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on Education |
| By: | Cherrie Bucknor |
| Abstract: | By most measures, the educational attainment of blacks is currently at the highest it has ever been. After decades of stagnation, high school completion rates for blacks have increased rapidly since 2000. This issue brief will focus on the high school status completion rates of blacks ages 20 to 24 since 1975. |
| Keywords: | education, high school graduation, inequality, racial disparties |
| JEL: | I I2 I24 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2015-06&r=edu |
| By: | Álvaro Choi (Universidad de Barcelona & IEB); John Jerrim (University Colleage of London) |
| Abstract: | In 2013 Spain introduced a series of educational reforms explicitly inspired by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 results. These reforms were mainly implemented in secondary education – based upon the assumption that this is where Spain’s educational problems lie. This paper questions this assumption by attempting to identify the point where Spanish children fall behind young people in other developed counties in terms of their reading skills. Specifically, by drawing data from multiple international assessments, we are able to explore how cross-national differences in reading skills change as children age. Consideration is given to both the average level of achievement and the evolution of educational inequalities. Our conclusion is that policymakers have focused their efforts on the wrong part of the education system; educational achievement is low in Spain (and educational inequalities large) long before children enter secondary school. This study therefore serves as a note of caution against simplistic interpretation of the PISA rankings; policymakers must take a more nuanced approach when enacting important educational reforms. |
| Keywords: | Educational policy, academic performance, PISA, PIRLS |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2015-6&r=edu |
| By: | Ferrante, Francesco |
| Abstract: | The technology of cognitive and non-cognitive skills formation is characterized by the cumulative nature of learning processes and by the presence of significant complementarities and irreversibilities in the acquisition of such skills [Cunha and Heckman, 2007]. From this it follows that, in order to evaluate the quality of individual phases of skills formation, it is necessary to take account of the quality of the human capital entering the training process. It is evident that this aspect is more important, the more advanced the level of education. This paper evaluates the effects of the quality of Italian matriculants at 24 engineering faculties measured with the results of the CISIA standardized test on the regularity of university studies. The preliminary results confirm that failing to take account of the incoming quality of students may give rise to significant distortions in the evaluation of the academic productivity of universities. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, quality, rankings, value added |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62450&r=edu |
| By: | Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | The long term effect of teachers’ pay for performance is of particular interest, as critics of these schemes claim that they encourage teaching to the test or orchestrated cheating by teachers and schools. In this paper, I address these concerns by examining the effect of teachers’ pay for performance on long term human capital outcomes, in particular attainment and quality of higher education, and labor market outcomes at adulthood, in particular employment and earnings. I base this study on an experiment conducted a decade and a half ago in Israel and present evidence that the pay for performance scheme increased a wide range of long run human capital measures. Treated students are 4.3 percentage points more likely to enroll in a university and to complete an additional 0.17 years of university schooling, a 60 percent increase relative to the control group mean. These gains are mediated by overall improvements in the high school matriculation outcomes due to the teachers’ intervention at 12th grade. The pay scheme led also to a significant 7 percent increase in annual earnings, to a 2 percent reduction in claims for unemployment benefits, and a 1 percent decline in eligibility for the government disability payment. |
| JEL: | J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20983&r=edu |
| By: | Andrea Cammelli (AlmaLaurea); Giancarlo Gasperoni |
| Abstract: | The 16th ALMALAUREA Report on Italian University Graduates’ Profile was presented at the Conference in Pollenzo-Bra – hosted by the University of Gastronomic Sciences. The data on which this Report is based refers to 64 universities (out of the 65 which are part of the consortium) which have been part of ALMALAUREA for at least one year, and almost 230 thousand graduates in 2013 – which is almost 80% of students who graduated from Italian universities. This Report devotes particular attention to a number of issues which characterize the debate on higher education. These include: graduates’ features at the beginning of their university studies; working students and class attendance; traineeships; study experiences abroad; degree completion times; the significance of exam and graduation grades; graduates’ evaluation of their university experience; student support services; student living conditions in university towns; study and employment prospects after graduation; adults at university; graduates with foreign citizenship. An overview of the outcomes achieved by graduates in 2013 confirms – despite the country’s negative economic and social context – an overall promising situation. Indeed, more students have completed their studies within the prescribed time frame, class attendance has improved, students have carried out more traineeships and internships and continue to take advantage of opportunities to study abroad. |
| Keywords: | graduates, university system, human capital. |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:laa:wpaper:74&r=edu |
| By: | orcan, Oana B (University of Gothenburg); Lindahl, Mikael (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Mitrut, Andreea (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the efficiency and distributional consequences of a corruptionfighting initiative in Romania targeting the endemic fraud in a high-stakes high school exit exam, which introduced CCTV monitoring of the exam and credible punishment threats. We find that punishment coupled with monitoring was effective in reducing corruption. Estimating the heterogeneous impact for students of different ability, poverty status, and gender, we show that fighting corruption led to efficiency gains (ability predicts exam outcomes better) but also to a worrisome score gap increase between poor and non-poor students. Consequently, the poor students have reduced chances to enter an elite university. |
| Keywords: | corruption; high-stakes exam; bribes; monitoring and punishment; |
| JEL: | I21 I24 K42 |
| Date: | 2015–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2015_001&r=edu |
| By: | Jens Ruhose (Ifo Institute and IZA, Munich, Germany); Guido Schwerdt (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We study whether early tracking of students based on ability increases migrant-native achievement gaps. To eliminate confounding impacts of unobserved country traits, we employ a differences-in-differences strategy that exploits international variation in the age of tracking as well as student achievement before and after potential tracking. Based on pooled data from 12 large-scale international student assessments, we show that cross-sectional estimates are likely to be downward-biased. Our differences-in-differences estimates suggest that early tracking does not significantly affect overall migrant-native achievement gaps, but we find evidence for a detrimental impact for less integrated migrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, educational inequalities, educational tracking, differences-in-differences |
| JEL: | I21 J15 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1506&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank Group |
| Keywords: | Secondary Education Teaching and Learning Education - Education For All Education - Primary Education Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21101&r=edu |
| By: | Evans,David-000213993; Popova,Anna |
| Abstract: | In the past two years alone, at least six systematic reviews or meta-analyses have examined the interventions that improve learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. However, these reviews have sometimes reached starkly different conclusions: reviews, in turn, recommend information technology, interventions that provide information about school quality, or even basic infrastructure (such as desks) to achieve the greatest improvements in student learning. This paper demonstrates that these divergent conclusions are largely driven by differences in the samples of research incorporated by each review. The top recommendations in a given review are often driven by the results of evaluations not included in other reviews. Of 227 studies with student learning results, the most inclusive review incorporates less than half of the total studies. Variance in classification also plays a role. Across the reviews, the three classes of programs that are recommended with some consistency (albeit under different names) are pedagogical interventions (including computer-assisted learning) that tailor teaching to student skills; repeated teacher training interventions, often linked to another pedagogical intervention; and improving accountability through contracts or performance incentives, at least in certain contexts. Future reviews will be most useful if they combine narrative review with meta-analysis, conduct more exhaustive searches, and maintain low aggregation of intervention categories. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Primary Education,Secondary Education,Tertiary Education,Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2015–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7203&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua Goodman; Michael Hurwitz; Jonathan Smith |
| Abstract: | The relatively low degree completion rate of U.S. college students has prompted debate over the extent to which the problem is attributable to the students or to their choice of colleges. Estimating the impact of initial college choice is confounded by the non-random nature of college selection. We solve this selection problem by studying the universe of SAT-takers in the state of Georgia, where minimum SAT scores required for admission to the four-year public college sector generate exogenous variation in initial college choice. Regression discontinuity estimates comparing the relatively low-skilled students just above and below this minimum threshold show that access to this sector increases enrollment in four-year colleges, largely by diverting students from two-year community colleges. Most importantly, access to four-year public colleges substantially increases bachelor’s degree completion rates, particularly for low-income students. Conditional on a student’s own academic skill, the institutional completion rate of his initial college explains a large fraction of his own probability of completion. Consistent with prior research on college quality and the two-year college penalty, these results may explain part of the labor market return to college quality. |
| JEL: | I2 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20996&r=edu |
| By: | Brie, Mircea |
| Abstract: | The issue of national minorities is, in the process of European construction, one of the most important aspects that European countries have had to manage. The European legislation and practice promote the idea of living together in the sense of social value consisting in accepting otherness, good understanding of the various ethnic groups within the same local communities and openness to communication and cooperation. The European education should not be directed exclusively to knowing the minority communities, but also to understanding the mechanisms of management and development of partnership relations between the minority and the majority. The complexity of education concerning national minorities is given by the need for multiple approaches on different levels and with various depths of analysis that require interdisciplinary conceptual and methodological references. Thus the diachronic analysis of demographic realities is combined with the analysis regarding legislative, administrative-political, cultural-educational, social-economic, linguistic issues, all filtered by European values, framework and national or European framework. In terms of education for and about minorities there is a need to develop a legal and institutional framework to enable and to promote an intercultural education system. National minorities should not only be able to express themselves freely and without any restrictions from the majority by adequate education, but their specific characteristics and particularities should be included in school curricula of the majority. |
| Keywords: | national minority; education; interculturality; Romania; Europe |
| JEL: | F5 J15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62422&r=edu |
| By: | Scott A. Imberman; Michael Naretta; Margaret O’Rourke |
| Abstract: | While prior research has found clear impacts of schools and school quality on property values, little is known about whether charter schools have similar effects. Using sale price data for residential properties in Los Angeles County from 2008 to 2011 we estimate the neighborhood level impact of charter schools on housing prices. Using an identification strategy that relies on census block fixed-effects and variation in charter penetration over time, we find little evidence that the availability of charter schools affect housing prices on average. However, we do find that when restricting to charter schools located in the same school district as the household, housing prices outside Los Angeles Unified School District fall in response to an increase in nearby charter penetration. |
| JEL: | H41 I21 I22 R21 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20990&r=edu |
| By: | Sule Alan (University of Essex); Seda Ertac (Koc University) |
| Abstract: | We report results from the impact evaluation of a randomized educational intervention targeted at elementary school children. The program uses case studies, stories and classroom activities to improve the ability to imagine future selves, and emphasizes forward-looking behavior. We find that treated students make more patient intertemporal choices in incentivized experimental tasks. The effect is stronger for students who are identified as present-biased in the baseline. Furthermore, using official administrative records, we find that treated children are significantly less likely to receive a low "behavioral grade". These results are persistent one year after the intervention, replicate well in a different sample, and are robust across different experimental elicitation methods. |
| Keywords: | intertemporal choice, randomized field experiments, non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | C93 D91 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2015-003&r=edu |
| By: | FERRANTE, FRANCESCO |
| Abstract: | Human capital is invariably found to be an important explanatory variable of various proxies of well being (WB), i.e. income, happiness, job and life satisfaction, health status. Nevertheless, to date few systematic efforts have been made to explain its various and interconnected functions. The U-shaped age-SWB relation found in many empirical studies suggest that investigating the pattern of different measures of WB over people’s life cycle may reveal important information and provide useful insights about the main mechanisms connecting human capital and WB. In this paper I contend that there are four of such links. First, human capital improves the skills in decision making in different life domains. Second, it improves the skills and knowledge in doing things and enjoying life. Third, human capital shapes our identity/personality traits and, fourth, by doing so, it fuels our aspirations in different life domains. The first two effects can be expected to improve people’s performance and subjective well being. Building on Ferrante (2009), more ambiguous is the impact of human capital through the joint action of people’s identity and aspirations. In this paper, I explore data drawn from the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) conducted by the Bank of Italy (2008), containing rich information on people’s socioeconomic and educational background, educational and skill mismatch in the workplace and various measures of WB such as income, happiness, job satisfaction and health status. The tentative explanations of my empirical findings are: (a) people experience large mismatches in aspirations/expectations early in adult life; (d) the latter mismatches depend on education and are largely confined to the labour market; (c) the curvature of the U-shaped age-happiness relationship depends on the level of education. The suggested interpretation of these results is that education affects both people’s expectations and the way they react to unfulfilled aspirations. |
| Keywords: | Education, human capital, aspirations, mismatch, satisfaction, well being |
| JEL: | I21 I31 J24 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62474&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Goldring; Fabian Lange; Seth Richards-Shubik |
| Abstract: | We develop a flexible test for changes in the SES-mortality gradient over time that directly accounts for changes in the distribution of education, the most commonly used marker of SES. We implement the test for the period between 1984 and 2006 using microdata from the Census, CPS, and NHIS linked to death records. Using our flexible test, we find that the evidence for a change in the education-mortality gradient is not as strong and universal as previous research has suggested. Our results indicate that the gradient increased for females during this time period, but we cannot rule out that the gradient among males has not changed. Informally, the results suggest that the changes for females are mainly driven by the bottom of the education distribution. |
| JEL: | I14 J11 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20993&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Curriculum and Instruction Access and Equity in Basic Education Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21326&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Tertiary Education Education - Access & Equity in Basic Education |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21069&r=edu |
| By: | Olga Kupets (Associate Professor, Department of Economics, National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the incidence and determinants of education‐job vertical mismatch in four non-EU transition economies, namely Armenia, Georgia, Macedonia and Ukraine. It uses cross‐section data from the recent World Bank’s Skills toward Employment and Productivity (STEP) surveys of working-age urban population and applies several methods of measuring the incidence of education‐job mismatch. The particular interest is to examine whether the young generation that acquired education in modern economic environment is different from the older generation that studied before or shortly after the onset of transition, and whether overeducated and undereducated workers are different from those who are well-matched in terms of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Our study shows that although workers from the older pre-transition cohort have relatively higher incidence of overeducation in Georgia and Armenia and lower incidence of overeducation in Ukraine and Macedonia as compared to younger workers from the transition cohort, the effect of cohort and age is rarely significant when other important characteristics are taken into account. Overeducated individuals seem to possess a relatively worse bundle of skills than workers who are adequately matched to their jobs in terms of formal education, undereducated individuals often perform better than well-matched workers, but the differences are not always significant. |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:915&r=edu |
| By: | Marco Paccagnella |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits data from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) to shed light on the link between measured cognitive skills (proficiency), (formal) educational attainment and labour market outcomes. After presenting descriptive statistics on the degree of dispersion in the distributions of proficiency and wages, the paper shows that the cross-country correlation between these two dimensions of inequality is very low and, if anything, negative. As a next step, the paper provides estimates of the impact of both proficiency and formal education at different parts of the distribution of earnings. Formal education is found to have a larger impact on inequality, given that returns to education are in general much higher at the top than at the bottom of the distribution. The profile of returns to proficiency, by contrary, is much flatter. This is consistent with the idea that PIAAC measures rather general skills, while at the top end of the distribution the labour market rewards specialised knowledge that is necessarily acquired through tertiary and graduate education. Finally, a decomposition exercise shows that composition effects are able to explain a very limited amount of the observed cross-country differences in wage inequality. This suggests that economic institutions, by shaping the way personal characteristics are rewarded in the labour market, are the main determinants of wage inequality.<BR>Ce document exploite les données de l'Évaluation des compétences des adultes (PIAAC) pour tenter de mieux comprendre le lien entre les compétences cognitives mesurées (le niveau de compétence), le niveau de formation (dans le cadre institutionnel) et les résultats sur le marché du travail. Après la présentation de statistiques descriptives sur le degré de dispersion des distributions des niveaux de compétence et des revenus, le document montre que la corrélation internationale entre ces deux dimensions d’inégalité est très faible et, le cas échéant, négative. Le document présente ensuite des estimations de l'incidence à la fois du niveau de compétence et du niveau de formation dans le cadre institutionnel à différents points de la distribution des revenus. Le niveau de formation dans le cadre institutionnel s’avère avoir une incidence plus importante sur l'inégalité, les rendements de l'éducation étant en général bien plus élevés dans la partie supérieure de la distribution que dans sa partie inférieure. Les rendements du niveau de compétence présentent, en revanche, un profil beaucoup plus plat. Ce constat concorde avec le fait que le PIAAC évalue des compétences plutôt générales, tandis qu’au sommet de la distribution, le marché du travail récompense des connaissances spécialisées nécessairement acquises dans l'enseignement supérieur et universitaire. Enfin, un exercice de décomposition montre que les effets de composition ne sont en mesure d'expliquer qu’un nombre très limité des différences d'inégalité des revenus observées entre les pays. Ce constat laisse penser qu’en façonnant la manière dont les caractéristiques personnelles sont récompensées sur le marché du travail, les institutions économiques sont les principaux déterminants de l'inégalité des revenus. |
| Date: | 2015–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:114-en&r=edu |
| By: | Farrukh Iqbal |
| Keywords: | Access and Equity in Basic Education Teaching and Learning Gender - Gender and Education Education - Education For All Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Regional Economic Development |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21290&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Tertiary Education Education - Access & Equity in Basic Education |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21078&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning Social Protections and Labor - Labor Markets Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Education - Access & Equity in Basic Education |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21083&r=edu |
| By: | Liemt, Gijsbert van |
| Abstract: | This paper was written by Gijsbert van Liemt, an independent consultant on employment and skills policies, and a former ILO official working on Active Labour Market Policies. His paper discusses secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the Netherlands, highlighting the role of TVET in regional training centres which offer a broad range of programmes at different levels. It identifies reasons why Dutch TVET has received international attention, and examines the role of the social partners in this system, as well as the initiatives by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to change the framework over recent years. It provides a brief overview of the Dutch labour market and labour relations and of the main sources of labour market information, before discussing the role of business in secondary TVET, its place in the overall education system, government policies and related issues. It also covers the salaries, working conditions and job satisfaction of teachers and trainers. |
| Keywords: | vocational education, vocational training, continuing vocational training, teaching personnel, working conditions, training centre, enterprise level, Netherlands |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:485252&r=edu |
| By: | Alfonso Arellano; Noelia Camara; David Tuesta |
| Abstract: | This study analyses whether self-confidence affects financial abilities of young people in Spain, through financial literacy. We use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Financial Literacy (2012) report, conducted by the OECD. Our hypothesis is that non-cognitive factors are important to establish young people s financial literacy. Financial knowledge, together with other personal attitudes, determines people s financial behaviour. We focus on the role of self-confidence in four dimensions. First, the student’s self-confidence in the environment of their college; second, self-confidence referring to the utility found at school; third, self-confidence in relation to the results obtained; and finally, self-confidence in a broader sense. Our multi-level estimates show that students with higher levels of self-confidence score higher in financial literacy tests, whatever the dimension considered. Beyond the individual s inherent characteristics, there are other factors such as maturity, gender, socio-economic characteristics and the surroundings, which also influence financial literacy. |
| Keywords: | Developed Economies, Emerging Economies, Financial Inclusion, Global, Spain |
| JEL: | I00 D83 C81 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1428&r=edu |
| By: | Aring, Monika |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the skills needs in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and how Member States can strengthen their skills and training systems to benefit from emerging opportunities of integration and boost competitiveness. Maximizing the benefits of regional integration will necessitate leveraging the knowledge, skills and creativity of ASEAN’s labour force of 317 million women and men. This paper looks at statistical trends since 2005 regarding education and skills attainment, and technical and vocational education and training enrolment in ASEAN. It assesses the quality of education and vocational training and the readiness of ASEAN’s labour force, including young people making the school-to-work transition, to take advantage of new opportunities in a more integrated and dynamic region. The paper also examines the challenge of skills mismatch and skilled labour shortages in the region. |
| Keywords: | labour market, interindustry shift, skill requirements, competitiveness, employability, ASEAN countries, marché du travail, mutation interindustrielle, besoins en travailleurs qualifiés, compétitivité, aptitude à l'emploi, pays de l'ANASE, mercado de trabajo, desplazamiento industrial, requisitos de cualificación, competitividad, empleabilidad, países del ASEAN |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:487273&r=edu |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning Social Protections and Labor - Labor Markets Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Education - Access & Equity in Basic Education |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21077&r=edu |
| By: | Anna Minasyan (Georg-August-University Göttingen) |
| Abstract: | Development aid from the West may lead to adverse growth effects in the global South due to the neglected cultural context in the development framework. There is evidence that development agendas are mainly premised upon western thought and belief systems. Therefore, I hypothesize that the expected effect of development aid on the economic growth of recipients is impaired by cultural differences between western donors and aid recipients. I test this hypothesis empirically by augmenting an aid-growth model with proxy variables of cultural distance between donors and recipients. Namely, based on the theory of cultural transmission, I use donor-recipient weighted genetic distance, to capture vertical transmission of culture. Then, I use western education of the chief executive of the recipient country to capture horizontal transmission of culture. Results of OLS panel estimation in first differences for 1961-2010 period show that a one unit increase in donor-recipient genetic distance reduces the effect of aid on growth by 0.2 percentage points, if aid is increased by one percentage point. In turn, a one percentage point increase in aid yields, on average, 0.3 percentage point increase in growth after a decade, if the leader in power has western education. |
| Keywords: | aid effectiveness; cultural differences; genetic distance; western education |
| JEL: | O17 O19 |
| Date: | 2015–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:167&r=edu |
| By: | Derrick M. Anderson; Andrew B. Whitford |
| Abstract: | National statistical systems are the enterprises tasked with collecting, validating and reporting societal attributes. These data serve many purposes - they allow governments to improve services, economic actors to traverse markets, and academics to assess social theories. National statistical systems vary in quality, especially in developing countries. This study examines determinants of national statistical capacity in developing countries, focusing on the impact of general purpose technologies (GPTs). Just as technological progress helps to explain differences in economic growth, states with markets with greater technological attainment (specifically, general purpose technologies) arguably have greater capacity for gathering and processing quality data. Analysis using panel methods shows a strong, statistically significant positive linear relationship between GPTs and national statistical capacity. There is no evidence to support a non-linear function in this relationship. Which is to say, there does not appear to be a marginal depreciating National Statistical Capacity benefit associated with increases in GPTs. |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1502.07625&r=edu |