitive. Among price-sensitive parents, academic quality remains central, but they also exhibit positive WTP for schools with fewer students with special educational needs and fewer non-native-speaking peers. Interaction effects are strong: WTP for reductions in special-needs peers is highest if the school is among the academically strongest. Accounting for attribute interactions further reveals marked heterogeneity, with parents clustering into seven distinct preference types. |
| Keywords: | Discrete choice experiment, willingness to pay, special needs education, school quality |
| JEL: | C4 H4 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26018 |
| By: | Moses Shayo; Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | We study how teachers' rule violations in grading affect students' ethical behavior. Using administrative data from high-stakes exams, combining teacher-assigned internal scores with externally graded national exam scores, we track teacher grading violations and subsequent student cheating. We explore three potential mechanisms: imitation (learning that rules can be broken), positive reciprocity (responding favorably to favorable treatment), and negative reciprocity (retaliating against unfavorable treatment). Exploiting within-student variation in exposure to different teachers, we find students are significantly more likely to cheat when teachers break the rules to their detriment (systematically undergrading), consistent with both imitation and negative reciprocity. However, when teachers systematically overgrade, responses vary by community structure. In heterogeneous communities, overgrading increases student cheating, suggesting imitation dominates. In homogeneous communities, students respond by cheating less, consistent with positive reciprocity dominating. This pattern holds across multiple homogeneity measures, including surname concentration and residential clustering. Survey measures of mutual respect and support between students and teachers confirm this pattern. |
| Keywords: | Teachers ethical behavior, Grading Rules, Student's cheating, Imitation, Reciprocity, Community Structure, Transmission of Ethical Behavior |
| JEL: | I20 J00 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26070 |
| By: | Christopher Campos; Pablo Muñoz; Alonso Bucarey; Dante Contreras |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how college major choices shape earnings and fertility outcomes. Using administrative data that link students' preferences, random assignment to majors, and post-college outcomes, we estimate the causal pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to different fields of study. We document substantial heterogeneity in these returns across majors and show that such variation helps explain gender gaps in labor market outcomes: women place greater weight on balancing career and family in their major choices, and these preference differences account for about 30% of the gender earnings gap among college graduates. Last, we use our causal estimates to evaluate the effects of counterfactual assignment rules that target representation gaps in settings with centralized assignment systems. We find that gender quotas in high-return fields can significantly reduce representation and earnings gaps with minimal impacts on efficiency and aggregate fertility. |
| Keywords: | preferences, returns to majors, gender gaps, centralized assignment |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J01 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26024 |
| By: | Jack Britton; Nick Ridpath; Ben Waltmann; Carmen Villa |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the Education Maintenance Allowance, a large conditional cash transfer scheme that paid low-income teenagers in England to remain in education beyond age 16. Using the staggered national roll-out of the program and linked administrative data tracking education, earnings, welfare payments and criminal convictions to age 31, we find no significant overall effect of the policy on labor market outcomes or criminality. High-attaining students were more likely to attend university but no more likely to graduate. Low-attaining students committed fewer crimes. Point estimates suggest the overall Marginal Value of Public Funds was below one, indicating low cost-effectiveness. |
| Keywords: | conditional cash transfer, education, education maintenance allowance |
| JEL: | I28 J24 H52 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25131 |
| By: | Christopher Campos; Jesse Bruhn; Eric Chyn; Antonia Vazquez |
| Abstract: | Public school choice has evolved rapidly in the past two decades, as districts roll out new magnet, dual-language, and themed programs to broaden educational opportunity. We use newly collected national data to document that opt-in (voluntary) systems: (i) are the modal design; (ii) are harder to navigate; and (iii) have participation that is concentrated among more advantaged students. These facts suggest a striking inconsistency: districts have largely adopted centralized assignment algorithms to broaden access, but most rely on optional participation that fragments public education. We study the implications of this design choice in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest opt-in system in the country, combining nearly two decades of administrative data, randomized lotteries, and quasi-experimental expansions in access. Participation is highly selective, consistent with national evidence, and lottery estimates suggest that the students with the lowest demand for choice schools are the ones who gain the most from attending. Opt-in participation therefore embeds a selection mechanism that screens out high-return students and leaves many effective programs with unused capacity. To evaluate system-level implications, we estimate a structural model linking applications, enrollment, and achievement. Choice schools are vertically differentiated and generate meaningful gains, but the opt-in participation rule -through high application costs and negative selection on gains- prevents these benefits from reaching the students who need them most. Counterfactual simulations make the design stakes clear: information and travel-cost reductions have limited effects, whereas reforms that change the participation architecture eliminate core inefficiencies and deliver the largest district-wide achievement gains. These results underscore that system design -not school effectiveness alone- shapes who benefits from public school choice and to what extent. |
| Keywords: | school choice, market design, school effectiveness |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J01 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26005 |
| By: | Krzysztof Karbownik; Helena Svaleryd; Jonas Vlachos; Xuemeng Wang |
| Abstract: | Work-related burnout and stress-related sickness absence have become increasingly prevalent, but evidence on which workplace features shape workers' mental health remains limited. Using population-level Swedish register data covering all lower- and upper-secondary teachers from 2006-2024, we show that schools serving more disadvantaged students exhibit substantially higher rates of sickness absence, particularly for stress-related diagnoses. Exploiting within teacher variation across student cohorts, we separate sorting from exposure and find that a one standard deviation increase in student disadvantage raises overall and stress-related sick leave by 3.6% and 8.7%, respectively. Survey evidence indicates that these effects operate through classroom conditions rather than workload or organizational differences. The findings establish client composition as a distinct and policy-relevant determinant of worker health in contact intensive occupations. |
| Keywords: | student composition, teachers' health, mental health, contact-intensive occupations |
| JEL: | I10 I21 J63 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26050 |
| By: | Ingvild Almås; Nina Drange; Costas Meghir; Henrik D. Zachrisson |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of early childcare on academic achievement for children in grade 5 and grade 9, based on a 2003 policy expansion that created quasi-random variation in slot availability for children aged 1–2. Starting childcare one year earlier increases math scores by 9.7% of a standard deviation (SD) in grade 9. Children whose mothers do not hold a high school diploma benefit by a significant 28% of a SD at grade 9, reducing the math achievement gap from children of higher-educated mothers by about one third. We also present evidence of strong improvements for children of immigrants. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J13 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35109 |
| By: | Samuel Berlinski; Michele Giannola; Alessandro Toppeta |
| Abstract: | We study the relative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and interaction of family- and school-based learning interventions using a randomized controlled trial in Colombia that assigns children to a parental engagement program, a teacher professional development program, both, or a control group. Both interventions are grounded in a child-centered learning approach that emphasizes active engagement and the progression from informal to formal mathematical understanding. Each intervention independently generates sizable and statistically similar gains in early numeracy (0.17σ and 0.20σ). Combining them produces no additional learning gains, suggesting that the two interventions act as substitutes over the time horizon and skill domain we study. When benefits accruing to future cohorts are taken into account, the teacher development program becomes at least as cost-effective as, and potentially more cost-effective than, the parental engagement intervention. Our results suggest that, in this setting, strategically concentrating resources on a single binding constraint - either at home or in school - maximizes the short-run learning gains per dollar spent. |
| Keywords: | Families, Schools, Human Capital, Numeracy |
| JEL: | A2 H52 I25 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26085 |
| By: | Hans Grönqvist; Bart Golsteyn; Thomas Dohmen; Edvin Hertegård; Gerard Pfann |
| Abstract: | This study examines how parenting styles predict children's lifetime outcomes. Using a Swedish dataset which combines rich survey information on parenting styles with administrative records tracking children over five decades, we find that authoritarian parenting is negatively associated with children's long-term success, especially regarding their educational attainment. The results for other parenting styles are more mixed. Authoritarian parenting remains a robust predictor of adverse outcomes even when accounting for ability and family background. We identify children's knowledge accumulation and parental educational expectations as key mechanisms explaining these results. |
| Keywords: | Child Rearing; Human Capital; Skill Formation |
| JEL: | I24 J13 J24 R20 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26023 |
| By: | Manuel Arellano; Orazio Attanasio; Margherita Borella; Mariacristina De Nardi; Gonzalo Paz-Pardo |
| 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: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26098 |
| By: | Nicolás Acevedo Rebolledo; Gonzalo Almeyda Torres; David Granada Donato; María Lombardi; Victoria Oubiña; Pablo Zoido Lobaton |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates a randomized remote tutoring program implemented in Paraguay, targeting 1, 650 students in grades four through six with low baseline performance in Spanish language. The intervention provided two weekly 30-minute one-on-one tutoring sessions over the phone for eight weeks, using a differentiated instruction model tailored to students’ initial diagnostic assessments. Treated students showed significant learning gains: those offered tutoring scored 0.11 standard deviations higher onstandardizedlanguagetests comparedtocontrols. Effectswereconsistent across sociodemographicsubgroupsandbaselineachievementlevels. Leveraging therandomassignmentofstudentstotutors, weestimateindividualtutorvalueadded, andfindthattutoreffectsaccountfor 15%ofthevariation instudent outcomes. Tutors in the top quintile have an average value added of 0.38 standard deviations, almost four timestheoveralleffectoftheprogram, underscoringtheimportanceofindividual tutor effectiveness in scaling tutoring interventions successfully. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Desarrollo de Habilidades, Rendimiento de la Educación, Education, Skills Development, Educational Performance |
| JEL: | I20 I24 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udt:wpgobi:wp_gob_2026_02 |
| By: | Victor Lavy; Assaf Yancu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of classroom exposure to peers with a history of violent behavior on academic achievement and the underlying mechanisms. This measure of peer violence departs significantly from earlier studies that measured potential peer violence based on the background characteristics of students. We exploit idiosyncratic treatment variations during the transition from primary to middle school for causal identification. We find that a higher proportion of violent peers negatively affects cognitive performance in tests in various subjects, particularly pronounced in mathematics and English, compared to Hebrew and science. These effects are more pronounced in girls than in boys. While boys' performance is negatively influenced only by the presence of violent male peers, girls are adversely affected by both violent male and female peers. As for mechanisms, violent peers disrupt learning environments and lower teachers' productivity, reflected in lower job satisfaction and perception of higher workloads. Violent peers also significantly increase the likelihood of other students engaging in physical fights, and reduce their homework time, especially for girls and students from low SES. |
| Keywords: | violent peers, classroom environment, cognitive performance, mechanisms |
| JEL: | J10 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25127 |
| By: | Christopher Campos; Jesse Bruhn; Eric Chyn; Anh Tran |
| Abstract: | We study the distributional effects of remote learning using a novel approach combining preference data from a conjoint survey with administrative records. Experimentally derived preferences account for selection into remote learning and treatment effect heterogeneity. We validate the approach using random variation from school choice lotteries. On average, remote learning reduced reading and math achievement, but children whose parents showed strongest demand experienced positive effects. Parental concerns about bullying strongly predict demand, and remote learning consistently reduced bullying, partly offsetting learning losses. These results suggest that students who sort into post-pandemic remote learning may benefit from its expansion. |
| Keywords: | Remote learning, COVID-19, school match effects, self-selection, school choice, virtual schooling |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26009 |
| By: | Christopher Campos |
| Abstract: | This paper measures parents' beliefs about school and peer quality, how information about each affects school choices and student outcomes, and how social interactions mediate these effects. Parents underestimate school quality and overestimate peer quality. Cross-randomized school and peer quality information combined with a spillover design shows that when parents received information, they and their neighbors' preferences shifted toward higher value-added schools, underscoring stronger tastes for school quality and the role of social interactions. These demand responses translate into real educational gains. Students exposed to the improved information enroll in more effective schools, achieve higher test scores, report improved socio-emotional well-being, and are more likely to enroll in college. The experimental evidence shows parents value school effectiveness even conditional on peer quality and that improving the informational environment can elevate numerous policy-relevant outcomes. |
| Keywords: | school choice, school quality, preferences, information, value-added, social interactions |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26008 |
| By: | Xin Liu; Xin Meng; Guangqian Pan; Guochang Zhao |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the unintended consequences of China's 2021 "Double Reduction" policy, which aimed to ease students' academic burden by limiting homework and private tutoring. Using a tailored household survey, a constructed policy enforcement index, and a difference-in-differences design, we find that the policy increased private tutoring enrollment, household tutoring expenditures, and parental time spent on helping children with schoolwork. These effects disproportionately harmed low-income families, resulting in worse academic outcomes. Our findings suggest that the policy's effects run counter to its intended goals and may exacerbate educational inequality. |
| Keywords: | Education Policy, Private Tutoring, Academic Outcome, Intergenerational Inequality, Parent Outcome |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J22 J24 D04 D13 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26034 |
| By: | Enrico Rubolino |
| Abstract: | Declining civic engagement increasingly strains welfare state institutions. This paper asks whether civic values can be shaped through early educational investments. I study Tax and School, a large-scale program implemented in Italian primary and secondary schools to promote fiscal and civic responsibility. Exploiting staggered cross-municipality adoption, I find that exposure increases students' intrinsic motivation for rule compliance and reduces antisocial behaviors, particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged contexts. These student-level responses gradually aggregate into community-level outcomes: exposed municipalities later exhibit higher voter turnout and stronger support for redistributive policies. Survey evidence points to belief updating about the value of public goods and the role of government in mitigating inequality as a central mechanism. Counterfactual simulations imply that scaling the program could attenuate the secular decline in voter turnout. |
| Keywords: | civic capital; civic education; tax morale; political participation |
| JEL: | I21 H26 D72 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26096 |
| By: | Manuel Bagues; Milan Makany; Giulia Vattuone; Natalia Zinovyeva |
| Abstract: | We study how faculty promotion decisions shape women's careers and the academic pipeline, using data from 4, 000 Spanish university departments across all disciplines. We identify exogenous variation in promotions using the random assignment of evaluators to promotion committees between 2002 and 2008: applicants whose committees included a co-author or colleague were significantly more likely to qualify for promotion. We document two main findings. First, failing to obtain tenure has asymmetrically lasting consequences for women. Those who narrowly miss tenure are 57 percentage points less likely to be tenured fifteen years later, compared to 29 percentage points for men. Second, when women do obtain tenure, the effects extend well beyond their own careers: promoting a woman to Associate Professor increases female faculty by 1.5 members after 15 years, leads to six additional female PhD graduates over the following decade, and raises the number who subsequently remain in academia and reach tenured positions. |
| Keywords: | Academic Promotions, Women in Academia, Natural Experiment |
| JEL: | I23 J16 J44 M51 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26092 |
| By: | Astruc--Le Souder, Mael (Bordeaux University); Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Locks, Gedeao (DIW, Berlin) |
| Abstract: | As tertiary education expands, employers increasingly rely on academic distinctions to screen among similarly qualified graduates. We study the labor-market effects of honors using administrative and survey data on Sorbonne master's graduates. We exploit France's fixed GPA thresholds for honors assignment to implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Returns are concentrated at the intermediate distinction ("High Honors"), indicating that credentials are most informative when they separate above- from below-average students. We find that High Honors accelerate school-to-work transitions, increasing the monthly job-finding rate by about 40%. Honors also generate an initial wage premium, which fades within two years, and lead to persistent improvements in job quality, including greater access to master's-level positions and faster transitions to permanent contracts. These results highlight the role of academic distinctions as short-run signals that shape early career allocation rather than long-term earnings. |
| Keywords: | signaling, honors, regression discontinuity design, fuzzy RDD |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18567 |
| By: | Claudio Schilter; Samuel Lüthi; Stefan C. Wolter |
| Abstract: | We merge experimental data on competitiveness of a large sample of students with their complete educational history for up to ten years after the initial assessment. Exploiting quasi-random class assignments and controlling for other non-cognitive peer characteristics, we find that having competitive peers as classmates makes students choose and secure positions in higher-paying occupations. These occupations are also more challenging and-among male students-more popular. On the cost side, competitive peers do not lead to a lower probability of graduating from the subsequent job-specific education, but they significantly increase the probability of requiring extra time to do so. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, competitiveness, occupational choice |
| JEL: | C93 D91 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26058 |
| By: | Gehrke, Esther (Wageningen University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how shocks to migration opportunities affect schooling outcomes in origin communities. We focus on the migration between Mexico and the United States, and exploit the expansion of the Secure Communities program in the US - a federal data-sharing program that substantially increased the risk of deportation for illegal migrants - as exogenous shock to the attractiveness of illegal migration. Our results suggest that the Secure Communities program increased attendance, enrollment, and educational attainment in municipalities that had stronger migration network links with counties in the US that adopted the program early-on relative to municipalities that had ties with US counties that introduced the policy somewhat later. These results are consistent with the interpretation that the Secure Communities program raised the returns to education for prospective migrants by making low-skill migration to the US less attractive. |
| Keywords: | migration, human capital, Mexico |
| JEL: | I26 J22 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18570 |
| By: | Andrea Ichino; Aldo Rustichini; Giulio Zanella |
| Abstract: | University access has significantly expanded in OECD countries, and further growth figures prominently in political agendas. We study possible consequences of historical and future expansions in a stochastic, general equilibrium Roy model where tertiary educational attainment is determined by cognitive ability and socioeconomic disadvantage. In our analysis, individual productivity depends not only on education but also directly on cognitive ability. The expansion of university access in the UK that started in the 1960s provides an ideal case study to draw lessons for the future. We find that this expansion led to the selection into college of progressively less talented students from advantaged backgrounds. Appropriate counterfactual policies existed that would have achieved the dual goal of increasing college graduates' cognitive ability while improving tertiary education opportunities for the disadvantaged. |
| Keywords: | college education, university, cognitive ability, disadvantage |
| JEL: | I23 I28 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2575 |
| By: | Henrik Jacobsen 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 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12614 |
| By: | Mika Akesaka; Hitoshi Shigeoka |
| Abstract: | This study demonstrates that heat disproportionately impairs human capital accumulation among low-performing students compared with their high-performing peers, using nationwide examination data from 22 million students in Japan. Given the strong correlation between academic performance and socioeconomic background, this suggests that heat exposure exacerbates pre-existing socioeconomic disparities among children. However, access to air conditioning in schools significantly mitigates these adverse effects across all achievement levels, with particularly pronounced benefits for lower-performing students. These findings suggest that public investment in school infrastructure can help reduce the unevenly distributed damage caused by heat to student learning, thereby promoting both efficiency and equity. |
| Keywords: | Heat, Distributional impact, Student achievement, Adaptation, Air conditioning, Children, Climate change |
| JEL: | I21 I24 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25145 |
| By: | Anne Brenøe; Daphne Rutnam |
| Abstract: | We study how adolescents' second-order beliefs about their parents' occupational preferences shape gendered career aspirations. In a consequential early-career choice setting, we combine a parental choice experiment with a randomized salience intervention among students. Parents give gendered recommendations, but students substantially overestimate fathers' preference for boys to choose male-dominated occupations as well as mothers' preference for girls to choose female-dominated occupations. Making the same-gender parent salient raises aspirations for gender-congruent occupations, while highlighting the opposite-gender parent and both parents has no effect. Salience does not shift perceived occupational fit, suggesting that identity-based second-order beliefs can reinforce occupational gender segregation. |
| Keywords: | gender norms; second-order beliefs; occupational aspirations; parental beliefs; identity and career choice; early-career choices; choice experiment; field experiment |
| JEL: | J16 J24 I21 C93 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26057 |
| By: | Näslund-Hadley, Emma; Hernández Agramonte, Juan Manuel; Santos Morales, Humberto; Galindo Vivanco, Marcelino |
| Abstract: | This article presents an evaluation of Mate Raymi, an educational program designed to strengthen mathematical and ethnomathematical skills among preschool children in Peru. Implemented through audio lessons and complemented with contextualized materials, teacher training, and pedagogical support, the program was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial in 350 rural intercultural bilingual education (IBE) schools. Results show that both versions of the programbilingual and intercultural bilingualhad positive effects on ethnomathematical skills and on students appreciation of Quechua culture, although only the bilingual version significantly improved conventional mathematical skills (0.24 standard deviations). The intercultural bilingual version produced a stronger effect on ethnomathematical skills (0.59 standard deviations), but its emphasis on content linked to the Quechua worldview and the abstraction of certain concepts may have limited its impact on conventional mathematics. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that program effects were stronger among students who spoke only Quechua or were bilingual, suggesting that proficiency in an indigenous language enhances the effectiveness of interventions aimed at developing ethnomathematical skills and cultural appreciation. For teachers, the program improved perceptions of the work environment, increased the use of bilingual and culturally relevant materials, and strengthened knowledge of Quechua culture under the intercultural bilingual version. Overall, findings indicate that Mate Raymi provides a viable alternative to address the challenges of IBE in Latin America by combining a culturally adapted bilingual curriculum with active learning strategies. Accordingly, the program is currently being scaled up in the departments where it was first implemented. The study contributes evidence on the potential of early childhood programs to strengthen both mathematical learning and cultural identity in Indigenous contexts |
| JEL: | C93 I24 I25 J15 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14562 |
| By: | Rigissa Megalokonomou; Sofoklis Goulas; Tommaso Sartori |
| Abstract: | Teachers play a central role in shaping how students benefit from peers, yet little is known about how classroom composition affects their attention-allocation decisions. We conduct a large-scale randomized experiment using realistic classroom vignettes to assess how teachers engage with students under varying scenarios and objectives. The presence of a high achiever reduces the likelihood that teachers engage with a low achiever by about 8%, with substantially larger effects when teachers prioritize task success, consistent with convenience-based decision-making. Using administrative data, we show that low achievers perform worse when quasi-randomly assigned to a classroom with an exceptional student. |
| Keywords: | teacher behavior, attention allocation, randomized controlled trial, educational inequality, peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 I28 C93 D91 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25144 |
| By: | Sarah Cattan; Antonio Dalla-Zuanna; Jan Stuhler; Po Yin Wong |
| Abstract: | Standard intergenerational measures have been shown to understate the long-run persistence of socioeconomic advantages in developed countries. We study theoretically and empirically whether this pattern extends to less developed settings, using Indonesia as a case study. Using the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and Census data, we study multigenerational correlations in education across three generations. Contrary to previous findings, we observe greater multigenerational mobility than parent-child correlations alone would suggest. We develop a theoretical framework to highlight two key factors influencing multigenerational dynamics in developing countries: (1) financial and credit constraints, and (2) cultural norms related to marital sorting. To confirm their relevance, we exploit regional variations in exposure to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and in marital customs. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, multigenerational persistence, education and financial constraints, Indonesia |
| JEL: | D1 I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12611 |
| By: | Guillermo Cruces; Diego Fernández Meijide; Sebastian Galiani; Ramiro H. Gálvez; María Lombardi |
| Abstract: | Does generative artificial intelligence (AI) reinforce or reduce productivity differences across workers? Existing evidence largely studies AI within firms and occupations, where organizationalselectioncompresseseducationalheterogeneity, leavingunclearwhetherAI narrows productivity gaps across individuals with substantially different levels of formal education. Weaddressthisquestionusingarandomizedonlineexperimentconductedoutside firms, in which1, 174 adults aged 25–45 with heterogeneous educational backgrounds complete an incentivized, workplace-style business problem-solving task. The task is a general (not domain-specific) exercise, and participants perform it either with or without access to a generative-AI assistant. Unlike prior work that studies heterogeneity within relatively homogeneous worker samples, our designtargets the between–education-group productivity gap as the primary estimand. We find that AI increases productivity for all participants, with substantially larger gains for lower-education individuals. In the absence of AIaccess, higher-education participants outperform lower-education participants by0.548standarddeviations; withAIaccess, thisgapfallsto0.139standarddeviations, implying that generative AI closes three-quarters of the initial productivity gap. We interpret this pattern as evidence that generative AI narrows effective productivity differences in task execution by relaxing constraints that are more binding for lower-education individuals, even though underlying skill differences remain, as reflected in persistent education gaps in task performance and in a follow-up exercise without AI assistance. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, artificial intelligence, education, human capital, inequality |
| JEL: | J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udt:wpgobi:wp_gob_2026_03 |