New Developments in the Economics of Education | (News and Research 375)

New Developments in the Economics of Education | Exciting opportunity to present your research on the economics of education at the Public Sector Economics 2024 Conference September 23, 2024, in Zagreb, Croatia https://pse-conference.ijf.hr/en/submission/ Submit proposals by May 15 here. Keynote speakers:  Daniele Checchi, University of Milan, Italy and Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank.

Bridging the gap? Evaluating the effectiveness of Punjab’s public–private partnership programmes in education | Ansari | The study examines the effectiveness of Punjab’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) programs in Education in improving value-added math, English and Urdu test scores for grade four pupils. The use of an instrumental variable (IV) approach was possible to assess the impact of PPP schooling on student achievement for two (out of four) PPP programmers. Using the IV approach, the study finds that of the various PPP models being implemented in Punjab, only the private school subsidy program has a positive, statistically significant association with math student achievement, with students scoring 0.5 standard deviations higher than public school students. However, an Oster (2019) bias adjustment procedure suggests the magnitude of the effect may be overstated. This study finds no evidence that PPP schools are more effective than public schools at improving learning outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students.

The Wage Effects of Polytechnic Degrees: Evidence from the 1999 China Higher Education Expansion | Dai, Martins | While the wage effects of vocational versus academic secondary education are well documented, there is little evidence on how polytechnics degrees pay off compared to university degrees. In this paper, the authors estimate the polytechnic degree wage effect in China, drawing on an unprecedented higher education expansion initially focused on universities and only later covering polytechnics. They find a large polytechnic wage penalty, of 35%, larger than what could be driven by the shorter duration of these degrees. While this result is robust to several checks, the penalty is found to be more pronounced for workers of lower earnings potential, when using IV-QR methods. The results are consistent with a significant human capital gap of polytechnic degrees compared to university degrees.

High Temperature and Learning Outcomes: Evidence from Ethiopia  | Bhavya, Hirfrfot, Behrer | This paper uses data from 2003–19 on 2.47 million test takers of a national high stakes university entrance exam in Ethiopia to study the impacts of temperature on learning outcomes. It finds that high temperatures during the school year leading up to the exam reduce test scores, controlling for temperatures when the exam is taken. The results suggest that the scores of female students are less impacted by higher temperatures compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, the analysis finds that the scores of students from schools located in hotter regions are less impacted by higher temperatures compared to their counterparts from cooler regions. The evidence suggests that the adverse effects of temperature are driven by impacts from within-classroom temperatures, rather than from indirect impacts on agriculture.

Education outcomes in the era of global climate change  | Prentice, Vergunst, Minor, Berry | Children and youth are vulnerable to the threat of climate change, yet potential non-health impacts, such as those on global education outcomes, are not well understood. In this cross-disciplinary review, the research linking climate change-related stressors with children’s education outcomes is synthesized. Climate change is probably already undermining education outcomes for many populations worldwide via multiple direct and indirect pathways. The authors provide a developmental life-course framework is well suited to understanding these effects, particularly how climate risks can accumulate across the life course. They show that existing vulnerabilities moderate the relationship between climate stressors and adverse education outcomes.

The research is clear: Charter schools work | Buck | A recent paper summarizing the results of lottery-based charter school studies finds that charters boost students’ academic achievement and longer-term outcomes, compared to similar traditional public schools. Combined with previous research showing that urban charters are especially beneficial, this all suggests that good schools really do matter.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect men’s and women’s returns to unionization? | Han | Using data from the Current Population Survey for the period 2015 to 2021, union-nonunion differences in employment, wages and other terms and conditions before and after the COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed, separately for men and women. Compared to non-union workers, union workers were better able to retain employment, less likely to do telework, and more likely to receive pay for the hours they did not work during the pandemic. These patterns were more evident for female workers.