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on Education |
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Issue of 2013‒11‒16
twenty-one papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | David Lam; Cally Ardington; Nicola Branson; Murray Leibbrandt |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of high school household income and scholastic ability on post-secondary enrollment in South Africa. Using longitudinal data from the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), we analyze the large racial gaps in the proportion of high school graduates who enroll in university and other forms of post-secondary education. Our results indicate that family background and high school achievement (measured by a literacy and numeracy exam and performance on the grade 12 matriculation exam) are strong predictors of post-secondary enrollment and statistically account for all of the black-white difference in enrollment. Controlling for parental education and baseline scholastic ability reduces the estimated impact of household income on university enrollment, though there continues to be an effect at the top of the income distribution. We also find evidence of credit constraints on non-university forms of post-secondary enrollment. Counterfactual estimates indicate that if all South Africans had the incomes of the richest whites, African university enrollment would increase by 65%, even without changing parental education or high school academic achievement. The racial gap in university enrollment would narrow only slightly, however as our results suggest that this gap in postsecondary enrollment results mainly from the large racial gap in high school academic achievement. |
| JEL: | I24 I25 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19607&r=edu |
| By: | Daniel A. Kamhöfer; Hendrik Schmitz |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of education on wages using German Socio-Economic Panel data and regional variation in mandatory years of schooling and the supply of schools. This allows us to estimate more than one local average treatment effect and heterogeneous effects for different groups of compliers. Our results are in line with previous studies that do not find an effect of compulsory schooling on wages in Germany. We go beyond these studies and test a potential reason for it, namely that basic skills are learned earlier in Germany and additional years of schooling are not effective anymore. This is done by also estimating the effect of education on cognitive skills. The results suggest that education after the eighth year does not seem to have a causal effect on cognitive skills in Germany. This is consistent with the explanation for zero effects of schooling on earnings. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education; skills; IV estimation |
| JEL: | I21 J24 C26 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0446&r=edu |
| By: | Luigi Benfratello; Giuseppe Sorrenti; Gilberto Turati |
| Abstract: | We study whether – beyond an EU-style tracking separating students in general versus vocational curricula – the Italian highly centralized public schooling is characterized by an implicit US-style tracking system separating students by ability within the same track. We pursue this aim by using administrative data on a standardized admission test at the School of Economics in Turin. We proxy students’ ability with the test score and check whether students across schools within the same track are stratified by ability and household income. Our findings strongly suggest that the inequality patterns common in Italian schooling are affected by both types of tracking. |
| Keywords: | public schools, educational inequalities, school stratification, school tracking |
| JEL: | I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:19&r=edu |
| By: | Cordero, José Manuel; Prior, Diego; Simancas Rodríguez, Rosa |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an innovative approach to evaluate educational performance of Spanish students in PISA 2009. Our purpose is to decompose their overall inefficiency between different components with a special focus on studying the differences between public and state subsidized private schools. We use a technique inspired by the non-parametric Free Disposal Hull (FDH) and the application of robust order-m models, which allow us to mitigate the influence of outliers and the curse of dimensionality. Subsequently, we adopt a metafrontier framework to assess each student relative to the own group best practice frontier (students in the same school) and to different frontiers constructed from the best practices of different types of schools. The results show that state-subsidised private schools outperform public schools, although the differences between them are significantly reduced once we control for the type of students enrolled in both type of centres. |
| Keywords: | Education, Efficiency, Multilevel Modelling, Free Disposal Hull |
| JEL: | C14 H41 I21 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51375&r=edu |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh H.; King, Elizabeth M. |
| Abstract: | Few would contest that teachers are a very important determinant of whether students learn in school. Yet, in the face of compelling evidence that many students are not learning what they are expected to learn, how to improve teacher performance has been the focus of much policy debate in rich and poor countries. This paper examines how incentives, both pecuniary and non-pecuniary, influence teacher effort. Using school survey data from Lao PDR, it estimates new measures of teacher effort, including the number of hours that teachers spend preparing for classes and teacher provision of private tutoring classes outside class hours. The estimation results indicate that teachers increase effort in response to non-pecuniary incentives, such as greater teacher autonomy over teaching materials, and monitoring mechanism, such as the existence of an active parent-teacher association and the ability of school principals to dismiss teachers. Methodologically, the paper provides a detailed derivation of a simultaneous ordinary least squares-probit model with school random effects that can jointly estimate teacher work hours and tutoring provision. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2013–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6694&r=edu |
| By: | André, Kévin (ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This article considers the potential contribution of care ethics in business education through the lens of a new perspective, called "educare." This paper will first give a definition of educare as a pedagogical strategy which aims to make all students free to care. We will then look at why the educare strategy is relevant for business ethics education, given the intense challenges it is presently facing. Lastly, we will see how educare could be implemented effectively through service-learning. |
| Keywords: | Business Education; Business Ethics; Educare – Empathy; Ethic of Care; Service-Learning |
| JEL: | A13 I21 I23 M14 |
| Date: | 2013–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-13015&r=edu |
| By: | Gerald Eisenkopf (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Pascal Sulser (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We present results from a field experiments at Swiss high schools in which we compare the effectiveness of teaching methods in economics. We randomly assigned classes into an experimental and a conventional teaching group, or a control group that received no specific instruction. Both of our teaching treatments improve economic understanding considerably while effect sizes are almost identical. However, student ability crucially affects learning outcomes as more able students seem to benefit disproportionately from classroom experiments while weaker students lose out. Supplemental data indicates that our experimental treatment crowded out time for adequately discussing the subject, which may have limited less able students to generate a profound understanding. Furthermore there is no robust impact of economic training on social preferences, measured as both individual behavior in incentivized decisions or political opinions. |
| Keywords: | Education of Economics, Classroom Experiments, Conventional Teaching |
| JEL: | A21 C93 I21 |
| Date: | 2013–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1317&r=edu |
| By: | André, Kévin (ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to re-examine the notion of equality, going beyond the classic opposition in France between affirmative action and meritocratic equality. Hence, we propose shifting the French debate about equality of opportunities in education to the question of how to raise equality of capability. In this paper we propose an assessment based on the capability approach of a mentoring programme called 'Une grande école: pourquoi pas moi?' ('A top-level university: why not me?' (PQPM) launched in 2002 by a top French business school. The assessment of PQPM is based on the pairing of longitudinal data available for 324 PQPM students with national data. Results show that the 'adaptive preferences' of the PQPM students change through a process of empowerment. Students adopt new 'elitist' curricula but feel free to follow alternative paths. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive Preferences; Agency; Assessment; Capability; Education; France |
| JEL: | A13 I21 I23 I38 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-13016&r=edu |
| By: | Ohinata, A.; Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: We analyze how the share of immigrant children in the classroom aects the educational attainment of native Dutch children in terms of their language and math performance at the end of primary school. Our paper studies the spill-over effects at different parts of the test score distribution of native Dutch students using a quantile regression approach. We fi nd no evidence of negative spillover effects of the classroom presence of immigrant children at the median of the test score distribution. In addition, there is no indication that these spill-over effects are present at other parts of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant children;Peer effects;Educational attainment |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013058&r=edu |
| By: | Caliman, Tiziana; Cassone, Alberto |
| Abstract: | In the recent past, expectations concerning universities have emphasised their active role in enhancing economic and regional development. The universities in geographical areas suffering from structural problems are particularly required to play this role. Moreover, the correlation between the socioeconomic status (and the education) of parents and that of their adult offspring is positive and significant, in both the statistical and practical senses. This paper investigates the experience of a small Italian University (Piemonte Orientale 'Amedeo Avogadro'), in order to evaluate its role in human capital accumulation, necessary to economic development. The aim of this article is to verify whether this small university satisfies a specific demand which would never be satisfied by a larger university. We found important role of small Universities in the human capital accumulation in the recruitment basin, a phenomenon with medium and long term implications. The empirical results show that the representative graduate student of Piemonte Orientale is characterized by modest parental socioeconomic conditions and education. Its demographic recruitment basin is a specific and well defined geographical area. These factors have a positive impact on the choice of enrolment (Piemonte Orientale versus other Universities). The choice is modelled by a probit (logit) binary outcomes model using the Almalaurea cross-section sample on graduates in year 2008. We also update the dataset and re-estimate the models in order to verify the robustness of empirical results and to identify changes in the representative student, using the Almalaurea cross-section sample on graduates for year 2010. The crucial role of the modest socioeconomic background and the low mobility of the students are confirmed. The 2010 analysis does not confirm a result for year 2008, i.e. that a poor performance in secondary school increases the probability to choose Piemonte Orientale vs larger and well established universities: the result underlines a positive evolution of this small university recruitment performance. |
| Keywords: | Performance; Human Capital Accumulation; Small Universities |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I23 R00 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uca:ucapdv:173&r=edu |
| By: | TANSEL, AYSIT |
| Abstract: | Purpose: This paper aims to provide the recent developments on the supplementary education system in Turkey. The national examinations for advancing to higher levels of schooling are believed to fuel the demand for Supplementary Education Centers (SEC). Further, we aim to understand the distribution of the SECs and of the secondary schools across the provinces of Turkey in order to evaluate the spacial equity considerations. Design/Methodology/Approach: The evolution of the SECs and of the secondary schools over time are described and compared. The provincial distribution of the SECs, secondary schools and the high school age population are compared. The characteristics of these distributions are evaluated to inform the about spatial equity issues. The distribution of high school age population that attend secondary schools and the distribution of the secondary school students that attend SECs across the provinces are compared. Findings: The evidence points out to significant provincial variations in various characteristics of SECs and the secondary schools. The distribution of the SECs is more unequal than that of the secondary schools. The provinces located mostly in the east and south east of the country have lower quality SECs and secondary schools. Further, the SEC participation among the secondary school students and the secondary school participation among the relevant age group are lower in some of the provinces indicating major disadvantages. Originality/Value: The review of the most recent developments about the SECs, examination and comparison of provincial distributions of the SECs and of the secondary schools are novelties in this paper. |
| Keywords: | Supplementary Education, Demand for Education, Turkey |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I22 |
| Date: | 2013–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50213&r=edu |
| By: | Bold, Tessa; Kimenyi, Mwangi; Mwabu, Germano; Sandefur, Justin |
| Abstract: | In 2003 Kenya abolished user fees in all government primary schools. Analysis of household survey data shows this policy contributed to a shift in demand away from free schools, where net enrollment stagnated after 2003, toward fee-charging private schools, where both enrollment and fee levels grew rapidly after 2003. These shifts had mixed distributional consequences. Enrollment by poorer households increased, but segregation between socio-economic groups also increased. The shift in demand toward private schooling was driven by more affluent households who (i) paid higher ex ante fees and thus experienced a larger reduction in school funding, and (ii) appear to have exited public schools partially in reaction to increased enrollment by poorer children. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning,Tertiary Education,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2013–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6685&r=edu |
| By: | Maria Kuecken (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Josselin Thuilliez (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Marie-Anne Valfort (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We examine the middle-run effects of the Global Fund's malaria control programs on the educational attainment of primary schoolchildren in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we exploit geographic variation in pre-campaign malaria prevalence (malaria ecology) and variation in exogenous exposure to the timing and expenditure of malaria control campaigns, based on individuals' years of birth and year surveyed. In a large majority of countries (14 of 22), we find that the program led to substantial increases in years of schooling and grade level as well as reductions in schooling delay. Moreover, although by and large positive, we find that the marginal returns of the Global Fund disbursements in terms of educational outcomes are decreasing. Our findings, which are robust to both the instrumentation of ecology and use of alternative ecology measures, have important policy implications on the value for money of malaria control efforts. |
| Keywords: | Malaria, Sub-Saharan Africa, education, quasi-experimental. |
| JEL: | I15 I21 O19 O55 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:13075&r=edu |
| By: | Dolores Messer (University of Bern, Switzerland); Guido Schwerdt (Ifo Institute for Economic Research and CESifo, Munich, Germany); Ludger Woessmann (University of Munich, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, CESifo); Stefan C. Wolter (Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education, University of Bern, CESifo, IZA; University of Bern, Centre for Research in Economics of Education,) |
| Abstract: | Lifelong learning is often promoted in ageing societies, but little is known about its returns or governmentsÕ ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of voucher-induced adult education on earnings, employment, and subsequent education one year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: Low-education individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing unrestricted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education. |
| Keywords: | Field experiment, voucher, adult education, LATE, Switzerland |
| JEL: | I22 J24 H43 C93 M53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0094&r=edu |
| By: | Thieme Claudio (Universidad Diego portales); Prior Diego (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona); Tortosa-Ausina Emili (INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE INVESTIGACIONES ECONÓMICAS (Ivie) UNIVERSITY JAUME I); Gempp René (Diego Portales University) |
| Abstract: | There is consensus in the literature about the need to control for socioeconomic status and other contextual variables at student and school level in the estimation of value added models, for which methodologies rely on hierarchical linear models. However, this approach is problematic because the nature of their estimate is a comparison with a school mean, implying no real incentive for performance excellence. Meanwhile, activity analysis models recently developed to estimate school value added have been unable to control for contextual variables. We propose a robust frontier model to estimate contextual value added which integrates recent advances in the activity analysis literature. We provide an application to a sample of schools in Chile, where reforms have been made in the educational system focusing on the need for accountability measures. Results indicate the general relevance of including contextual variables, and explain the performance differentials found for the three school types. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, order-m, school effectiveness, value added. |
| JEL: | C61 I21 H52 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbb:wpaper:2013129&r=edu |
| By: | Marion Davin (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the interplay between public education expenditure and economic growth in a two-sector model. We reveal that agents’ preferences for services, education and savings play a major role in the relationship between growth and public education expenditures, as long as production is taxed at a different rate in each sector. |
| Keywords: | Public education, Two-sector model, Sectoral taxes, Endogenous growth. |
| JEL: | E62 I25 O41 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1355&r=edu |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (Department of Econometrics, University of Barcelona); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Languages, Returns to Skills, Heterogeneity, Turkey |
| JEL: | I25 J24 J31 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1311&r=edu |
| By: | Do Won Kwak (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Flavio Menezes (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Carl Sherwood (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses quantitatively the impact on student performance of a blended learning experiment within a large undergraduate first year course in statistics for business and economics students. We employ a differences- in-difference econometric approach, which controls for differences in student characteristics and course delivery method, to evaluate the impact of blended learning on student performance. Although students in the course manifest a preference for live lectures over online delivery, our empirical analysis strongly suggests that student performance is not affected (either positively or negatively) by the introduction of blended learning. |
| Date: | 2013–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:494&r=edu |
| By: | Mamajonov, Nuriddin |
| Keywords: | Education, Capacity Building, Uzbekistan, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ugidic:159770&r=edu |
| By: | Ciccone, Antonio (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Peri, Giovanni (University of California) |
| Abstract: | We find that over the period 1950–1990, states in United States absorbed increases in the supply of schooling due to tighter compulsory schooling and child labor laws mostly through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production. Shifts in the industry composition towards more schooling-intensive industries played a less important role. To try and understand this finding theoretically, we consider a free trade model with two goods/industries, two skill types, and many regions that produce a fixed range of differentiated varieties of the same goods. We find that a calibrated version of the model can account for shifts in schooling supply being mostly absorbed through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production even if the elasticity of substitution between varieties is substantially higher than estimates in the literature. |
| Keywords: | human capital; skills; schooling; labor demand; United States |
| JEL: | E24 I20 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0377&r=edu |
| By: | Marcelo Medeiros; Luis Felipe Batista de Oliveira |
| Abstract: | Este estudo analisa fatores que afetam as desigualdades educacionais entre e dentro de regiões do Brasil, com foco em determinar como diferenças de características das populações e a forma diferenciada como essas características se distribuem influenciam resultados educacionais em cada região do país. Para isso, é analisada a população de jovens de 14 a 17 anos, em todo o Brasil, a partir de dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD). Por meio da decomposição da desigualdade entre efeitos de atributos observados, respostas observadas a esses atributos e resíduos das regressões lineares de predição da educação, conclui-se que, para explicar desigualdades entre e intrarregionais, as respostas aos atributos são mais importantes que diferenças nas distribuições de atributos. Há, portanto, a possibilidade de se reverter uma parte da desigualdade educacional por meio de políticas educacionais que promovam uma convergência regional na direção das regiões em melhores condições. We analyze the factors determining educational inequalities within and between regions in Brazil. We are interested in how characteristics and the return to these characteristics in each region affect educational outcomes. For this we analyze the population of people aged 14 to 17 years in Brazil using PNAD data. By decomposing inequality in the effect of observed attributes, return to these attributes and residuals from the linear regressions used for prediction, we conclude that differences in the returns to the attributes are more important to inequality than differences in the distributions of attributes. Therefore, it is possible to reduce at least part of regional inequalities by means of educational policies if education in the worst off regions improves in the direction of the better off regions. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1888&r=edu |