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on Education |
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Issue of 2014‒06‒22
seventeen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Karbownik, Krzysztof (Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines teachers’ mobility in response to exogenous changes in the credentials of their students using data from Stockholm high schools. I explore a major admission reform that lead to the reshuffling of students between schools within the municipality of Stockholm. The results show that a 10-percentile-point increase in student quality decreases the probability of a separation by up to 9 percentage points. These effects are very similar across all types of teachers and are found mainly for mobility between schools rather than out of the profession. They are also present only in the lower half of the student quality distribution. Teachers react mostly to direct measures of student quality (grades from compulsory school) rather than to other characteristics that are correlated with student quality (immigrant status, parental income, paternal cognitive skills). Finally, I do not find any significant effects of changes in student quality on individual teacher’s earnings or school hiring policies. |
| Keywords: | Teacher mobility; student quality; school choice |
| JEL: | I21 J44 |
| Date: | 2014–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_015&r=edu |
| By: | Feld, Jan (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Zölitz, Ulf (Department of Economics, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on ability peer effects in university education. Identification comes from random assignment of students to sections. We find small effects of average peer quality in the linear-in-means specification: Being assigned to section peers with higher average ability, as measured by past GPA, leads to small increases in student grades. These results hide some unexpected heterogeneity: low ability students are actually harmed by being assigned to high ability peers. In our placebo analysis we quantify the estimation bias for peer effects estimates driven by the mechanisms described in Angrist (2013). |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; academic achievement |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0596&r=edu |
| By: | Kalena Cortes; Joshua Goodman; Takako Nomi |
| Abstract: | We study an intensive math instruction policy that assigned low-skilled 9th graders to an algebra course that doubled instructional time, altered peer composition and emphasized problem solving skills. A regression discontinuity design shows substantial positive impacts of double-dose algebra on credits earned, test scores, high school graduation and college enrollment rates. Test score effects under-predict attainment effects, highlighting the importance of long-run evaluation of such a policy. Perhaps because the intervention focused on verbal exposition of mathematical concepts, the impact was largest for students with below average reading skills, emphasizing the need to target interventions toward appropriately skilled students. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20211&r=edu |
| By: | Tammy Campbell (Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education) |
| Abstract: | Streaming (grouping pupils according to a measure or conception of overall ability for most / all teaching) has greatly increased in prevalence among English primary school children since the turn of the century. Evidence indicates that streaming may disadvantage children in lower groups and increase the overall attainment gap, and this paper explores one possible mechanism through which disparities might manifest: stream-dependent teacher perceptions. Using data for over 800 seven-year-old children who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study, analysis investigates whether teachers' survey-reported judgements and Key Stage One assessments of children correspond to the stream in which a child is placed. Regression modelling controls for potential confounding factors including: cognitive test performance; pupil gender, ethnicity, and month of birth; parents' income and education levels; parent and teacher perceptions of children's behaviour; prior in-school judgments / attainment; special educational need diagnosis; teacher characteristics; and school-type. Both survey-reported judgements of pupils and teacher-assessed Key Stage One assessments are found to be significantly related to children's stream placement. Children in the top stream are judged to be at a higher level and children in the bottom stream at a lower level than equivalent peers. It seems therefore that streaming may indeed contribute to attainment gaps through the medium of teacher perceptions and assessments, both by advantaging pupils in higher groups and penalising children in lower placements. This suggests a need to recognise, review and potentially revise the growing use of streaming among young children. |
| Keywords: | primary education, streaming, inequality, perceptions, judgements, assessments |
| JEL: | I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2014–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1410&r=edu |
| By: | Karbownik, Krzysztof (Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the job mobility of teachers with different skills using matched employer-employee data from Swedish secondary schools. In addition to standard quality measures, I have access to population-wide data on cognitive and non-cognitive assessments of males born in 1951 or later. The results show that high-quality teachers are less mobile than others, and that there is no significant correlation between turnover and share of minority students. Interestingly, teachers with better skills are less likely to leave the profession, which suggests that the documented drop in the quality of inflowing teachers may partly be offset by a higher tendency for high quality teachers to stay in the profession. |
| Keywords: | Teacher turnover; teacher quality; student composition |
| JEL: | I21 J44 |
| Date: | 2014–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_014&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua Goodman |
| Abstract: | Despite the fact that the average American student is absent more than two weeks out of every school year, most research on the effect of instructional time has focused not on attendance but on the length of the school day or year. Student and school fixed effects models using Massachusetts data show a strong relationship between student absences and achievement but no impact of lost instructional time due to school closures. I confirm those findings in instrumental variables models exploiting the fact that moderate snowfall induces student absences while extreme snowfall induces school closures. Prior work ignoring this non-linearity may have mis-attributed the effect of absences to such snow days. Each absence induced by bad weather reduces math achievement by 0.05 standard deviations, suggesting that attendance can account for up to one-fourth of the achievement gap by income. That absences matter but closures do not is consistent with a model of instruction in which coordination of students is the central challenge, as in Lazear (2001). Teachers appear to deal well with coordinated disruptions of instructional time like snow days but deal poorly with disruptions like absences that affect different students at different times. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20221&r=edu |
| By: | Antonio Ciccone; Walter Garcia-Fontes |
| Abstract: | We propose estimating gender peer effects in school by exploiting within-school variation in gender composition across birth cohorts. Our approach differs from the existing literature, which exploits variation in gender composition at a given grade level in different years. We argue that the birth cohort approach is a useful alternative as the grade level approach generally yields spurious gender peer effects when there is grade retention. The birth cohort approach applied to primary schools in Spain indicates statistically significant positive gender peer effects of girls on boys' academic achievement and statistically insignificant effects of girls on girls' achievement. |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1424&r=edu |
| By: | Morissette, Rene; Frenette, Marc |
| Abstract: | This study examines which factors underlie the narrowing of wage differences seen between young bachelor?s degree holders and high school graduates from the 2000-to-2002 period to the 2010-to-2012 period and the widening of differences in full-time paid employment rates between these two groups. Four types of factors are considered: those associated with changes in labour supply, labour demand, institutions and employer?employee contracts, and general economic conditions. Changes in the population of bachelor?s degree holders relative to the population of high school graduates are used to capture changes in relative labour supply. |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Educational attainment, Employment and unemployment, Job training and educational attainment, Labour, Labour mobility, turnover and work absences, Outcomes of education |
| Date: | 2014–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2014360e&r=edu |
| By: | Guccio, Calogero; Martorana, Marco; Monaco, Luisa |
| Abstract: | The Bologna Process promoted a wide-ranging reform of High Education systems in order to improve teaching activities throughout Europe. This paper evaluates the effect of these reforms on teaching efficiency of the Italian universities in the period 2000-2010. We employ the bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) algorithm to evaluate efficiency and then examine convergence using several panel data estimators. We find evidence of convergence but technical efficiency increased mainly in the first period of implemented reform. Moreover, we find strong evidences of persistence of gaps both between regions and universities. |
| Keywords: | HEI, Bologna process, teaching efficiency, β-convergence, DEA. |
| JEL: | D24 I23 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56673&r=edu |
| By: | Bouoiyour, Jamal; Miftah, Amal; Selmi, Refk |
| Abstract: | Brain drain has long been an important concern particularly for a developing country like Morocco where high-skilled emigration rates are highest. The aim of this paper is to highlight the causes of migration of Moroccan students to France, to offer then some implications. To this end, we apply an ARDL Bounds testing approach and VEC Granger causality test to annual data spanning the period between 1971 and 2011. We show that the quality of higher education measured by French research & development (proxy of French institutions) seem the main determinant of student mobility. The per-capita income differential between France and Morocco also plays an important role on explaining student migration. The uncertainty about future Moroccan inflation (proxy of Moroccan institutions) encourages the departure of students abroad, while the degree of openness via trade and foreign direct investments discourage. Academic exchange agreements and the creation of research centers accredited by the two countries have been recommended to enhance the French economic development from high-skilled migrants without depriving Morocco. |
| Keywords: | Brain drain; Brain gain; Moroccan students; France. |
| JEL: | F0 O1 |
| Date: | 2014–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56630&r=edu |
| By: | Karbownik, Krzysztof (Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of teacher turnover using matched employee-employer panel data from Swedish lower and upper secondary schools in a market-oriented institutional environment with a growing private sector and individually negotiated wages. I find statistically significant and robust negative correlations between mobility and monetary compensations. Unlike previous research, I do not find robust evidence that the share of minorities correlates positively with turnover. The positive association exists; however, in the case of private and upper secondary institutions. Finally, private institutions experience higher turnover. |
| Keywords: | Teacher turnover; non-pecuniary factors; pecuniary factors |
| JEL: | I21 J44 |
| Date: | 2014–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_013&r=edu |
| By: | Qiu, Theresa; Hou, Feng; Picot, Garnett |
| Abstract: | In Canada, the selection of economic immigrants throughout the 1990s and 2000s was based largely on the human capital model of immigration. This model posits that selecting immigrants with high levels of human capital is particularly advantageous in the long run. It is argued that higher educational levels allow immigrants to both bring the skills needed in a "knowledge-based economy" and, perhaps more importantly, better adjust to both cyclical and structural changes in the labour market than immigrants with lower educational levels. This paper examines the trends in the earnings advantage that more highly educated immigrants hold over less educated immigrants by immigration class. The focus is on three questions. First, did the well-documented decline in entry earnings observed over the last quarter-century vary by immigrant educational level and by admission class? Second, have there been significant shifts across recent cohorts in the economic advantage that more highly educated immigrants hold over their less educated counterparts, both at entry and in the longer run? Third, and most importantly, does the relative earnings advantage of more highly educated immigrants change with time spent in Canada, that is, in the longer run? |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Education, training and skills, Educational attainment, Employment and unemployment, Ethnic diversity and immigration, Ethnic groups and generations in Canada, Labour, Labour market and income, Outcomes of education, Wages, salaries and other earnings |
| Date: | 2014–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2014361e&r=edu |
| By: | Kruppe, Thomas (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Matthes, Britta (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Unger, Stefanie (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "The use of process-produced data plays a large and growing role in empirical labor market research. To address data problems, previous research have developed deductive correction rules that make use of within-person information. We test data reliability and the effectiveness of different correction rules for information about educational degrees as reported in German register data. Therefore we use the unique dataset ALWA-ADIAB, which combines interview data and process-produced data from exactly the same individuals. This approach enables us to assess how effective the existing correction rules are and whether they manage to eliminate structural biases. In sum, we can state that simple editing rules based on logic assumptions are suitable for improving the quality of process-produced data, but they are not able to correct for structural biases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | prozessproduzierte Daten, Datenaufbereitung, Datenqualität, IAB-Datensatz Arbeiten und Lernen, Interview, Imputationsverfahren |
| JEL: | C8 I2 |
| Date: | 2014–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201415&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Horvath (WIFO); Helmut Mahringer (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | The Austrian population will continue to grow over the next decades. At the same time the number of working age people is predicted to decline until 2030. In how far this demographic change will translate into changes in the total number of people in the labour force (employed plus unemployed people) depends mainly on their labour market attachment. This paper analyses the development of labour force participation rates explicitly accounting for changes in the education structure, long-term trends in participation rates and recent tightenings in pension law. These factors are shown to affect labour force participation rates markedly. A reduction in the total number of people in the workforce until 2030 seems unlikely when accounting for these facts. |
| Keywords: | Arbeitskräfteangebot, Demographie, Bildung, Pensionsreform |
| Date: | 2014–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2014:i:470&r=edu |
| By: | Liliana Rojas-Suarez and Maria Alejandra Amado |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes Latin America’s Financial Inclusion Gap, the difference between the average financial inclusion for Latin America and the corresponding average for a set of comparator countries. At the country level, we assess four types of obstacles to financial inclusion: macroeconomic weaknesses, income inequality, institutional deficiencies and financial sector inefficiencies. A key finding of this paper is that although the four types of obstacles explain the absolute level of financial inclusion, institutional deficiencies and income inequality are the most important obstacles behind the Latin America’s financial inclusion gap. From our analysis at the individual level, we find that there is a Latin America-specific effect of education and income. The results suggest that the effect of attaining secondary education on the probability of being financially included is significantly higher in Latin America than in its comparators. Furthermore, the difference in the probability of being financially included between the richest and the poorest individuals is significantly higher in Latin America than in comparator countries. |
| Keywords: | financial inclusion, Latin America, government policy and regulation, Findex microdata |
| JEL: | D14 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:367&r=edu |
| By: | Morissette, Rene; Frenette, Marc |
| Abstract: | La presente etude porte sur les facteurs qui ont sous-tendu la diminution des ecarts salariaux entre les jeunes titulaires d?un baccalaureat et ceux titulaires d?un diplome d?etudes secondaires de la periode de 2000 a 2002 a celle de 2010 a 2012, ainsi que l?accroissement des differences de taux d?emploi remunere a temps plein entre ces deux groupes. Quatre types de facteurs sont consideres, a savoir ceux associes aux variations de l?offre de main-d??uvre, de la demande de main-d??uvre, des institutions et des contrats employeur-employe, ainsi que de la conjoncture economique generale. Les variations de la population de titulaires d?un baccalaureat par rapport a la population de titulaires d?un diplome d?etudes secondaires sont utilisees pour saisir les variations de l?offre relative de main-d??uvre. |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Educational attainment, Employment and unemployment, Job training and educational attainment, Labour, Labour mobility, turnover and work absences, Outcomes of education |
| Date: | 2014–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3f:2014360f&r=edu |
| By: | Clément Bosquet (Spatial Economic Research Center); Pierre-Philippe Combes (Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille); Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the unique features of the promotion system for French academics to examine the causes of the promotion gap between men and women. Promotions occur through national competitions for which we have information on candidates and on those eligible to be candidates. We find that gender has no significant effect on candidates promotion rates. In contrast, women have a lower probability to be candidates, which is not driven by differences in the objective costs or rewards of the contest. A possible interpretation of our results is that women are less willing than men to participate in contests, in line with recent experimental evidence. |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1mv0mm6vqb8dibn34slm9vhu6d&r=edu |