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on Education |
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Issue of 2015‒10‒25
fifteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Bachan, Raymond Imtiaz |
| Abstract: | This thesis is comprised of three essays that examine three contemporary themes in UK higher education that have emerged, particularly over the past two decades, within an expanding higher education sector. The first essay focuses on the issue of Vice Chancellor (VC) pay, which has risen considerably in real terms since the early 1990s. Vice Chancellors are among the highest paid public sector CEOs and the level and annual increase in pay generates an annual furore in the popular media and from teaching and lecturers’ unions. Specifically, we investigate whether VC pay awards are justified, given that VCs now require greater managerial skills than in the past due to the complexity and the size of the institutions they now manage. We find that VC pay is related to success in furthering university expansion and is associated with success in widening participation in accordance with current government policy, which suggests that there may be scope in introducing some performance element in VC pay determination. There is also evidence that internal pay structure and external comparable pay are important in determining VC pay. The second essay is set against the backdrop of rising student debt and examines student debt expectation. We offer a novel contribution to the limited literature that exists on this issue. We find that expected debt is related to student demographic and socio-economic characteristics, future earnings expectations, student time preference and risk taking behaviour. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the current system of student financial support has little effect on debt expectations and may compromise HE participation particularly amongst students in the lower socio-economic groups. The final essay investigates the upward drift in the percentage share of ‘good’ degree classifications in UK higher education, which increased considerably since the mid- 2000s and coincides with a rise in the maximum limit universities are allowed to charge potential students for tuition. We find evidence of grade inflation in UK higher education since the mid-2000s which coincides with the sharp increase in fees students were obliged to pay. Thus, degree classifications may lose their worth as signals of graduate ability and the current system of degree classification may need some revision if correct signals of graduate ability and effort are to be sent to interested parties. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susphd:0615&r=all |
| By: | Cappellari, Lorenzo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Di Paolo, Antonio (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the 1983 language-in-education reform that introduced Catalan alongside Spanish as medium of instruction in Catalan schools to estimate the labour market value of bilingual education. Identification is achieved in a difference-in-differences framework exploiting variation in exposure to the reform across years of schooling and years of birth. We find positive wage returns to bilingual education and no effects on employment, hours of work or occupation. Results are robust to education-cohort specific trends or selection into schooling and are mainly stemming from exposure at compulsory education. We show that the effect worked through increased Catalan proficiency for Spanish speakers and that there were also positive effects for Catalan speakers from families with low education. These findings are consistent with human capital effects rather than with more efficient job search or reduced discrimination. Exploiting the heterogeneous effects of the reform as an instrument for proficiency we find sizeable earnings effects of skills in Catalan. |
| Keywords: | bilingual education, returns to schooling, language-in-education reform, Catalonia |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9431&r=all |
| By: | Samantha B. Rawlings (University of Aberdeen) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of parental education on child health, exploiting a compulsory schooling law implemented in China in 1986 that extended schooling from 6 to 9 years. It finds that it is maternal, rather than paternal, education that matters most for child health. There are also important differences in the effect according to child gender. An additional year of mother’s education raises boys height-for-age by 0.163 standard deviations, whilst there is no statistically significant effect on girls height. Parental education appears to have little effect on weight-for-age of children. Estimated effects on height are driven by the rural sample, where an additional year of mother’s education raises boys height for age by 0.228 standard deviations and lowers the probability of a boy being classified as stunted by 6.6 percentage points. Results therefore suggest that - at least in rural areas - son preference in China has additional impacts beyond the sex-ratio at birth. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, Health, China |
| JEL: | C21 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duh:wpaper:1511&r=all |
| By: | Acosta, Pablo A. (World Bank); Muller, Noel (World Bank); Sarzosa, Miguel (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between individuals' skills and labor market outcomes for the working-age population of Colombia's urban areas. Using a 2012 unique household survey, the paper finds that cognitive skills (aptitudes to perform mental tasks such as comprehension or reasoning) and socio-emotional skills (personality traits and behaviors) matter for favorable labor market outcomes in the Colombian context, although they have distinct roles. Cognitive skills are greatly associated with higher earnings and holding a formal job or a high-qualified occupation. By contrast, socio-emotional skills appear to have little direct influence on these outcomes, but play a stronger role in labor market participation. Both types of skills, especially cognitive skills, are largely associated with pursuing tertiary education. The analysis applies standard econometric techniques as a benchmark and structural estimations to correct for the measurement error of skill constructs. |
| Keywords: | returns to skills, cognitive skills, socio-emotional skills, personality traits, latent skills, unobserved heterogeneity, labor market outcomes, Colombia |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I24 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9403&r=all |
| By: | María Edo (Universidad de San Andrés - CONICET); Mariana Marchionni (CEDLAS - UNLP - CONICET) |
| Abstract: | Argentina has traditionally stood out in terms of educational outcomes among its Latin American counterparts. Schooling among older children, however, still shows room for improvement especially among the more vulnerable. Fortunately, the last decade witnessed a sizeable improvement in attendance rates for children aged 15 through 17. This could be related to the 2006 National Education Law that made uppersecondary education compulsory. In this paper, instead, we claim that the Asignación Universal por Hijo (AUH) a massive conditional cash transfer program implemented in 2009 in Argentina may be partly responsible for this improvement. Using a difference in difference model we estimate that the program accounts for a 3.9 percentage point increase in attendance rates among those eligible children aged 15 through 17. |
| JEL: | J13 H52 I21 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0190&r=all |
| By: | Lorenzo Cappellari (Department of Economics and Finance. Universitá Cattolica Milano); Antonio di Paolo (Department of Econometrics. University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the 1983 language-in-education reform that introduced Catalan alongside Spanish as medium of instruction in Catalan schools to estimate the labour market value of bilingual education. Identification is achieved in a difference-in-differences framework exploiting variation in exposure to the reform across years of schooling and years of birth. We find positive wage returns to bilingual education and no effects on employment, hours of work or occupation. Results are robust to education-cohort specific trends or selection into schooling and are mainly stemming from exposure at compulsory education. We show that the effect worked through increased Catalan proficiency for Spanish speakers and that there were also positive effects for Catalan speakers from families with low education. These findings are consistent with human capital effects rather than with more efficient job search or reduced discrimination. Exploiting the heterogeneous effects of the reform as an instrument for proficiency we find sizeable earnings effects of skills in Catalan. |
| Keywords: | bilingual education, returns to schooling, language-in-education reform, Catalonia JEL classification: J24, J25, I28. |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201511&r=all |
| By: | Daniel A. Kamhöfer (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheitsökonomik (CINCH), Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Duisburg-Essen); Hendrik Schmitz (Department Volkswirtschaftslehre Fachbereich für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Paderborn); Matthias Westphal (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheitsökonomik (CINCH), Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Duisburg-Essen) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate the effects of college education on cognitive abilities and health exploiting exogenous variation in college availability and student loan regulations. By means of semiparametric local instrumental variables techniques we estimate marginal treatment effects in an environment of essential heterogeneity. The results suggest heterogeneous but always positive effects on cognitive skills and homogeneously positive effects for all health outcomes but mental health, where the effects are around zero throughout. We find that likely mechanisms of positive physical health returns are effects of college education on physically demanding activities on the job and health behavior such as smoking and drinking while mentally more demanding jobs might explain the skill returns. |
| Keywords: | Returns to higher education, cognitive abilities, health, marginal treatment effect |
| JEL: | C31 H52 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duh:wpaper:1512&r=all |
| By: | Ali Protik; Steven Glazerman; Julie Bruch; Bing-ru Teh |
| Abstract: | In this journal article, Protik, Glazerman, Bruch, and Teh examine behavioral responses to an incentive program that offers high-performing teachers in ten school districts across the country $20,000 to transfer into the district's hardest-to-staff schools. |
| Keywords: | education, teachers, school, TTI, random assignment |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2015–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:a22112a4287340c58be8fe2b515fc249&r=all |
| By: | Gabrielle Wills (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | In the past decade there has been a notable shift in South African education policy that raises the value of school leadership as a lever for learning improvements. Despite a growing discourse on school leadership, there has been a lack of empirical-based evidence on principals to inform, validate or debate the efficacy of proposed policies in raising the calibre of school principals. In response, this paper profiles the labour market for school principals in South Africa, highlighting its overarching characteristics with implications for principal policy reforms. A defining feature of this market is that principals are unequally distributed across schools with typically less qualified and less experienced principals overly represented in poorer schools. In part, the patterns of unequal principal sorting across schools are attributable to historically imposed policies that matched teachers and principals to schools along racial lines. However initial matching of new principals to schools continues to persist in line with historical patterns. In a context of low levels of principal mobility and high tenure, policies should be aimed at improving the initial match of principals to schools while developing incumbent principals over their length of tenure. Moreover improving the design and implementation of policies guiding the appointment process for principals is a matter of urgency. A substantial and increasing number of principal replacements are taking place across South African schools given a rising age profile of school principals. Selection criteria need to be amended to identify relevant expertise and skills, rather than relying on observed principal credentials in payroll which are shown to be poor signals of principal quality in school fixed effects estimations. |
| Keywords: | Principal labour market, Principal turnover, Principal appointments, School performance, Retirement, South Africa |
| JEL: | J45 J63 J26 I28 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers245&r=all |
| By: | Miron Tequame; Nyasha Tirivayi (University of Maastricht) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of womens higher education on fertility outcomes in Ethiopia. We exploit an abrupt increase in the supply of tertiary education induced by a liberalisation policy. Using an age discontinuity in the exposure to higher education reform, we find that education lowers fertility by 8 and increases the likelihood of never giving birth by 25. We explore the role of potential underlying mechanisms and find that this negative effect on fertility is channelled through positive assortative mating and the postponement of marriage and motherhood. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Higher Education, Assortative Matching, Marriage, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | O12 I23 I25 I38 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duh:wpaper:1509&r=all |
| By: | Masino Serena; Ni.o-Zaraz.a Miguel |
| Abstract: | We conducted a systematic review to identify policy interventions that improve education quality and student learning in developing countries. Relying on a theory of change typology, we highlight three main drivers of change of education quality: first, s |
| Keywords: | Economic development, Education |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2015-033&r=all |
| By: | Belot, Michèle (University of Edinburgh); James, Jonathan (University of Bath); Nolen, Patrick J. (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a field experiment in 31 primary schools in England to test the effectiveness of different temporary incentive schemes, an individual based incentive scheme and a competitive scheme, on increasing the choice and consumption of fruit and vegetables at lunchtime. The individual scheme has a weak positive effect whereas all pupils respond to positively to the competitive scheme. For our sample of interest, the competitive scheme increases choice of fruit and vegetables by 33% and consumption of fruit and vegetables by 48%, twice and three times as much as the individual incentive scheme, respectively. The positive effects generally carry over to the week immediately following the treatment but we find little evidence of any effects six months later. Our results show that incentives can work, at least temporarily, to increase healthy eating but there are large differences in effectiveness between schemes and across demographics such as age and gender. |
| Keywords: | incentives, health, habits, child nutrition, field experiments |
| JEL: | J13 I18 I28 H51 H52 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9424&r=all |
| By: | Geoff Mason |
| Abstract: | There is now intense interest in developing a new industrial policy for the UK which, among other aims, will encourage more UK-based firms to shift towards higher value added activities in a range of industries. In this paper we argue that, if any such industrial policy is to be effective in improving UK economic performance, it needs to stimulate higher levels of innovation by firms. In particular, the policy must encourage a sizeable number of firms who do not currently engage in innovation to start doing so. This in turn implies an increased demand for innovation-related skills and knowledge by UK firms that is unlikely to be met by an industrial training system which is beset by historical weaknesses. Thus the emergence of new industrial policy needs to be complemented by new training policies designed to make skills development and utilisation more cost-effective and to stimulate higher levels of employer demand for innovation-related skills and training. These new policies will need to be balanced in three dimensions: between technical and generic skills, between higher and intermediate skills, and between initial and continuing education and training. |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:431&r=all |
| By: | Bulman, George (University of California, Santa Cruz); Fairlie, Robert W. (University of California, Santa Cruz) |
| Abstract: | A substantial amount of money is spent on technology by schools, families and policymakers with the hope of improving educational outcomes. This chapter explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational purposes: i) classroom use in schools, and ii) home use by students. Theoretically, ICT investment and CAI use by schools and the use of computers at home have ambiguous implications for educational achievement: expenditures devoted to technology necessarily offset inputs that may be more or less efficient, and time allocated to using technology may displace traditional classroom instruction and educational activities at home. However, much of the evidence in the schooling literature is based on interventions that provide supplemental funding for technology or additional class time, and thus favor finding positive effects. Nonetheless, studies of ICT and CAI in schools produce mixed evidence with a pattern of null results. Notable exceptions to this pattern occur in studies of developing countries and CAI interventions that target math rather than language. In the context of home use, early studies based on multivariate and instrumental variables approaches tend to find large positive (and in a few cases negative) effects while recent studies based on randomized control experiments tend to find small or null effects. Early research focused on developed countries while more recently several experiments have been conducted in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | technology, education, computers, internet, software |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9432&r=all |
| By: | Stephen Lipscomb; Jeffrey Terziev; Duncan Chaplin |
| Abstract: | In this report we analyzed data on two measures of teacher performance—one (the Framework for Teaching or FFT) is based largely on classroom observations and the other (value-added) is based on student test scores. The data we analyzed cover 6,676 teachers from 269 districts in the state of Pennsylvania. Although FFT scores are overwhelmingly concentrated in the top performance categories, the positive correlations with VAM suggest that the FFT provides some meaningful differentiation and captures aspects of teacher skills related to student achievement growth. |
| Keywords: | Teacher evaluations, value-added measures, teacher observation scores, teaching practice |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2015–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:20ba9ab9063741bca31bc2c0b938529b&r=all |