Human Capital and Climate Change | (News and Research 376)

Human Capital and Climate Change | Angrist, Winseck, Patrinos, Graff Zivin | The Review of Economics and Statistics | Addressing climate change requires individual behavior change and voter support for pro-climate policies, yet surprisingly little is known about how to achieve these outcomes. In this paper, we estimate causal effects of additional education on pro-climate outcomes using new compulsory schooling law data across 20 European countries. We analyze effects on pro-climate beliefs and behaviors, as well as novel data on policy preferences and voting for green parties. Results show that a year of education substantially increases pro-climate beliefs, behaviors, and policy preferences. [Enjoy it with this cocktail pairing!]

Girls’ education in conflict is most at risk: Here’s how to reach them | Khattan, Khan |Globally, education indicators for girls look promising. However, the most vulnerable girls still face huge hurdles and obstacles while trying to obtain an education. Girls in conflict- and crisis-affected settings are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than girls not in these contexts. At the secondary school level, girls are 90% more likely to be out of school in fragile, conflict, and violent (FCV) settings than those not. Out of over 120 million girls who are out of school, over 50% of these (68 million) are in FCV countries. Girls in crisis-affected countries will receive on average only 8.5 years of education in their lifetime. Below are countries with the lowest primary school enrollment rates for girls – 60% of these 40 countries are classified as FCV.

Teacher beliefs shape learning. But how? | Sabarwal, Masood | Five years ago, World Development Report 2018 Learning to Realize Education’s Promise (WDR 2018), highlighted a global learning crisis and emphasized the need to enhance teacher effectiveness as a solution. The report provided a roadmap for improvement, but have countries successfully addressed the crisis? The answer is complex, and progress has been slow. In this blog, we delve into some of the challenges of transforming teacher effectiveness.

Testing | Bergbauer, Hanushek, Woessmann | The significant expansion of student testing has not generally been linked to educational outcomes. We investigate how different testing regimes—providing varying information to parents, teachers, and decisionmakers—relate to student achievement. We exploit PISA data for two million students in 59 countries observed from 2000–2015. Removing country and year fixed effects, we investigate how testing reforms affect country performance. In low- and medium-performing countries, more standardized testing is associated with higher student achievement, while added internal reporting and teacher monitoring are not. But, in high-performing countries, expansion of standardized internal testing and teacher monitoring appears harmful.

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. Submit proposals by May 15 here. Keynote speakers:  Daniele Checchi, University of Milan, Italy andHarry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank.