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on Education |
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Issue of 2016‒01‒03
nineteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide information on intergenerational educational mobility in Turkey over the last century (at least over the last 65 years). This is the first study explicitly on providing the association between parents’ and children’s education in Turkey over time unlike the previous studies of one point in time. Given the absence of longitudinal data, we make use of a unique data set on educational outcomes based on children recall of parental education. The data used is the result of Adult Education Survey of 2007. Several findings emerge from the analysis. First of all, children’s and parents’ educational outcomes are correlated. The intergenerational educational coefficient of the mothers is somewhat larger than that of the fathers. The intergenerational educational coefficients of both the mothers and the fathers decrease over the cohorts implying that intergenerational educational mobility increased significantly for the younger generations of children in Turkey. The chances of attaining a university degree for the children increases as fathers’ completed schooling level increases. Men’s chances of attaining high school or university education are substantially higher than that of women’s. The association between parent and child education is stronger when parent educational background is poor. The results imply that the policy makes should focus on children with poor parental educational background and on women. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, educational transmission, Turkey. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J11 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1528&r=edu |
| By: | Temesgen Kifle (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Mohammad Alauddin (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | While student evaluation of courses (SEC) in higher education is an intensely researched area, the existing literature has not paid due attention to rigorous econometric analysis of the SEC data. Using the four-year (2010-2013) evaluation results for economics courses on offer at one of Australia’s top eight universities, this study employed a random effects ordered probit model with Mundlak correction to identify factors influencing student ratings of courses. This represents an innovative application to educational data. Findings show that class-level, course-level, class-size, instructors’ course-specific experience and their linguistic background influence student ratings of courses. Lecturers’ prior teaching experience in a course and their English language background attracted higher rating while second and third-level courses relative to postgraduate classes, 2010 and 2012 student cohorts relative to 2013, and larger classes attracted lower ratings. Implications include specific training for instructors of non-English speaking background (NESB), teaching larger classes, and intermediate and upper undergraduate courses. This study underscores the critical importance of student-specific responses capturing student heterogeneity in preference to class-average data including students’ academic performance, discipline destination, linguistic background, age and indicators of effort-level. It raises survey instrument implications e.g., sub-scales, data on course contents providing intellectual challenges, real world applications, and problem-solving skills. |
| Keywords: | Course evaluation, Course characteristics, Economics, Instructor characteristics, Student characteristics |
| JEL: | A20 C10 I21 |
| Date: | 2015–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:551&r=edu |
| By: | Holt, Stephen B. (American University); Gershenson, Seth (American University) |
| Abstract: | Representative bureaucracy theory is central to public administration scholarship due to the likely relationship between the demographic composition of the public workforce and both the actual and perceived performance of public organizations. Primary school classrooms provide an ideal context in which to test the predictions of representative bureaucracy theory at the micro (student) level. Specifically, since parents have at least some agency over primary school students' daily attendance, absences reflect parental assessments of their child's school, classroom, and teacher. The representativeness of the teacher workforce, and specifically that of the student's classroom teacher, is therefore likely to influence student absenteeism. Similarly, student suspensions reflect students' relationships with their teacher, students' comfort level in the classroom, and teachers' discretion in the referral of misbehavior. These academically and socially important outcomes provide convenient, objective measures of behaviors that are likely influenced by street-level representation. Using longitudinal student-level administrative data from the North Carolina, we use a two-way (student and classroom) fixed effects strategy to identify the impact of student-teacher demographic mismatch on primary school students' absences and suspensions. We find that representation among street-level bureaucrats significantly decreases both absenteeism and suspensions and that these effects can be given a causal interpretation. The introduction of two-way fixed effects estimators to public administration scholarship is a secondary contribution of the current study. |
| Keywords: | representative bureaucracy, student absences, elementary education, teacher workforce |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9554&r=edu |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey, Institute for Study of Labor (IZA), P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany, and Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo,) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide information on intergenerational educational mobility in Turkey over the last century (at least ovet the last 65 years). This is the first study explicitly on providing the association between parents’ and children’s education in Turkey over time unlike the previous studies of one point in time. Given the absence of longitudinal data, we make use of a unique data set on educational outcomes based on children recall of parental education. The data used is the result of Adult Education Survey of 2007. Several findings emerge from the analysis. First of all, children’s and parents’ educational outcomes are correlated. The intergenerational educational coefficient of the mothers is somewhat larger than that of the fathers. The intergenerational educational coefficients of both the mothers and the fathers decrease over the cohorts implying that intergenerational educational mobility increased significantly for the younger generations of children in Turkey. The chances of attaining a university degree for the children increases as fathers’ completed schooling level increases. Men’s chances of attaining high school or university education are substantially higher than that of women’s. The association between parent and child education is stronger when parent educational background is poor. The results imply that the policy makes should focus on children with poor parental educational background and on women. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2015/16&r=edu |
| By: | Giordono, Leanne (Oregon State University); Pugatch, Todd (Oregon State University) |
| Abstract: | Informal school fees – for uniforms, books, and other supplies – are substantial in developing countries, often several times formal tuition. We evaluate a scholarship program that alleviated informal fees for girls in a subset of Gambian secondary schools. The program is unique because it overlapped with a government policy that had already eliminated formal school fees for girls, allowing for a comparison between program recipients and students who paid no tuition fees but were responsible for other expenses. We analyze the program using difference-in-differences, an identification strategy we support by documenting common pre-treatment outcome trends between treated and untreated schools. We find that informal fee alleviation increased female enrollment by 13% and the share of enrolled students who took the 9th grade exit exam by 11 percentage points. These results highlight the importance of informal fees in secondary school outcomes, even in settings where formal fees have been lifted. |
| Keywords: | school fee elimination, informal fees, secondary school, gender gap, Gambia |
| JEL: | O15 I21 I25 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9560&r=edu |
| By: | Giovanni Abbiati; Carlo Barone |
| Abstract: | This study assesses students’ expectations about the profitability of the investment in university education. We consider Italy as a test case and provide fresh high-quality data on students’ expectations concerning the costs, economic returns and chances of success of this investment. These are compared with data on the corresponding actual values. We find that the estimates provided by upper secondary school seniors are highly inaccurate, highly uncertain and systematically biased. Students overestimate the returns to university degrees, while they are over-pessimistic regarding university costs and drop-out risks. These results confirm previous studies on perceived university costs, but they challenge the dominant view that students can realistically forecast graduate earnings. We trace this discrepancy to two methodological shortcomings of several previous studies on expected graduate earnings. Moreover, we find that information barriers are not equally distributed among social groups. High-status students overestimate the economic returns to university more and they are more optimistic regarding their chances of success in Higher Education, even after allowing for their higher objective returns and chances of success. Our interpretation of the importance of information barriers focuses on the interaction between cognitive biases and institutional constraints. |
| Keywords: | educational inequality; rational action theory; students’ expectations |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2015-13&r=edu |
| By: | Borcan, Oana (University of Gothenburg); Lindahl, Mikael (University of Gothenburg); Mitrut, Andreea (University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the distributional consequences of a corruption-fighting 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 for teachers and students. We find that the campaign was effective in reducing corruption and, in particular, that monitoring increased the effectiveness of the punishment threats. Estimating the heterogeneous impact for students of different poverty status we show that curbing corruption led 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: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9561&r=edu |
| By: | Panagiotis Kampylis (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Yves Punie (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Jim Devine (DEVINE Policy - Projects - Innovation) |
| Abstract: | Digital technologies are being incorporated in exciting and promising ways at all levels of education. To consolidate progress and to ensure scale and sustainability education institutions need to review their organisational strategies in order to enhance their capacity for innovation and to exploit the full potential of digital technologies and content. This report presents the European Framework for Digitally-Competent Educational Organisations (DigCompOrg). This framework can facilitate transparency and comparability between related initiatives throughout Europe and play a role in addressing fragmentation and uneven development across the Member States. The primary purposes of DigCompOrg framework are (i) to encourage self-reflection and self-assessment within educational organisations as they progressively deepen their engagement with digital learning and pedagogies (ii) to enable policy makers to design, implement and evaluate policy interventions for the integration and effective use of digital learning technologies. |
| Keywords: | Digitally-competent educational organisations, innovation in education, European Framework for Digitally-Competent Eeducational Organisations, educational policy, digital learning technologies, self-assessment questionnaire, ICT for learning and skills |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I23 I28 I29 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc98209&r=edu |
| By: | Takahiro Akita (Rikkyo University) |
| Abstract: | Based on the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) from 1997 to 2011, this study examines the role of education in expenditure inequality in Indonesia under educational expansion since the 1997 financial crisis. This is achieved using the three decomposition methods: the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition; the decomposition of the Gini coefficient; and the hierarchical decomposition of the Theil index. The expansion of education, particularly basic education in rural areas, appears to have not only lowered educational disparity between the urban and rural sectors but also educational inequality within the rural sector. Due in large part to the declining educational disparity between the urban and rural sectors, the urban-rural expenditure disparity has narrowed since the mid-2000s. On the other hand, the expansion of higher education in urban areas appears to have played an important role in the recent rise in overall expenditure inequality by raising not only disparity between educational groups but also inequality within the tertiary education group. Basic education policies would still serve as an effective means to mitigate expenditure inequality, as they could reduce not only educational gap between the urban and rural sectors but also educational inequality within the rural sector by raising general educational levels. Since the expansion of higher education in urban areas seems to be one of the main factors of the recent rise in overall expenditure inequality, higher education policies would also be crucial. |
| Keywords: | educational expansion, expenditure inequality, decomposition of education Gini, hierarchical decomposition of Theil index, Indonesia |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2015-24&r=edu |
| By: | María-Jesús Mancebón (University of Zaragoza); Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún (University of Zaragoza); Mauro Mediavilla (University of Valencia & IEB); José-María Gómez-Sancho (University of Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | One of the subjects that has focused the empirical work of many educational economists has been the public funding of privately run schools. In this paper we use a quasiexperimental approach in order to evaluate the effect of attending a Spanish publicly subsidised private school on some of the educational skills promoted by Spanish primary schools. Our results underline the existence of a certain advantage of the publicly subsidised private school in some educational competencies, in particular those related to the dominance of abilities in solving problems and questions related to scientific skills. |
| Keywords: | School choice, propensity score matching, hierarchical linear models, unobservable variables bias, sciences and foreign language (English) skills, primary schools |
| JEL: | I21 I29 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2015-40&r=edu |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A. (Stanford University); Ruhose, Jens (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | There is limited existing evidence justifying the economic case for state education policy. Using newly-developed measures of the human capital of each state that allow for internal migration and foreign immigration, we estimate growth regressions that incorporate worker skills. We find that educational achievement strongly predicts economic growth across U.S. states over the past four decades. Based on projections from our growth models, we show the enormous scope for state economic development through improving the quality of schools. While we consider the impact for each state of a range of educational reforms, an improvement that moves each state to the best-performing state would in the aggregate yield a present value of long-run economic gains of over four times current GDP. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, human capital, cognitive skills, schooling, U.S. states |
| JEL: | I21 J24 O47 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9555&r=edu |
| By: | Gershenson, Seth (American University); Jacknowitz, Alison (American University); Brannegan, Andrew (Aspire Public Schools) |
| Abstract: | Student absences are a potentially important, yet understudied, input in the educational process. Using longitudinal data from a nationally-representative survey and rich administrative records from North Carolina, we investigate the relationship between student absences and academic performance. Generally, student absences are associated with modest but statistically significant decreases in academic achievement. The harmful effects of absences are approximately linear, and are two to three times larger among fourth and fifth graders in North Carolina than among kindergarten and first-grade students in the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. In both datasets, absences similarly reduce achievement in urban, rural, and suburban schools. In North Carolina, the harm associated with student absences is greater among both low-income students and English language learners, particularly for reading achievement. Also, in North Carolina, unexcused absences are twice as harmful as excused absences. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | student absences, attendance, achievement gaps, education production function |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9558&r=edu |
| By: | Mehtap Akguc (Research and Finance, Centre for European Policy Studies); Ana Ferrer (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | Using a recent survey of immigrants to France, we provide a detailed analysis of the educational attainment and labor market performance of various sub-population groups in France. Our results indicate that immigrants to France are less educated than the native born and that these differences can be tracked down to differences in socioeconomic background for most groups of immigrants. Similarly, there is a significant wage gap between immigrant and native-born workers regardless of gender, but this is reduced and sometimes disappears after correcting for selection into employment. In most cases the remaining differences in education and labor market outcomes seem related to the area of origin of the immigrant as well as where the education of the immigrant is obtained. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1505&r=edu |
| By: | Baert, Stijn (Ghent University); Cockx, Bart (Ghent University); Picchio, Matteo (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona) |
| Abstract: | A dynamic discrete choice model is set up to estimate the effects of grade retention in high school, both in the short- (end-of-year evaluation) and long-run (drop-out and delay). In contrast to regression discontinuity designs, this approach captures treatment heterogeneity and controls for grade-varying unobservable determinants. A method is proposed to deal with initial conditions and with partial observability of the track choices at the start of high school. Forced track downgrading is considered as an alternative remedial measure. In the long-run, grade retention and its alternative have adverse effects on schooling outcomes and, more so, for less able pupils. |
| Keywords: | education, grade retention, track mobility, dynamic discrete choice models, heterogeneous treatment effects |
| JEL: | C33 C35 I21 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9556&r=edu |
| By: | Barbara Dietz (IZA Bonn); Kseniia Gatskova; Artjoms Ivlevs |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between migration and children’s education in Tajikistan – one of the poorest and most remittance-dependent economies in the world. The analysis of a unique three-wave household panel survey reveals that emigration of family members is negatively associated with children’s school attendance. Receiving remittances does not offset this negative effect. Migration of non-parent family members (such as siblings) is particularly detrimental to school attendance, especially among older children and children from less educated households. This supports a conjecture that emigration in Tajikistan has a negative signaling effect on the education of children staying behind. |
| Keywords: | migration, remittances, schooling, Tajikistan |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:354&r=edu |
| By: | Kamhöfer, Daniel A.; Schmitz, Hendrik; Westphal, Matthias |
| 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 eff ects 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. |
| Abstract: | Diese Studie analysiert die Auswirkungen von Hochschulbildung auf verschiedene Maße von kognitiven Fähigkeiten und Gesundheit als zwei wichtige nicht-monetäre Größen. Für die Identifikation dieser Effekte nutzen wir die Hochschulexpansion in Deutschland in den 1950-90er Jahren sowie Variation in den BAföG-Freibeträgen. Diese Instrumente ermöglichen durch eine semiparametrische lokale Instrument-Variablen-Methode die Schätzung von marginalen Treatment-Effekten, die aufzeigen können, inwieweit essentielle Effektheterogenität vorliegt. Die Resultate zeigen signifikante, durchweg positive, aber heterogene Effekte für kognitive Fähigkeiten sowie homogen-positive Effekte für alle Gesundheitsmaße außer mentaler Gesundheit, für welche wir durchweg Null-Effekte finden. Wahrscheinliche Mechanismen für physische Gesundheitsrenditen sind körperlich anspruchsvolle Betätigungen am Arbeitsplatz und Gesundheitsverhalten wie Rauchen oder Alkoholkonsum, wohingegen geistig anspruchsvollere Tätigkeiten die Renditen der kognitiven Fähigkeiten zu treiben scheinen. |
| Keywords: | returns to higher education,cognitive abilities,health,marginal treatment effect |
| JEL: | C31 H52 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:591&r=edu |
| By: | Reis, Hugo (Banco de Portugal) |
| Abstract: | The paper develops and estimates a dynamic structural model that allows for the interrelations between girls' schooling and mothers' labor market participation decision, in a rural area of Pakistan where drop-out rates are considerably high. The model incorporates home production, which is critical for understanding the behavior of mothers when deciding girls' schooling. Results suggest that monetary incentives are a good mechanism to increase girls' school enrollment, but not the most cost effective. The impact of the conditional cash transfer program on secondary school enrollment rate was only one third of the impact of the school building program. Regarding welfare, the difference between schemes is smaller. Results also highlight the effectiveness of the role of conditionality. |
| Keywords: | girls' schooling, home production, development economics, structural model, discrete choice dynamic programming models |
| JEL: | I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9562&r=edu |
| By: | Jeffrey R. Wilson |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:358371&r=edu |
| By: | de Vuijst, Elise (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Kleinhans, Reinout (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that socioeconomic outcomes and (dis)advantage over the life course can be transmitted from parent to child. It is increasingly suggested that these intergenerational effects also have a spatial dimension, although empirical research into this topic remains scarce. Previous research from Sweden and the United States shows that children who grow up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods experience long-term exposure to such neighbourhoods in their adult lives. This study contributes to the literature by examining to what extent educational attainment can break the link between parental neighbourhood disadvantage and the neighbourhood experiences of children as adults up to 12 years after leaving the parental home. We use longitudinal register data from the Netherlands to study a complete cohort of parental home leavers, covering 119,167 individuals who were followed from 1999 to 2012. Using sequence analyses as a visualisation method, and multilevel logit models, we demonstrate that children who lived in deprived neighbourhoods with their parents are more likely to live in similar neighbourhoods later in life than children who grew up in more affluent neighbourhoods. We find that intergenerational neighbourhood patterns of disadvantage can be discontinued when individuals attain higher education over time. Discontinuation is however less prevalent among individuals from ethnic minority groups. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational inequality, neighbourhood effects, deprived neighbourhoods, neighbourhood histories, educational attainment, longitudinal data, sequence analysis, the Netherlands |
| JEL: | I30 J60 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9557&r=edu |