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on Neuroeconomics |
| By: | Cattan, Sarah; Conti, Gabriella; Farquharson, Christine |
| Abstract: | Early childhood programmes frequently lose effectiveness at scale, yet the role of the workforce remains poorly understood. We document substantial heterogeneity in workforce effectiveness in England’s national home-visiting programme for first-time teenage mothers, despite a highly-structured curriculum and well-qualified staff. Exploiting quasi-random assignment of mothers to family nurses, we estimate that a one standard deviation increase in workforce effectiveness raises children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development by 0.20-0.23 SD. Structural quality — observable worker characteristics — does not predict effectiveness, but process quality — how visits are delivered — does. Greater effectiveness is linked with improvements in maternal mental health and risk behaviours. |
| JEL: | I38 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21418 |
| By: | Delaney, Judith; Devereux, Paul J. |
| Abstract: | We use population-level administrative data covering secondary school students in England to study how mathematical and verbal skills shape education and labour market outcomes. Following cohorts completing national exams at age 16 through higher education and into employment until age 34, we show that mathematics and verbal skills operate through fundamentally different pathways. Verbal skills strongly predict educational attainment — including college enrolment, graduation, and postgraduate study — while mathematics skills generate substantially larger earnings returns. At ages 30–34, moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile of the mathematics skill distribution is associated with 29% higher earnings, compared with 14% for verbal. This divergence operates partly through field-of-study choice: individuals with stronger verbal skills disproportionately select into fields with higher graduation rates but lower earnings returns, while those with stronger mathematics skills enter STEM and other high-paying majors. Gender differences in skills explain the female advantage in college attendance and part of the STEM gap but have little effect on the gender earnings gap due to offsetting effects across these pathways: women's verbal advantage facilitates educational access but also steers them toward lower-return fields. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21388 |
| By: | Simone Ferro; Elena Meschi; Caterina Pavese |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of air pollution on primary school students' cognitive performance in Italy, exploiting daily within-municipality variation in pollution across exam dates. Using INVALSI administrative data on the universe of students over ten cohorts and a specification with individual fixed effects, we find that a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM2.5 reduces test scores by 4.4% of a standard deviation. Effects are concentrated in reasoning-intensive items, with no significant effect on knowledge-based items, are stronger for lower-achieving and emotionally vulnerable students, and are substantially mitigated by school mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning systems. These results highlight the cognitive costs of short-term pollution exposure and the potential of targeted infrastructure investments to reduce environmental inequality in education. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, PM2.5, test scores, memory and reasoning |
| JEL: | J01 I1 I2 Q53 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12738 |
| By: | Goller, Daniel (University of Bern); Brox, Enzo (University of Bern); Wolter, Stefan (University of Bern) |
| 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:iza:izadps:dp18730 |
| By: | Almås, Ingvild; Drange, Nina; Meghir, Costas; Zachrisson, Henrik Daae |
| 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:cpr:ceprdp:21414 |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Adolescence is a critical developmental period characterised by rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes that are often accompanied by declines in social and emotional well-being. This paper argues for an approach to promoting adolescents’ well-being that is tailored specifically to boys and girls and presents a cross-national analysis of social and emotional outcomes among adolescent girls and boys using data from the OECD Child Well-being Data Portal. It documents key trends, gaps between boys and girls and distinct patterns of vulnerability and examines how norms and stereotypes shape different well-being outcomes for girls and boys. The paper highlights the importance of supportive environments across families, schools, neighbourhoods and digital spaces, and shows how policies can address boys’ and girls’ heightened risk for specific challenges – such as boys’ higher academic disengagement and involvement in physical fighting, and girls’ greater body image concerns and vulnerability to online harms – while strengthening protective factors for all adolescents. |
| Keywords: | adolescents, children, well-being |
| JEL: | I3 |
| Date: | 2026–07–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:wiseaa:40-en |
| By: | Frings, Nina Leonie; Fenn, Julius; Aeschbach, Samuel PhD (Max Planck Institute for Human Development); Mata, Rui (University of Basel); Hahnel, Ulf J.J. |
| Abstract: | Lacking public support remains a major barrier to ambitious climate policy, yet little is known about how citizens mentally represent specific policy proposals and whether or how these representations change over time. We assessed voters’ cognitive– affective mental models of a real-world climate policy proposal, the 2023 Swiss Climate Protection Law, at two time points preceding a national referendum on the policy. A sample of Swiss voters (N=254) drew their mental models by adding their own cognitive associations and affective evaluations towards the law one month before and immediately prior to the referendum. Opposers were more likely to make reference to financial or personal costs and to rate concepts more negatively, whereas supporters were more likely to make reference to climate and future protection concepts and to rate concepts more positively. While the cognitive associations differed across voter groups, the complexity of mental models, indicated by the number of provided concepts and their interconnectedness, did not. Both opposers and supporters reported more cost-related concepts at the second time point but there was no strong evidence of increased complexity or changes in affective evaluations over time. Crucially, affective evaluations were the strongest predictor of final policy support relative to cognitive associations. These results suggest that while political campaigns may shape the considerations citizens associate with a policy, policy support does not necessarily reflect differences in the complexity of these representations and may be more closely associated with their affective evaluation than with their cognitive content. |
| Date: | 2026–06–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:az345_v1 |