Econometric Methods for Research in Education (original) (raw)

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES ECONOMETRIC METHODS FOR RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

This paper reviews some of the econometric methods that have been used in the economics of education. The focus is on understanding how the assumptions made to justify and implement such methods relate to the underlying economic model and the interpretation of the results. We start by considering the estimation of the returns to education both within the context of a dynamic discrete choice model inspired by and in the context of the Mincer model. We discuss the relationship between the econometric assumptions and economic behaviour. We then discuss methods that have been used in the context of assessing the impact of education quality, the teacher contribution to pupils' achievement and the effect of school quality on housing prices. In the process we also provide a summary of some of the main results in this literature.

Fundamentals of Economics of Education Revised 2015

Economics of Education is a study of human behaviour (in terms of human's decisions, actions and reactions) about schooling. It also deals with how this human behaviour affects economic growth and national development. Generally, the economics of education, as different from economics education, is the study of economic issues relating to education. Being an applied economics, it involves the application of economic terms, concepts, principles and laws in the process of producing, financing, distributing and consuming educational goods and services. From early works on the relationship between schooling and labour market outcomes for individuals, the field of the economics of education has grown rapidly to cover almost all economic issues with connections to education such as education as investment, demand for education, provision and allocation of resources to education, financing of education and education production function

Estimating the returns to education: Models, methods and results

2001

Abstract This paper reviews appropriate non-experimental methods and microeconometric models for recovering the returns to education using individual data. Three estimators are considered: matching methods, instrumental variable methods and control function methods. The properties of these methods are investigated for models with multiple treatments and heterogeneous returns.

Economics of education research: a review and future prospects

Oxford Review of Education, 2009

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground.

Essays on The Economics of Education

2009

The dissertation is a collection of 3 articles. The first estimates two types of models to investigate the role played by family background and individual characteristics in keeping children at school up to the end of secondary education. The first is a censored ordered probit model. It accounts for right-censoring of the schooling level of children enrolled at school at the time of survey. The second is a sequential model. It accounts for the "educational selectivity" and for the fact that, some family background characteristics or individual characteristics may affect the likelihood to reach one level of education but not others. Our striking findings arise from the results of the sequential model: (1) household's head education reveals some threshold effect, university education is needed to enhance the probability to complete secondary education; (2) parental wealth has no effect on the probability to start primary education. However, it increases the probability t...

Economics of quality schooling

The case for public expenditure on education is based on its contribution to the good of society over and above the benefits received by the individual educated. These benefits can be economic, the benefits of a larger pool of educated labour that allow for rapid economic development, and social, including the benefits of more committed law abiding citizens and the relief of poverty. Some of the issues are considered in this paper:1. The level of public expenditure on education and its distribution in relation to need2. Where expenditure can yield most benefits3. The incentives and system level organisation and guidelines to ensure that expenditures are used effectively

ABSTRACT Three Essays on the Economics of Education

2012

This dissertation consists of essays on three inputs into the educational production func-tion: curriculum, peers, and teachers. The chapters are linked by their focus on understand-ing the importance of these inputs for student achievement and by their exploitation of the exact timing of events (i.e., student mobility, receipt of special education services, teacher absences) to identify causal effects. The first chapter examines how decentralized decision-making about schools ’ curricula af-fects student achievement. Decentralized decision-making in this context involves a tradeoff, since individual schools might be better able to target the needs of their student populations, but their choices might not be aligned with the goals of the larger community. Differences in curricula may also harm the achievement of mobile students, who have to adjust to new curricula when they change schools. My analysis is based on quasi-experimental variation from New York City, which stan-dardized m...