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on Education |
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Issue of 2026–03–09
twenty-six papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Laverde, Mariana (Boston College); Mykerezi, Elton (University of Minnesota); Sojourner, Aaron (Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Sood, Aradhya (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relative importance of teacher-student match effects and general teacher effectiveness in producing student learning, and quantifies gains from alternative teacher assignments. We estimate a framework that separates these components, allowing match quality to vary with observable student characteristics and unobservable teacher-school factors. Using more than a decade of administrative data from a large urban district, we address endogenous sorting with quasi-random assignment variation induced by differences in driving time between teachers and schools. Match effects are similar in magnitude to general effectiveness. Teacher-acceptable reassignments can raise average test scores by about 0.13 standard deviations. |
| Keywords: | teacher effectiveness, teacher–student match effects, assignment and sorting, education production, labor markets in education |
| JEL: | I21 J45 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18397 |
| By: | Cabrera-Hernández, Francisco (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas); Dustan, Andrew (William and Mary); Osuna-Gomez, Daniel (Banco de México); Padilla-Romo, María (University of Tennessee) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the long-run effects of marginal admission to elite public high schools on students' labor supply in the context of Mexico City's centralized high school admission system. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we compare students whose placement exam scores are just above and just below the elite admission threshold. We find that five and ten years after the admission exam, marginally admitted students are less likely to be employed in the formal private sector, and, if employed, they earn lower wages. However, these employment and wage gaps close after 15 years. Moreover, we find that marginal admission to elite high schools leads to delayed entry into the formal labor market, and, at least in the short run, students in elite high schools seem to sort into lower-productivity firms and industries. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, human capital, education in developing countries, formal employment |
| JEL: | I25 I26 J24 O17 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18369 |
| By: | Cattaneo, Maria (Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education); Wolter, Stefan (University of Bern); Zöllner, Thea (University of Bern) |
| 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: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18393 |
| By: | Patrinos, Harry (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville); Rivera-Olvera, Angelica (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the returns to education in Arkansas — one of the last states to extend compulsory schooling — using ACS 2023 data and the 1987 Compulsory Schooling Law (CSL) reform as an instrument. OLS estimates imply returns of 9.5–10.4 percent per year of schooling. The CSL reform increased schooling among compliers by 0.67–0.73 years and yields IV returns of 10.4–11.7 percent, exceeding OLS estimates. The results indicate that those compelled to remain in school benefited most, consistent with global evidence on higher causal returns for disadvantaged students. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, human capital, wage differentials, earnings function, Arkansas, instrumental variables, compulsory schooling |
| JEL: | I26 J24 C26 J31 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18364 |
| By: | Cavallo, Mariagrazia (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research); Dhuey, Elizabeth (University of Toronto); Fumarco, Luca (Masaryk University, GLO, IZA, J-PAL.); Halewyck, Levi (Maastricht University); ter Meulen, Simon (ifo Institute, University of Munich, CESifo) |
| Abstract: | This article reviews the growing literature on age at school entry and its effects over the life course. Age at school entry affects a broad range of outcomes, including education, labor-market performance, health, social relationships, and family formation. We synthesize the evidence using a conceptual framework that distinguishes four empirically intertwined components of age at school entry: starting age, age at outcome, relative age, and time in school. Within this framework, we highlight six key channels through which age at school entry operates. While the effects of age at school entry are often substantial and persistent, many studies estimate bundled impacts without isolating specific components or directly measuring underlying mechanisms. We explain how different research designs capture distinct combinations of these components. We also highlight how institutional heterogeneity and behavioral responses can complicate the interpretation of results. We conclude by outlining directions for future research and policy design. |
| Keywords: | age at school entry, starting age, age at outcome, relative age, time in school, institutional mechanisms, quasi-experimental methods |
| JEL: | I12 I21 I24 I31 J12 J13 J24 K42 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18373 |
| By: | Derek Rury (Oregon State University); Ariel Kalil (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | Parents invest in children’s human capital based on signals of academic performance, but we do not know how they weigh each when having perfect information or when they contain conflicting signals. Using 23, 321 investment decisions from a survey experiment with 2, 079 U.S. parents, we provide the first evidence on how parents trade off grades against standardized test scores. Both signals affect investment: parents adopt compensatory strategies, investing more when either signal indicates poor performance. Parents also put a higher weight on grades than tests, on average. However, we document asymmetric crowd-out: when grades are high but test scores are low, parents do not invest—high grades crowd out the response that low test scores would otherwise trigger. When grades are low but test scores are high, parents invest. This asymmetry implies that grade inflation imposes costs beyond direct signal distortion by preventing remedial investment in struggling students. Hispanic parents exhibit particularly pronounced grade-weighting. Our findings suggest that information interventions providing test scores will have attenuated effects when parents already possess inflated grade information. |
| Keywords: | Beliefs, Preferences, Investments |
| JEL: | I21 J16 D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfi:wpaper:2026-20 |
| By: | Jo Blanden; Oliver Cassagneau-Francis; Lindsey Macmillan; Gill Wyness |
| Abstract: | Bolder applications mean that private school pupils end up at better universities than their exam results predict |
| Keywords: | Social mobility, Wages, Schools, Higher Education |
| Date: | 2026–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:724 |
| By: | Valentina Tocchioni (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' degli Studi di Firenze); Maria Fancesca Morabito (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' degli Studi di Firenze); Alessandra Petrucci (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' degli Studi di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | Ongoing technological change has led to a steadily growing demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates worldwide. Not only do STEM disciplines have a low attractiveness in some contexts, such as in the U.S. and Italy; it is also a matter of persistence in pursuing STEM studies, affected by high rates of course switches in several countries. Using administrative microdata from the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research and selecting students enrolled in a STEM discipline between 2010 and 2014, our aim is to explore how the student’s gender, the field of study, and the gender composition of the course can help identify at-risk students likely to switch away from STEM fields, often delaying and/or compromising their academic journeys. Overall, the findings show that the propensity to abandon STEM programmes is very high, especially among students enrolled in Soft STEM fields. We find that (female and male) students in female-dominated programmes tend to have a lower probability of switching to enroll in another STEM course compared to those in male-dominated programmes. These findings emphasise that institutional contexts and course-level gender composition matter for STEM persistence, calling for university-level strategies aimed at fostering more inclusive and supportive learning environments. |
| Keywords: | university students, STEM, gender, course switch, Italy |
| JEL: | I24 I23 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2026_03 |
| By: | Henrik Kleven; Camille Landais; Anne Sophie S. 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 33pp 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. |
| JEL: | J13 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34862 |
| By: | Agarwal, Ruchir (Harvard Kennedy School); Gaule, Patrick (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Exceptional talent accounts for a disproportionate share of innovation, yet many individuals with exceptional ability may never realize their potential. Whether expanding access to advanced training generates learning gains remains an open question. We study this using a randomized controlled trial with 620 highly gifted students from 44 countries, nominated by national Olympiad organizations. Participants were randomly assigned either to an 18-week advanced combinatorics course by Art of Problem Solving or to independent study using equivalent materials. Assignment to the course increased final-exam performance by 0.16 standard deviations. Engagement varied widely: roughly half of assigned students participated minimally, and baseline characteristics explain little of this variation (R² ≈ 0.10). Using random assignment as an instrument for engagement, we estimate learning gains of 0.66 standard deviations among fully engaged students. Among those who later competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad, students assigned to the course performed better on combinatorics problems. Overall, access to advanced training yields large gains when engagement is sustained, but access alone does not reliably induce engagement. |
| Keywords: | exceptional talent, gifted education, randomized controlled trial, student engagement, human capital, mathematics education, olympiad training |
| JEL: | I21 J24 O31 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18381 |
| By: | Lukas Pohn; Günther G. Schulze |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of access to clean water sources on educational outcomes in Indonesia. Using the longitudinal Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) panel dataset, which follows the same individuals from 1993 to 2014, and applying household fixed effects allows us to identify the causal effect of access to clean water at different childhood stages on children’s educational performance. We find that lifetime and early childhood access increases strongly the likelihood of completing junior and senior secondary school; later-gained access has no discernible effect on school performance. Our results underscore the need to provide access to clean water very early on. |
| Keywords: | access to tap water, access to improved water, educational outcomes, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I25 O15 Q53 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12475 |
| By: | Marcela Mello; Jo\~ao Garcia |
| Abstract: | A growing literature documents how religious institutions shape behavior through social influence, but less is known about what happens when religious movements gain political power and use the tools of government to advance their agenda. We use a regression discontinuity design on close mayoral elections in Brazil to show that mayors from parties institutionally tied to Pentecostal denominations increase teenage fertility 3 per 1, 000 higher (a 40% increase). This effect appears for cohorts exposed to middle school during the administration. Consistent with a school-based mechanism, we find that the likelihood that municipal schools offer sexual education programs falls by 12.5 percentage points, with no changes in state schools outside mayoral control. We also find elevated STD rates, and higher middle school dropout rates, while slightly older cohorts show no effects. Results are not explained by changes in contraceptive availability in public clinics, pointing to sexual education as the primary mechanism. We also find no effects from other right-wing parties, indicating the importance of institutional links to Pentecostal parties. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.19388 |
| By: | Amar Nath H K (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Rahangdale, Nikhil (IIFT) |
| Abstract: | India’s school dropout problem is increasingly concentrated at the secondary stage. While participation at the elementary level is near universal, retention declines sharply after Grade 8, with fewer than two-thirds of students continuing to Grade 10 and less than half completing secondary education. Age-specific estimates show that over one-fifth of adolescents aged 14–17 are out of school, with exclusion concentrated in a small number of high-population states and disproportionately affecting girls and first-generation learners. This paper examines the role of India’s open schooling system—centred on the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and State Open Schools (SOS)—in addressing secondary-stage exclusion. Using UDISE+ data, age-cohort out-of-school estimates, audited financial accounts of NIOS, and state-level institutional evidence, the paper finds a mismatch between the role envisaged for open schooling under the National Education Policy 2020 and its current institutional and financing arrangements. NIOS operates largely through fee-based financing, limiting accessibility for economically vulnerable learners, while State Open Schools show uneven capacity due to weak integration with state education planning. The paper argues that open schooling should be treated as core public infrastructure for secondary education rather than a residual pathway. It concludes that public financing, stronger scheme convergence, and decentralised state-led delivery are necessary to strengthen secondary completion and support inclusive labour market outcomes. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:npf:wpaper:26/443 |
| By: | Aoki-Beattie, Yu (University of Aberdeen & IZA); Arulampalam, Wiji (University of Warwick, CAGE & IZA); Lloyd, Neil (University of St Andrews); Mathew, Sushil (Imperial College London) |
| Abstract: | We examine the causal effect of exposure to fast-food outlets on adolescent z-BMI using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. We develop a novel approach to modelling persistence in adolescent BMI by clustering early childhood BMI trajectories, capturing biologically and behaviourally persistent obesity risk profiles. Including these profiles in the model allows us to separate baseline susceptibility from contemporaneous environmental effects. For identification, we exploit the near-universal transition from primary to secondary school in Great Britain, which creates plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to fast-food outlets around schools. Using this variation, we find that adolescents with at least one major-brand outlet within 400 metres of their school have, on average, a 0.158 standard-deviation higher z-BMI. Effects decline at larger distances, are limited around the home, and do not extend to other food outlets. JEL codes: I12 ; I18 ; L83 |
| Keywords: | Adolescent obesity ; Body mass index ; Fast food ; School food environment |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1601 |
| By: | Christa Deneault; Evan Riehl; Jian Zou |
| Abstract: | We use Texas administrative data to assess the long-standing claim that teacher certification exams discriminate against underrepresented minority (URM) candidates. In a regression discontinuity design, we find that failing a certification exam delays entry into teaching and costs the average candidate $10, 000 in forgone earnings. These costs fall disproportionately on URM candidates both because they are more likely to fail and because their earnings losses from failing are 50 percent larger on average. To examine whether these disparities are justified by racial/ethnic differences in teaching quality, we develop a new measure of disparate impact and estimate it using a policy change that increased the difficulty of Texas' elementary certification exam. The harder exam reduced the URM share of new teachers but had no significant benefits for teaching quality or student achievement. Taken together, our findings show that certification exams have a disparate impact in the sense that they impose much larger economic costs on URM teaching candidates than on white candidates with similar potential teaching quality. |
| JEL: | I24 J44 J71 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34860 |
| By: | Aoki-Beattie, Yu (University of Aberdeen & IZA); Arulampalam, Wiji (University of Warwick, CAGE & IZA); Lloyd, Neil (University of St Andrews); Mathew, Sushil (Imperial College London) |
| Abstract: | We examine the causal effect of exposure to fast-food outlets on adolescent z-BMI using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. We develop a novel approach to modelling persistence in adolescent BMI by clustering early childhood BMI trajectories, capturing biologically and behaviourally persistent obesity risk profiles. Including these profiles in the model allows us to separate baseline susceptibility from contemporaneous environmental effects. For identification, we exploit the near-universal transition from primary to secondary school in Great Britain, which creates plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to fast-food outlets around schools. Using this variation, we find that adolescents with at least one major-brand outlet within 400 metres of their school have, on average, a 0.158 standard-deviation higher z-BMI. Effects decline at larger distances, are limited around the home, and do not extend to other food outlets. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent obesity, Body mass index, Fast food, School food environment JEL Classification: I12, I18, L83 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:791 |
| By: | Persson, Rebecka (Center for Education and Leadership Excellence) |
| Abstract: | This working paper evaluates the measurement properties of teacher collaboration items from a survey distributed by LegiLexi to Swedish primary school teachers (N = 2, 124). Nine items capturing the frequency and quality of professional interactions with teacher teams, school leaders, and broader school climate were examined using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency estimates, and intraclass correlations. A two-factor confirmatory model distinguishing horizontal collaboration (teacher team) from vertical collaboration (principal/school leaders), with correlated uniquenesses for parallel item content, provided excellent fit to the data (χ²(5) = 7.37, p = .195, CFI = .999, RMSEA = .016). The two factors were moderately correlated (r = .36), confirming empirically distinct dimensions. Preliminary school-level correlations with student literacy outcomes from LegiLexi reading assessments were explored. The results establish a measurement foundation for future research on teacher collaboration and student reading outcomes in Swedish primary schools. |
| Keywords: | teacher collaboration; measurement validation; confirmatory factor analysis; primary school; LegiLexi; Swedish School Inspectorate |
| Date: | 2026–02–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastel:2025_003 |
| By: | Beatrix Eugster; Kelli Marquardt; Aurélien Sallin |
| Abstract: | Female students are less likely to be identified as intellectually gifted than male students when the identification process follows a two-stage procedure. We posit and quantify two mechanisms that explain this gender gap. First, at any level of IQ, but especially at high levels of IQ, male students are more likely nominated for assessment due to higher salience of externalizing behaviors. This difference accounts for roughly 70% of the gender gap in giftedness identification. Second, the remainder of the gap is explained by the use of lower referral thresholds for male students, all else equal. We discuss policy implications. |
| Keywords: | gifted education, two-stage diagnosis, gender gap |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12382 |
| By: | Sauermann, Jan (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), Copenhagen Business School; Institute of Labor Economics (IZA); ROA, Maastricht University; UCLS, Uppsala University.) |
| Abstract: | Do reciprocal workers have higher returns to employer-sponsored training? Using a field experiment with random assignment to training combined with survey information on workers’ reciprocal inclinations, the results show that reciprocal workers reciprocate employers’ training investments by higher post-training performance. This result, which is robust to controlling for observed personality traits and worker fixed effects, suggests that individuals reciprocate the firm’s human capital investment with higher effort, in line with theoretical models on gift exchange in the workplace. This finding provides an alternative rationale to explain firm training investments even with risk of poaching. |
| Keywords: | on-the-job training; reciprocity; worker performance; field experiment |
| JEL: | D03 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2026–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2026_003 |
| By: | Clark, Gregory; Nielsen, Christian Alexander Abildgaard |
| Abstract: | There have been many studies estimating the causal effect of an additional year of education on earnings. The majority employ administrative changes in the minimum school-leaving age as the mechanism allowing identification. Here, we survey 79 such estimates. However, remarkably, while the majority of these studies find substantial gains from education, a number of well-grounded studies find no effect. The average return from these studies still implies substantial average gains from an extra year of education: an average of 8.2%. But the pattern of reported returns shows clear evidence of publication biases: omission of studies where the return was not statistically significantly above 0, and where the estimated return was negative. Correcting for these omitted studies, the implied average causal returns to an extra year of schooling will be only in the range 0%–3%. |
| Keywords: | human capital; publication bias; returns to education |
| JEL: | I20 J24 N30 |
| Date: | 2026–02–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137309 |
| By: | Janine Boshoff; Stephen Machin; Matteo Sandi |
| Abstract: | Reducing crime starts with both school attendance and conflict resolution |
| Keywords: | Crime, Schools |
| Date: | 2026–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:726 |
| By: | David Puelz |
| Abstract: | Whether and how race is used in selective admissions remains a central question in higher education and civil rights law. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), the Supreme Court held that race-based affirmative action in college admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause, purportedly ending the practice. This report examines admissions at a public medical school in the pre-SFFA period. Using applicant-level data on over 11, 000 applications to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Medical School for the 2021 and 2022 cycles, I relate admission decisions to academic merit (MCAT, GPA, science GPA), race, gender, and situational judgment (Casper) scores. Summary statistics, academic-index decompositions, and logistic regression models provide strong evidence of racial preferences: African American and Hispanic applicants are preferred relative to academically similar White and Asian applicants. Counterfactual and preference-removal analyses quantify the magnitude of these disparities. The findings document the kind of race-based preferences that SFFA was meant to address and establish a baseline for assessing whether admissions practice changed after the decision. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.18484 |
| By: | Bocchino, Andrea (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Povea, Erika (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how organized crime presence transforms local communities and human capital formation. Identifying these effects is challenging, as crime is endogenous to local conditions. We address this by leveraging the recent case of Ecuador, where criminal organizations from neighboring countries have rapidly established a new cocaine export route. This externally driven shock generated sharp increases in violent crime, allowing us to estimate causal effects using a difference-in-differences design based on proximity to areas prone to cocaine smuggling. Crime-affected areas experienced higher dropout rates among children at grades characterized by weak school attachment, the end of primary education and the first years of secondary school. While we do not find evidence of increased dropout among older students aged 15-18, individuals in this age group already out of education at the time of the crime surge exhibited a marked rise in risky behaviors, reflected in higher homicide victimization and earlier pregnancies. We also document severe economic disruption: household income fell by nearly 30%, driven mainly by a decline in informal employment. Declining earnings are a key mechanism linking crime exposure to school dropout. These findings show that the externalities of organized crime impose persistent social costs, deepening inequality and undermining human capital development. |
| Keywords: | education; children; human capital; organized crime; labor markets |
| JEL: | I25 J24 K42 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–02–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2026_002 |
| By: | Christian Gschwendt; Martina Viarengo; Thea S. Zoellner |
| Abstract: | The economic impact of technological change will critically depend on how future workers invest in their human capital. Yet, little is known about how future workers themselves evaluate and choose their educational and occupational paths in light of emerging technologies. This paper examines how adolescents currently at the school-to-work transition stage value working with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in their future occupations, and how automation risk and opportunities for continuing education shape these preferences. We field a discrete-choice experiment among a nationally representative sample of over 7, 000 Swiss adolescents aged around 15. We find that adolescents generally exhibit an aversion to collaborating with GenAI at work, with females consistently more averse than males. However, preferences are nuanced: adolescents welcome greater GenAI collaboration, provided that GenAI usage levels remain moderate and that it is not accompanied by increases in job-automation risk. Finally, continuing education opportunities in occupations improve attitudes towards working with GenAI across genders. Our results challenge simple narratives of technology acceptance or rejection, revealing that adolescents' willingness to work with GenAI depends on how it is implemented — its intensity, associated displacement risks, and accompanying skill development - rather than the technology itself. Our findings suggest that the way future workers value GenAI collaboration in their career choices critically depends on its intensity and on the interplay with automation risk and AI-related educational opportunities. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, gender gaps, GenAI, choice experiment, continuing education, automation risk |
| JEL: | I24 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0251 |
| By: | Edmark, Karin (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University); Persson, Lovisa (Research Institute for Industrial Research (IFN). Kristianstad University College and Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies (UCFS), Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | The Swedish preschool sector, which is heavily dominated by a female workforce, is marked by low wages and poor health outcomes. Our study shows that preschools’ organizational form is significantly associated with hiring practices, wage-setting, and worker health outcomes. For-profit preschools tend to hire younger, less qualified, and less experienced workers, and pay lower wages even after controlling for observable and unobservable worker characteristics. Non-profit providers hire fewer preschool teachers and younger workers, similarly to the for-profits, but on the other hand tend to hire workers with more experience and higher upper secondary school grades. Wages in non-profits are, on average, higher than in for-profit and municipal preschools. Worker health outcomes are better in non-profit and for-profit preschools compared to municipal preschools. Overall, the results suggest that worker composition, wages and health outcomes differ between employer types. Whether these differences matter for preschool quality is a relevant topic for future research. |
| Keywords: | preschool workforce; organizational form; private provision |
| JEL: | J31 J42 J45 L33 |
| Date: | 2026–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2026_004 |
| By: | Kateryna Tkach (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Alberto Marzucchi (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Ugo Rizzo (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Ferrara); Michela Borghesi (Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara) |
| Abstract: | We contribute to the literature on the green, digital and twin transitions by providing novel evidence on their implications for industrial dynamics. In particular, we investigate whether the local supply of skills in the green, digital and twin domains is related to firm entry and exit at the NUTS3 level in Italy. We exploit a recently created dataset on the near-universe of Italian university programme descriptions to capture the skills provided through higher education. We find that the supply of green, digital and twin skills enhances opportunities for firm entry. We rule out the possibility that this effect simply reflects the supply of high-skilled labour in general. The supply of green skills may induce higher industrial renewal, being it also correlated with higher exit rates. |
| Keywords: | skill supply; university graduates; industrial dynamics; local economic performance |
| JEL: | O33 Q55 J24 R11 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0726 |