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on Education |
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Issue of 2011‒05‒30
fifteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Donze, Jocelyn; Gunnes, Trude |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds light on the role of student motivation in the success of schooling. We develop a model in which a teacher engages in the management of student motivation through the choice of the classroom environment. We show that the teacher is able to motivate high-ability students, at least in the short run, by designing a competitive environment. For students with low ability, risk aversion, or when engaged in a long-term relationship, the teacher designs a classroom environment that is more focused on mastery and self-referenced standards. In doing so, the teacher helps to develop the intrinsic motivation of students and their capacity to overcome failures. |
| Keywords: | Education; Student Achievement; Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation; Effort; Goal Theory. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2011–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31059&r=edu |
| By: | William Collier; Javier Valbuena; Yu Zhu |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset which is rich in both family background and attainment in education, we find that educational attainments at the end of the compulsory schooling stage are powerful predictors for post-compulsory educational choices in England. In particular, the single academic success indicator of achieving the Government’s gold standard in GCSE, is able to explain around 30% of the variation in the proportion of young people studying for academic qualifications. Instrumental-variables estimation which exploits variations in birth weight and school starting age suggest that over half of the least-squares effect of achieving the gold standard in GCSEs on studying for academic qualifications is due to individual heterogeneity (ability bias) or simultaneity bias (reverse causation). Nonetheless, conditional on the young person working towards a higher-level qualification, we find strong evidence of a highly significant causal effect of achieving the gold standard when choosing between the academic or vocational pathway. |
| Keywords: | Educational choice; instrumental-variable estimation Multiplier; North-South Models; Global Imbalances |
| JEL: | I21 J24 P36 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1112&r=edu |
| By: | Meghir, Costas (Yale University and University College London); Palme, Mårten (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University); Schnabel, Marieke (University College London) |
| Abstract: | The Swedish comprehensive school reform implied an extension of the number of years of compulsory school from 7 or 8 to 9 for the entire nation and was implemented as a social experiment by municipality between 1949 and 1962. A previous study (Meghir and Palme, 2005) has shown that this reform significantly increased the number of years of schooling as well as labor earnings of the children who went through the post reform school system, in particular for individuals originating from homes with low educated fathers. This study estimates the impact of the reform on criminal behavior: both within the generation directly affected by the reform as well as their children. We use census data on all born in Sweden between 1945 and 1955 and all their children merged with individual register data on all convictions between 1981 and 2008. We find that the educational reform decreased crime substantially for men who were directly affected by it. We also find that the crime rate declined for the sons of those fathers directly affected by the new educational system; we interpret this results as implying that improved education increased resource and parenting quality, leading to improved child outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Comprehensive school; economics of crime; returns to education; returns to human capital |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 K42 N34 |
| Date: | 2011–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2011_0023&r=edu |
| By: | Azam, Mehtabul (World Bank); Kingdon, Geeta (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the issue of the intra-household allocation of education expenditure with the recently available India Human Development Survey which refers to 2005 and covers both urban and rural areas. In addition to the traditional Engel method, the paper utilizes a Hurdle model to disentangle the decision to enroll (incur any educational expenditure) and the decision of how much to spend on education, conditional on enrolling. Finally the paper also uses household fixed effects to examine whether any gender bias is a within-household phenomenon. The paper finds that the traditional Engel method often fails to pick up gender bias where it exists not only because of the aggregation of data at the household-level but also because of aggregation of the two decisions in which gender can have opposite signs. It is found that pro-male gender bias exists in the primary school age group for several states but that the incidence of gender bias increases with age – it is greater in the middle school age group (10-14 years) and greater still in the secondary school age group (15-19 years). However, gender discrimination in the secondary school age group 15-19 takes place mainly through the decision to enroll boys and not girls, and not through differential expenditure on girls and boys. The results also suggest that the extent of pro-male gender bias in educational expenditure is substantially greater in rural than in urban areas. Finally, our results suggest that an important mechanism through which households spend less on girls than boys is by sending sons to fee-charging private schools and daughters to the fee-free government-funded schools. |
| Keywords: | hurdle model, educational expenditure, gender bias, school choice, India |
| JEL: | I21 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5706&r=edu |
| By: | Jorge Calero (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Álvaro Choi (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Josep-Oriol Escardíbul (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | Although not exclusive to the Republic of Korea’s educational system, the pervasiveness of private tutoring, and its consequences, serve to distinguish it from systems operated in other countries. However, the identification of inefficiencies linked to this phenomenon have seen the educational authorities struggling against private tutoring since the 1980s. Yet, public policies have systematically failed because of the widely held belief that private tutoring services increase students’ academic performance. This paper quantifies the impact of time spent in private tutoring on the performance of students in the three competence fields assessed in the PISA-2006 (Programme for International Student Assessment). Instrumental variables are applied in a multilevel model framework in an attempt at addressing the endogeneity of the effects of private tutoring on academic performance. Our results indicate that the impact of time dedicated to private tutoring on academic performance depends on the particular competence: positive for mathematics, positive but decreasing for reading, and non-significant for science. |
| Keywords: | private tutoring, demand for schooling, academic performance, PISA |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/5/doc2011-10&r=edu |
| By: | Gerald Eisenkopf (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Ansgar Wohlschlegel (Wirtschaftspolitische Abteilung, University of Bonn, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We analyze educational institutions’ incentives to set up demanding or lax curricula in duopolistic markets for education with endogenous enrolment of students. We assume that there is a positive externality of student achievement on the local economy. Comparing the case of regulated tuition fees with an unregulated market, we identify the following inefficiencies: Under regulated tuition fees schools will set up inefficiently lax curricula in an attempt to please low-quality students even if schools internalize some of the externality. On the other hand, unregulated schools set up excessively differentiated curricula in order to relax competition in tuition fees. Deregulation gets more attractive if a larger fraction of the externality is internalized. |
| Keywords: | Education, Local Externalities, Product Differentiation, Price Competition, Vouchers |
| JEL: | I28 L13 |
| Date: | 2011–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1116&r=edu |
| By: | Nordin, Martin (Department of Economics, Lund University); Rooth , Dan-Olof (School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses US survey data (NLSY) and Swedish register data to estimate the relationship between returns to schooling and ability for each country separately. A significant and positive relationship is found for Sweden but not for the US. The purpose is to propose an explanation for why such differences might occur. While many studies have focused on whether credit constraints result in inefficiencies in the schooling market, this study answers the opposite question: whether weak credit constraints lead to inefficiencies, in other words in an overuse of the schooling system. It is argued argue that the US schooling system more effectively sorts out education investments with a low rate of return to schooling than the Swedish schooling system. Therefore, an imperfect allocation of individuals going to higher education in Sweden makes a relationship between returns to schooling and ability observable in Sweden but not in the US. Since the relationship between returns to schooling and ability is the same when the schooling systems of the two countries is similar, that is at lower levels of education, it is indicative of the fact that this explanation may be correct. Of course, the empirical findings in this study are not convincing evidence on their own, but the findings suggest and agree with such an explanation. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive ability; return to schooling; credit constraints |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_017&r=edu |
| By: | Mazza, Jacopo (University of Amsterdam); Hartog, Joop (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Using an internet collected dataset, we will provide some empirical evidence on the information that Dutch high school students possess before their decision on tertiary education participation. The sample is prone to selective participation and high attrition, but we detect little systematic effects and inconsistent reporting of probability distribution is not more frequent than in controlled settings. We find little support for patterns that one would expect from individuals having private information. Girls expect substantially lower earnings in all schooling scenarios, but implicit rate of returns do not differ from those anticipated by boys. We find no evidence of expected risk compensation. |
| Keywords: | wage expectations, wage risk, risk compensation |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I20 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5714&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen Machin; James Vernoit |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study a high profile case - the introduction of academy schools into the English secondary school sector ‐ that has allowed schools to gain more autonomy and flexible governance by changing their school structure. We consider the impact of an academy school conversion on their pupil intake and pupil performance and possible external effects working through changes in the pupil intake and pupil performance of neighbouring schools. These lines of enquiry are considered over the school years 2001/02 to 2008/09. We bypass the selection bias inherent in previous evaluations of academy schools by comparing the outcomes of interest in academy schools to a specific group of comparison schools, namely those state‐maintained schools that go on to become academies after our sample period ends. This approach allows us to produce a well balanced treatment and control group. Our results suggest that moving to a more autonomous school structure through academy conversion generates a significant improvement in the quality of their pupil intake and a significant improvement in pupil performance. We also find significant external effects on the pupil intake and the pupil performance of neighbouring schools. All of these results are strongest for the schools that have been academies for longer and for those who experienced the largest increase in their school autonomy. In essence, the results paint a (relatively) positive picture of the academy schools that were introduced by the Labour government of 1997‐2010. The caveat is that such benefits have, at least for the schools we consider, taken a while to materialise. |
| Keywords: | Academies, pupil intake, pupil performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0123&r=edu |
| By: | Alina Botezat (Department of Economics, Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Rumänien); Ruben R. Seiberlich (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | When the Soviet Union collapsed a transition process started in Eastern Europe. This included a number of reforms to adapt the educational system to the new requirements of the job market. To assess the educational systems in Eastern Europe, this paper takes a look at the gap in PISA test scores between different countries. Using PISA 2006 data we disentangle the effects that explain the gap between Finland, the best performing country, and seven Eastern European countries, as well as, between Eastern European countries. The methodology applied in this paper is a semiparametric version of the threefold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, an approach which is not yet used in the research regarding the differences in school outcomes. Our results show that in all cases the differences in characteristics does not explain much of the gap. The return effect is the driving force of the differences in test scores. Under our identifying assumption, our results therefore indicate that the PISA test score gap can mainly be attributed to the different efficiency of school systems and are not due to better characteristics of students in a particular country. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the gap is smaller for better students indicating that, especially for poor performing students, the efficiency of Eastern European schools is behind the efficiency of Finnish schools. |
| Keywords: | PISA, test score gap, decomposition, semiparametric, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | J24 I21 C14 |
| Date: | 2011–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1115&r=edu |
| By: | Denzler, Stefan (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education); Wolter, Stefan (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | A number of studies have long shown that the probability of studying at university is influenced by the distance to the next university. This study shows for the first time that distance to university also influences the choice of subject/faculty and institution. Moreover, these findings are important because the distance effect in terms of these decisions is associated with significantly less risk of endogeneity than the effect in the analysis of the willingness and ambition to attend university. The results also show that distance does not influence study choices among students from the highest socioeconomic group, a finding that further indicates that distance to university is an expression of differences in the cost of a university education. |
| Keywords: | distance-to-university, subject choice, university choice, Switzerland |
| JEL: | I21 I23 R10 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5712&r=edu |
| By: | Alam, Andaleeb; Baez, Javier E.; V. Del Carpio, Ximena |
| Abstract: | The Punjab Female School Stipend Program, a female-targeted conditional cash transfer program in Pakistan, was implemented in response to gender gaps in education. An early evaluation of the program shows that the enrollment of eligible girls in middle school increased in the short term by nearly 9 percentage points. This paper uses regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference analyses to show that five years into the program implementation positive impacts do persist. Beneficiary adolescent girls are more likely to progress through and complete middle school and work less. There is suggestive evidence that participating girls delay their marriage and have fewer births by the time they are 19 years old. Girls who are exposed to the program later, and who are eligible for the benefits given in high school, increase their rates of matriculating into and completing high school. The persistence of impacts can potentially translate into gains in future productivity, consumption, inter-generational human capital accumulation and desired fertility. Lastly, there is no evidence that the program has negative spillover effects on educational outcomes of male siblings. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Primary Education,Tertiary Education,Gender and Education,Disability |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5669&r=edu |
| By: | Mueller, Steffen |
| Abstract: | We analyze teacher experience as a moderating factor for the effect of class size reduction on student achievement in the early grades using data from the Tennessee STAR experiment with random assignment of teachers and students to classes of different size. The analysis is motivated by the high costs of class size reductions and the need to identify the circumstances under which this investment is most rewarding. We find a class size effect only for senior teachers. The effect is most pronounced for higher and average-performing students. We further show that senior teachers outperform rookies only in small classes. The results have straightforward policy implications. Interestingly, the class size effect is most likely due to a higher quality of instruction in small classes and not due to less disruptions. -- |
| Keywords: | class size reduction,teacher experience,student achievement |
| JEL: | I2 H4 J4 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:072011&r=edu |
| By: | Alam, Andaleeb (World Bank); Baez, Javier E. (World Bank); Del Carpio, Ximena (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The Punjab Female School Stipend Program, a female-targeted conditional cash transfer program in Pakistan, was implemented in response to gender gaps in education. An early evaluation of the program shows that the enrollment of eligible girls in middle-school increased in the short term by nearly 9 percentage points. This paper uses regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference analyses to show that five years into the program implementation positive impacts do persist. Beneficiary adolescent girls are more likely to progress through and complete middle school and work less. There is suggestive evidence that participating girls delay their marriage and have fewer births by the time they are 19 years old. Also, girls who are exposed to the program later-on, and eligible for the benefits given in high school, increase their rates of matriculating into and completing high school. The persistence of impacts can potentially translate into gains in future productivity, consumption, inter-generational human capital accumulation and desired fertility. Lastly, there is no evidence that the program has negative spillover effects on educational outcomes of male siblings. |
| Keywords: | conditional cash transfers, female education, female labor participation, fertility, Pakistan |
| JEL: | J13 J21 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5703&r=edu |
| By: | Julius Agbor |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically tests the hypothesis that education, as measured by the average schooling years in the population aged 15 and above, reduces the likelihood of societal conflicts in Africa. It focuses on a sample of 31 African countries during 1960-2000 and uses both panel ordered probit and multinomial logistic estimation models. Using an aggregated measure of all intrastate major episodes of political violence obtained from the Political Instability Task Force (PITF) as proxy for conflict, and controlling for the extent of political participation, income inequality, labour market conditions, neighborhood e¤ects, different income levels, natural resource revenues, youth bulge, inflation, ethno-linguistic and religious fractionalisation and urbanisation; the results suggests that education e¤ectively reduces the likelihood of intra-state conflicts in Africa. This finding is robust to alternative model specifications and to alternative time frames of analysis. The evidence also suggests that, sound macroeconomic policies, by way of rapid per capita GDP growth, better export performance and lower in‡ation are means of effectively reducing the likelihood of conflicts while neighborhood effects are a significant driver of internal conflicts in African states. Therefore, in the battle to reduce the frequency of intrastate conflicts, African governments should complement investments in education with sound macroeconomic policies while seeking mutually beneficial solutions to all major internal conflicts, with a view to minimising their spill-over effects.. |
| Keywords: | School Education, Intra-state Con‡ict, Economic Development, Africa |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:218&r=edu |