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Oliver Cassagneau-Francis

University College London

I am delighted to be involved in IZA World of Labor. Bridges between academia and policy are vital and this is an important vehicle to allow policymakers and academics to keep up to date with the latest research in labour economics.

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Senior Research Fellow, University College London

Research interest

Economics of education, labor economics, applied econometrics

Website

https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/89044-oliver-cassagneaufrancis

Qualifications

PhD, Science Po, Paris, France, 2022

Selected publications

  • "The potential effects of the cost of living crisis on children's outcome." CEPEO Briefing Note Series 17, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Dec 2022 (with D. Kelly).

  • "Revisiting the Returns to Higher Education: Heterogeneity by Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Abilities." SciencesPo Working papers Main hal-04067399, HAL (2022).

  • "A Nonparametric Finite Mixture Approach to Difference-in-Difference Estimation, with an Application to On-the-job Training and Wages." Working Papers hal-03869547 (2022) (with R. Gary-Bobo, J. Pernaudet, and J.-M. Robin).

  • "The Role of Earnings, Financial, and other Factors in University Attendance." SciencesPo Working papers Main hal-04067182, HAL (2021).

article(s)

  • The merits of teacher assessment versus external exams to measure student achievement

    Are teachers best placed to assess their students or are external exams more effective?

    Oliver Cassagneau-FrancisGillian Wyness, June 2025
    There is little to no consensus in the academic literature over whether centralised, standardised exams are better for students than teacher assessments. While a growing body of evidence from economics highlights bias in teacher assessments, educationalists and psychologists point to the harm caused by high-stakes exam-related stress and argue that exams and teacher assessments generally agree very closely. This lack of academic consensus is reflected in policy: a wide variety of assessment methods are used across (and even within) countries. Policymakers should be aware of the potential for inequalities in non-blind assessments and consider carefully the consequences of relying on a single method of assessment.
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