key topic
Education and labor policy
Access to education is a key concern for policymakers, as it affects both the existing workforce and the next generation of workers. Children’s admission to primary education, and their access to secondary and tertiary education, for examples, have crucial implications for the quality of the workforce.
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Understanding teacher effectiveness to raise pupil attainment
Teacher effectiveness has a dramatic effect on student outcomes—how can it be increased?
Simon Burgess, December 2019Teacher effectiveness is the most important component of the education process within schools for pupil attainment. One estimate suggests that, in the US, replacing the least effective 8% of teachers with average teachers has a present value of $100 trillion. Researchers have a reasonable understanding of how to measure teacher effectiveness; but the next step, understanding the best ways to raise it, is where the research frontier now lies. Two areas in particular appear to hold the greatest promise: reforming hiring practices and contracts, and reforming teacher training and development.MoreLess -
Intergenerational return to human capital Updated
Better educated parents invest more time and money in their children, who are more successful in the labor market
Paul J. Devereux, November 2019Governments invest a lot of money in education, so it is important to understand the benefits of this spending. One essential aspect is that education can potentially make people better parents and thus improve the educational and employment outcomes of their children. Interventions that encourage the educational attainment of children from poorer families will reduce inequality in current and future generations. In addition to purely formal education, much less expensive interventions to improve parenting skills, such as parental involvement programs in schools, may also improve child development.MoreLess -
University study abroad and graduates’ employability Updated
There is a positive association between study abroad and graduates’ job prospects, though it is unclear if the link is causal
Giorgio Di Pietro, May 2019In recent decades, the number of university students worldwide who have received some part of their education abroad has been rising rapidly. Despite the popularity of international student exchange programs, however, debate continues over what students actually gain from this experience. A major advantage claimed for study abroad programs is that they can enhance employability by providing graduates with the skills and experience employers look for. These programs are also expected to increase the probability that graduates will work abroad, and so may especially benefit students willing to pursue an international career. However, most of the evidence is qualitative and based on small samples.MoreLess -
Do school inputs crowd out parents’ investments in their children?
Public education tends to crowd out parents’ time and money, but careful policy design may mitigate this
Birgitta Rabe, May 2019Many countries around the world are making substantial and increasing public investments in children by providing resources for schooling from early years through to adolescence. Recent research has looked at how parents respond to children’s schooling opportunities, highlighting that public inputs can alternatively encourage or crowd out parental inputs. Most evidence finds that parents reduce their own efforts as schooling improves, dampening the efficiency of government expenditure. Policymakers may thus want to focus government provision on schooling inputs that are less easily substituted.MoreLess -
Do higher levels of education and skills in an area benefit wider society? Updated
Education benefits individuals, but the societal benefits are likely even greater
John V. Winters, December 2018Formal schooling increases earnings and provides other individual benefits. However, societal benefits of education may exceed individual benefits. Research finds that higher average education levels in an area are correlated with higher earnings, even for local residents with minimal education. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates appear to generate especially strong external effects, due to their role in stimulating innovation and economic growth. Several strategies to test for causality find human capital externalities do exist.MoreLess -
The role of cognitive and socio-emotional skills in labor markets
Cognitive skills are more relevant in explaining earnings, socio-emotional skills in determining labor supply and schooling
Pablo AcostaNoël Muller, October 2018Common proxies, such as years of education, have been shown to be ineffective at capturing cross-country differences in skills acquisition, as well as the role they play in the labor market. A large body of research shows that direct measures of skills, in particular cognitive and socio-emotional ones, provide more adequate estimations of individuals’ differences in potential productive capacity than the quantity of education they receive. Evidence shows that cognitive skills in particular are quite relevant to explain wages, while socio-emotional skills are more associated with labor force and education participation decisions.MoreLess