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on Education |
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Issue of 2009‒08‒30
fourteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Bernardo Lara; Alejandra Mizala; Andrea Repetto |
| Abstract: | In this paper we re-analyze the effect of private voucher education on student academic performance in Chile using new data and a novel identification strategy. Most schools in Chile provide either primary or secondary education. We analyze the effect of private voucher education on students that are forced to enroll at a different school to attend secondary education once graduated from primary schooling. Moreover, contrary to the previous literature on Chile’s universal voucher system, the data set used in this paper contains information on previous academic achievement and thus allows us to control for it. Using a number of propensity score based econometric techniques and changes-in-changes estimation methods we find that private voucher education leads to small, sometimes not statistically significant differences in academic performance. The estimated effect of private voucher education amounts to about 4 to 6 percent of one standard deviation in test scores. The literature on Chile based on cross sectional data had previously found positive effects of about 15 to 20 percent of one standard deviation. JEL Classifications: I200, I210. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:263&r=edu |
| By: | De Paola, Maria; Scoppa, Vincenzo |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the effects of class size on the achievements of a sample of college students enrolled at a middle-sized Italian public university. To estimate the effects of class size we exploit the exogenous variations in class size determined by a maximum class size rule introduced by the 2001 Italian university reform. From our analysis it emerges that large teaching classes produce negative effects on student performance measured both in terms of the grades obtained in exams and the probability of passing exams. These results are robust to the use of a matching estimator. |
| Keywords: | Class size; student achievement; educational production function |
| JEL: | C23 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16945&r=edu |
| By: | Naomi Hossain |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the efforts of government to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty. It focuses on the practices and effects of the Primary Education Stipend Programme, a conditional cash transfer designed to attract the rural poor into school. It documents how the objects of policy – rural poor children and parents - are ‘seen’ by the state, and the sightings of the state they in turn receive. It also analyses the tools and technologies of the intervention, focusing on its targeting practices. |
| Keywords: | poverty, school, Bangladesh, rural, poor children, education, education stipend, stipend, cash transfer, cash, parents, state, tools, technologies, primay education, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2177&r=edu |
| By: | Lori Dorfman |
| Abstract: | The book offers advocates arguments to make, and value statements to support those arguments, for a variety of early care and education policy goals. It is believed that young children, their families, and the community at large will benefit if all early childhood education advocates get better at making their case. This book is filled with substantive things to say about various early childhood education policies, expressed in ways designed to evoke the values that illustrate interconnections in our society. This |
| Keywords: | book, child, childhood, community, education, society, young children, children, young, early care, education plolicy, teachers, parents |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2190&r=edu |
| By: | Shawn Kantor; Alexander Whalley |
| Abstract: | In this paper we quantify the extent and magnitude of agglomeration spillovers from a formal institution whose sole mission is the creation and dissemination of knowledge -- the research university. We use the fact that universities follow a fixed endowment spending policy based on the market value of their endowments to identify the causal effect of the density of university activity on labor income in the non-education sector in large urban counties. Our instrument for university expenditures is based on the interaction between each university's initial endowment level at the start of the study period and the variation in stock market shocks over the course of the study period. We find modest but statistically significant spillover effects of university activity. The estimates indicate that a 10% increase in higher education spending increases local non-education sector labor income by about 0.5%. As the implied elasticity is no larger than what previous work finds for agglomeration spillovers arising from local economic activity in general, university activity does not appear to make a place any more productive than other forms of economic activity. We do find, however, that the magnitude of the spillover is significantly larger for firms that are technologically closer to universities in terms of citing patents generated by universities in their own patents and sharing a labor market with higher education. |
| JEL: | I2 O3 R1 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15299&r=edu |
| By: | García Suaza, Andrés Felipe; Guataqui, Juan Carlos; Guerra, José Alberto; Maldonado, Darío |
| Abstract: | In order to present an estimation of the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) to higher education in Colombia we take advantage of the methodological approach provided by Heckman, Lochner and Todd (2005). Trying to overcome the criticism that surrounds interpretations of the education coefficient of Mincer equations as being the rate of return to investments in education we develop a more structured approach of estimation, which controls for selection bias, includes more accurate measures of labor income and the role of education costs and income taxes. Our results implied a lower rate of return than the ones found in the Colombian literature and show that the Internal Rate of Return for higher education in Colombia lies somewhere between 0.074 and 0.128. The results vary according to the year analyzed and individual’s gender. This last result reinforces considerations regarding gender discrimination in the Colombian labor market. |
| Date: | 2009–08–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:005745&r=edu |
| By: | Andersson, Christian (Swedish National Audit Office); Johansson, Per (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | To study effects of out-of-school learning we use data on boarding home pupils who attended elementary public schools in the 1940’s. The out-of-school environment at the boarding homes could be considered being more learner friendly than the home environment on average: the pupils at the boarding homes had daily scheduled time for doing their homework under assistance of a junior school teacher and, in addition, they had access to a small library. The placement at boarding homes was based on the distance to the nearest school and had, thus, no direct connection to pupils’ skills which simplifies the empirical analysis based on register data. We find that the more learning friendly environment equalize skills at school leaving age. The effect is larger for kids with low initial ability. |
| Keywords: | Pedagogic personal; homework; early interventions |
| JEL: | I20 N34 |
| Date: | 2009–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_017&r=edu |
| By: | Sandewall, Örjan (London School of Economics); Cesarini, David (Department of Economics); Johannesson, Magnus (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Twins-based estimates of the return to schooling feature prominently in the labor economics literature. The validity of such estimates hinges critically on the assumption that within-pair variation in schooling is explained by factors which are unrelated to wage earning ability. This paper develops a framework for testing this assumption, and finds, using a unique dataset of monozygotic twins, strong evidence against it. Di¤erences in adolescent IQ test scores predict within-pair variation in educational attainment, and including IQ in the wage equation causes within-pair point estimates for the returns to schooling to decline significantly. Our results thus cast doubt on the validity of estimates derived from the co-twin literature. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Schooling; Twins; Equal Ability Assumption |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0806&r=edu |
| By: | Kenn Ariga (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University); Masako Kurosawa (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies); Fumio Ohtake (Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University); Masaru Sasaki (Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | We use a survey of the Japanese youth within 10 year after high school graduation to investiage the impacts of the academic and social skills on their success in the job market. We find three major factors account for the job market outcome immediately after school: school characteristics and job placement services, academic performance, and social skills, including the negative impacts of problematic behaviors at the school. Second, when we run a Probit regression on whether or not the surveyed individuals hold regular, full time job, we find the persistent but declining (over age) im- pact of the job placement immediately after school. Moreover, we find the impact of variables pertaining to the sociall skills remain significant even after controling for the job placement outcome after school, whereas other variables such as GPA or attributes of highschools are largely irrelevant to the current employment status. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:678&r=edu |
| By: | Researchcentrum voor Onderwijs en Arbeidsmarkt (ROA rp) |
| Abstract: | In deze Statistische Bijlage bij het rapport Schoolverlaters tussen onderwijs en arbeidsmarkt 2008 wordteen overzicht gegeven van de belangrijkste resultaten van de schoolverlatersonderzoeken die doorhet Researchcentrum voor Onderwijs en Arbeidsmarkt (ROA) in het najaar van 2008 zijngehouden onder schoolverlaters en afgestudeerden van het school- of studiejaar 2006/2007. Degegevens bestrijken de volle breedte van het Nederlandse onderwijssysteem en hebben betrekkingop de situatie van schoolverlaters en afgestudeerden ongeveer anderhalf jaar na het voltooien van deopleiding. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umarep:2009006&r=edu |
| By: | Broström, Anders (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); McKelvey, Maureen (RIDE and Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how the institutional set-up of public research organisations (PROs) affects how firms are able to utilise direct interaction with publicly employed researchers. We argue that the role that PRO interaction has to play in the firm’s innovation processes depend on the organisational and cognitive distances between the firm and the PRO. In particular, this paper empirically explores how Swedish engineering firms assess the value of R&D partnerships with universities and research institutes. Our theoretical discussion of organizational distance suggests that managers should perceive institute contacts to be more strongly associated with short-term R&D projects than university contacts. This hypothesis cannot be verified. Following from our discussion of cognitive distance, we find that firms with advanced R&D capabilities obtain differential benefits. Their interaction with universities provides impulses for innovation and offers opportunities to learn to a greater extent than contacts with public research institutes. However, firms with less advanced R&D capabilities perceive no significant differences between university and institute interaction. Thus, both organizational and cognitive distance affect firms’ interactions with PROs, and our results have implications for the current push in Europe to reform universities and institutes. |
| Keywords: | public research organisations; organisation of public research; universities; institutes; R&D interaction |
| JEL: | M21 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2009–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0188&r=edu |
| By: | Margit Osterloh; Bruno S. Frey |
| Abstract: | Peer reviews and rankings today are the backbone of research governance, but recently came under scrutiny. They take explicitly or implicitly agency theory as a theoretical basis. The emerging psychological economics opens a new perspective. As scholarly research is a mainly curiosity driven endeavor, we include intrinsic motivation and supportive feedback by the peers as important determinants of scholarly behavior. We discuss whether a stronger emphasis on selection and socialization offers an alternative to the present regime of academic rankings. |
| Keywords: | peer reviews; rankings; research governance; agency theory; psychological economics; new public management; economics of science; control theory |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2009-17&r=edu |
| By: | Researchcentrum voor Onderwijs en Arbeidsmarkt (ROA rp) |
| Abstract: | Wat is de kwaliteit van de gediplomeerde schoolverlaters en wat gaan ze na hun opleiding doen?Hoe is de aansluiting met het vervolgonderwijs? Als ze naar de arbeidsmarkt gaan, hoe snelkrijgen ze dan werk? En sluit dat werk dan ook aan op de gevolgde opleiding? Hoe tevreden zijnwerkende schoolverlaters met hun functie en hoe schatten zij hun carrièreperspectieven in?Sinds 1991 voert het Researchcentrum voor Onderwijs en Arbeidsmarkt (ROA) van deUniversiteit Maastricht in samenwerking met DESAN Research Solutions enkele grootschaligeonderzoeken uit onder recente schoolverlaters en pas afgestudeerden waarmee op ditsoort vragen een antwoord kan worden gegeven. Het voorliggende rapport Schoolverlaterstussen onderwijs en arbeidsmarkt 2008 gaat in op de kwaliteit en de bestemming van gediplomeerdeschoolverlaters en afgestudeerden van het school- of studiejaar 2006/2007. Deresultaten die worden gepresenteerd zijn gebaseerd op het onderzoek dat eind 2008 over devolle breedte van het Nederlandse onderwijsstelsel is uitgevoerd en hebben betrekking opde situatie van schoolverlaters en afgestudeerden ongeveer anderhalf jaar na het voltooienvan de opleiding. In totaal zijn circa 117.250 schoolverlaters en afgestudeerden benaderd.De totale respons bedroeg 32%. De verzamelde gegevens vormen samen het door het ROAontwikkelde SchoolverlatersinformatieSysteem (SIS). Dit informatiesysteem is gebaseerd opeen viertal grootschalige enquêtes die volgens een geïntegreerd model worden uitgevoerd. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umarep:2009005&r=edu |
| By: | Peter Bearse, Buly A. Cardak, Gerhard Glomm, B. Ravikumar (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, La Trobe University,Indiana Univeristy, University of Iowa) |
| Abstract: | We examine quantitatively why uniform vouchers have repeatedly su¤ered electoral defeats against the current system where public and private schools coexist. We argue that the topping-up option available under uniform vouchers is not sufficiently valuable for the poorer households to prefer the uniform vouchers to the current mix of public and private education. We then develop a model of publicly funded means-tested edu- cation vouchers where the voucher received by each household is a linearly decreasing function of income. Public policy, which is determined by majority voting, consists of two dimensions: the overall funding level (or the tax rate) and the slope of the means testing function. We solve the model when the political decisions are sequential ?households vote ?rst on the tax rate and then on the extent of means testing. We establish that a majority voting equilibrium exists. We show that the means-tested voucher regime is majority preferred to the status-quo. These results are robust to alternative preference parameters, income distribution parameters and voter turnout. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inu:caeprp:2009-014&r=edu |