A dynamic analysis of educational progression of children of immigrants

This paper uses a parsimonious version of Cameron and Heckman's (2001) dynamic model of educational progression to determine at what stages of their educational careers children of immigrants fall behind their native peers and the magnitude of intergenerational transmission. The analyses are primarily directed towards explaining high dropout rates from vocational upper secondary education, identified as the main barrier to educational attainment. The results corroborate previous findings that family background is an important determinant of educational outcomes but also suggest that differences in endowments alone do not explain the observed gap in educational attainment between natives and ethnic minorities.     

EFFECTS OF HIV/AIDS ON CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Over the last three decades, 35 million people have died of AIDS. As a result, HIV/AIDS has brought about a significant reduction in human capital, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have examined the effects of HIV/AIDS on human capital, in particular educational attainment. These studies have examined different countries, datasets, and educational outcomes. This systematic literature review provides a comprehensive up-to-date overview of peer-reviewed papers published in English by focusing on the main mechanisms that influence the effects of HIV/AIDS on educational outcomes. These are sickness of the child, orphanhood, and sickness of parents. The results show that educational outcomes of HIV-infected children, AIDS orphans, and children with HIV-infected parents are affected differently. HIV-infected children mainly miss school days due to illness and medical appointments, and orphans mainly face financial problems and lack motivation in their education, while children with HIV-infected parents may have to take care of their sick parents or face financial problems that affect their education. Distinguishing these groups of children could help to formulate policies that adequately improve schooling outcomes of these vulnerable children.     

The Reliability of Family Background Effects on Status Attainment: Multiple Informant Models

This article sets out to investigate to what extent conventional retrospective measurement of family background leads to biases in the effects of family background in status attainment research. Multiple informant models show that the effect of father’s educational attainment on respondent’s educational attainment is 41% greater than conventional research suggests, and that the effect of father’s occupational status on respondent’s educational attainment becomes zero. The direct effect of respondent’s educational attainment on respondent’s occupational status is 21% greater after the unreliability in the respondent’s answers has been taken into account. We conclude that measurement error seriously biases conclusions about the status attainment process in the Netherlands.     

Self-employment,educational attainment and employment protection legislation

We analyse how educational attainment and employment protection influence an individual's decision to become self-employed. By altering expected income from dependent employment, employment protection is likely to affect an individual's choice of occupation, although such a link has not been established in the literature so far. We argue that an interaction between an individual's educational attainment and the institution of employment protection exists when it comes to the decision regarding whether to become self-employed. Based on survey data from OECD countries, we find evidence for a negative interaction, and conclude that only after taking this interaction into account can the effect of employment protection and educational attainment on self-employment rates be assessed.     

Assisted Housing and the Educational Attainment of Children

This paper examines the long-term effects of assisted housing on the educational attainment of children. It is based on unique data, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)-Assisted Housing Database, in which we have matched addresses of all PSID sample members to addresses of federal and state assisted housing. Using a two-stage instrumental variable approach, the inferior educational outcomes of children who live in public housing disappear when measured characteristics are taken into account, while unmeasured characteristics have insignificant effects. We also find neither positive nor negative effects of privately owned assisted housing. These findings are similar to those on the effects of other social welfare programs.     

Sequential probit modelling of family and community effects on educational progress among children to Polish and Turkish immigrants in Sweden

We explore effects of individual, family, and neighborhood effects on educational progress. The statistical model used is a multilevel sequential probit model. Such formulation allows the covariate-effects to vary across different educational levels. Results based on about 2,100 children whose parents are either native Swedes or migrants from Poland or Turkey provide new insights with regard to differentials in educational progress across background varaiables. Among others, we find that parental education is a strong predictor of educational progress at all levels. On the other hand, while family structure, family economy, and ethinic background are strongly correlated to educational progress at lower levels, their effect diminishes at higher levels of education. Possible exaplanations and implications of the results are presented.     

Family income and children's education: Using the Norwegian oil boom as a natural experiment

Parental income is positively correlated with children's educational attainment. This paper addresses the causality of this observed link. We have a unique data set for Norwegians born in the period 1967–1969, with a measure of permanent family income in the children's adolescence. This enables us to examine the long-term effect of family income on children's educational attainment. The Norwegian oil shock in the 1970s is used as an instrument, because this – in some regions but not in others – implied a general increase in income unrelated to parents' abilities. This variation in income is used to estimate the causal effect of family income on children's educational attainment. We find no such causal relationship. This result is robust with respect to different specification tests.     

Race, Financial Aid Awards and college Attendance

A bstract . The impact of race on college and university admission and award decisions is examined using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The effects of race and other factors on the choice of an individual's educational attainment are also studied. Financial aid award equations are estimated. The results indicate that college and university admissions departments have actively worked to encourage the enrollment of African-American students. It appears that the lower average educational attainment of African-Americans is the result of differences in parental income, education , and geographical location.     

Testing a method to estimate county-level demand for educational attainment

Recent changes in federal support for local workforce training programs have created an increased need for methods of assessing demand for educational attainment in sub-state regions. This research extends current non-survey methods for estimating demand for educational attainment at the county level. It then evaluates the non-survey method on theoretical grounds, and compares survey and non-survey estimates for two West Virginia counties. We found significant differences between survey and non-survey results and conclude that current non-survey methodology will not consistently provide reasonably accurate estimates. We thus propose adjustments to this methodology that should improve its accuracy. Many, if not most, jurisdictions do not have the expertise or funds to carry out periodic employment surveys. Many local policymakers would therefore benefit from development of an inexpensive, straightforward non-survey methodology that provides reasonably accurate information on local employer demand for labor force characteristics such as educational attainment.     

THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL EMPLOYMENT ON CHILD SCHOOLING

This paper presents a model that provides conditions under which a causal interpretation can be given to the association between childhood parental employment and subsequent educational attainments of children. The key parameter comes from theconditional demand function for children's future earning capacity. Its identification rests on having data on siblings and assumptions about the timing of parents' knowledge of their children's endowments. In addition to sibling differences, the useof a fixed‐effects instrumental‐variables estimator identifies the parameter under weaker conditions. Empirical analysis informed by the model reveals a negative and significant effect on the child's educational attainment of the months of the mother's full‐time employment when the child was aged 0–5. The effect of the mother's part‐time employment is smaller and less well determined, but again negative. These results suggest that the substitution effect of the mother's employment dominates the income effects. Stronger adverse effects are found for children of less‐educated mothers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FDI activity and worker compensation: evidence from US non-manufacturing industries

This study examines worker compensation effects of FDI activity in US non-manufacturing industry sectors. A clustered standard error correction is used when estimating wage and non-wage compensation equations, with special attention given to FDI’s effect by worker educational attainment and union status. Wage findings reveal an FDI-wage premium for highly educated non-union workers and FDI-union rent erosion for all educational-gender groups excluding females with low educational attainment. Non-wage compensation analysis reveals FDI activity is generally associated with significantly higher probabilities of workers receiving employer financed non-wage compensation for union and non-union workers regardless of their level of educational attainment.     

A benefit/cost model to evaluate educational programs

Essentially, a benefit/cost model provides a procedure to evaluate a project in terms of its economic objectives. The analytic task is to determine the present value of all benefits less the present value of all costs, so that the projects which maximise this difference can be selected. There are private benefits (those appropriated by the persons directly involved in the project), and social benefits (those derived by others because of the project) that should also be taken into account when public policy is involved. Limitations of data preclude us from considering all the benefits, but in the present study of the benefits of an educational program, the following have been incorporated: (1) increases in earnings due to attaining higher levels of education; (2) benefits that accrue to the offspring of the present generation resulting from the influence of the educational attainment of parents on that of their children; and (3) the reduction in juvenile crime.

The model that is used to estimate these benefits includes thirteen separate equations. A major ingredient of all of these equations is represented by equation 4 in the model:

According to this equation, the private benefits of additional education are calculated as the difference between the expected economic returns with the program (designated T) and the expected economic returns without the program. Expected economic returns are estimated by the product of lifetime earnings for each level of education (V_i) times the probability distribution of obtaining the various levels of education (P_i), where i designates a level of education. These benefits will be different for individuals with different characteristics, designated ε.

The parameters of the model have been estimated by the use of Census data for earnings, and various special survey data for the probabilities of educational attainment and committing juvenile crimes. Essentially an educational program changes the probabilities of educational attainment, increasing the probability of graduating from high school and going on to college.

In this study, we applied the model to a Title I ESEA, program in San Francisco, California, during 1966–1967. Since the program was implemented in the elementary grades, we used the mathematics of Markov Chains to estimate the probabilities of eventual grade level attainment. We found that prior to the program, about half of the disadvantaged non-Negro males and considerably more than half of the Negro males could be expected to be dropouts. The model showed, however, that a Title I program in San Francisco costing $220 per child sufficiently raised test scores in elementary grades so that the expected dropout rates were reduced about 3 per cent for non-Negro and 2 per cent for Negro male pupils.     

Assessing the economic costs of high school noncompletion

Disparities in educational attainment exist across states. There are costs, both to the individual and society, associated with low levels of educational attainment. This research estimates the costs of high school noncompletion in terms of income loss for each state. The results suggest that: 1) there are substantial economic costs associated with high school noncompletion ($727 billion in lost income nationally); 2) costs vary widely across states; and 3) in general, states with relatively low levels of per capita expenditures on education incur the greatest losses in income from high school noncompletion.     

Educational Development in South Sudan: Conscious Design or Spontaneous Order?

Educational development is key to the future prosperity of South Sudan. Officially the situation appears bleak with up to 50 per cent of primary‐aged children out of school, high reported dropout rates and poor attainment. Those involved in the development of education, government departments, international agencies, individuals and communities are each following one of two different approaches as they seek to extend the reach of education. The article suggests that these different approaches arise because those involved hold to either a conscious‐design or a spontaneous‐order model for educational development. The article looks at the recent development of schools in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, in the light of these two theories and finds, despite the rhetoric of the official reports, that most growth is organic and that most recent educational development is emerging spontaneously.     

A macro model of change in specialty and spatial distribution of physicians in Canada, 1971-1981.

Most studies on physician distribution have examined static relationships involving the influence of such factors as socio-economic status. This study employs a causal model to study change in physician ratios (general practitioners and family physicians, and specialists) between 1971 and 1981 as a function of change in hospital bed ratios, population size, age distribution, educational attainment of the population, population "native", owner-occupied dwellings, and geographic proximity to the nearest metropolitan area, using physician data for 189 Canadian census divisions. The results, derived from LISREL VI analyses, indicate that specialists experienced increases in their supply in higher socio-economic status areas and in those areas losing general practitioners and family physicians (from 1971 to 1981). General practitioners and family physicians appear to have moved into areas with a relatively low percentage of owner-occupied dwellings and areas where a large percentage of the population is "native". Both groups of physicians appear to have increased in areas where there were increases in hospital facilities over the decade. The study confirms the known association between the two physician groups; that is, general practitioners and family physicians increased in areas gaining specialists and specialists increased in areas where considerable decreases in general practitioners and family physicians were occurring. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for physician manpower planning.     

Urban density and pupil attainment

We explore the association between urban density and pupil attainment using three cohorts of pupils in schooling in England. Although—as widely recognised—attainment in dense urban places is low on average, this is not because urban environments disadvantage pupils, but because the most disadvantaged pupils with low average attainments attend the most urbanised schools. To control for this, we exploit changes in urban density faced by pupils during compulsory transition from Primary to Secondary school, and measure educational progress at the end of the Secondary phase, relative to attainment at the end of Primary schooling. Our results suggest that there are small but significant benefits from education in schools in more densely urbanised settings. We detect this density advantage even amongst pupils moving relatively short distances between Primary and Secondary schools within urban areas, so we cannot attribute it to broad urbanisation effects experienced by pupils making rural–urban school moves. A more likely explanation lies in greater school choice and competition between closely co-located educational providers.     

Cultural background,human capital and self-employment rates among immigrants in Norway

The level of self-employment varies significantly among immigrants from different countries of origin. The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between national culture, human capital in the form of educational attainment in the country of origin and self-employment rates among first-generation immigrants in Norway. Empirical secondary data on self-employment among immigrants from 53 countries residing in Norway in 2004 was used. Five different hypotheses were developed and tested using hierarchical regression analysis. The findings suggest that immigrants from countries with low power distance are more likely to become self-employed. However, other dimensions of cultural attributes, such as the home-country's uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism were not significantly associated with immigrants’ self-employment rate. Finally, and most notably, the average educational attainment in the country of origin was found to be significantly positively associated with self-employment among immigrants. The study concludes with practical implications and suggestions for future research.     

Earning or Learning? How Extending Closing Time in the Retail Sector Affects Youth Employment and Education

This paper estimates the causal impact of increased demand for low‐skilled workers on youth employment, and short and long run education. We exploit quasi‐experimental demand shifts for retail workers due to changes in allowed opening hours for retail stores across Norwegian municipalities. We find that relaxed restrictions on opening hours increased employment in the sector and permanently reduced educational attainment for affected high school students. The results suggest that policies or shocks that increase demand for low‐skilled workers in the short term might have negative long‐run effects in terms of reduced educational attainment.     

Estimates of the return to schooling in Sweden from a large sample of twins

A large sample of twins was used to examine whether conventional estimates of the return to schooling in Sweden are biased because ability is omitted from the earnings–schooling relationship. Ignoring measurement error, the results indicate that omitting ability from the earnings–schooling relationship leads to estimates that are positively biased. However, reasonable estimates of the measurement-error-adjusted returns are both above and below the unadjusted estimates, showing that the results depend crucially on a parameter not known at this time. However, an estimate of the reliability ratio was obtained using two measures on educational attainment. With this estimate of the reliability ratio, the measurement-error-adjusted estimate of the return to schooling in the sample of identical twins indicates that there is at most a slight ability bias in the conventional estimates of the return to schooling. The fundamental assumption of this kind of study is that within-pair differences in educational attainment are randomly determined. This assumption was also tested, but no strong evidence to reject it was found.     

Ethnic capital and intergenerational transmission of educational attainment

This paper studies the role of ethnicity in the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment within the framework outlined by Borjas (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1992, 107(1), 123–150). Relying on heteroskedasticity to identify parameters in the presence of endogenous regressors, I find evidence that the ordinary least squares estimates of the effect of ethnic capital on intergenerational transmission of education are biased upwards due to the transfer of unobserved ability. I also find that, while the role of parental capital has declined over time, ethnic capital has a relatively constant effect on intergenerational transmission of educational attainment.