scholarly journals Academic Achievement and Economic Attainment: Reexamining Associations Between Test Scores and Long-Run Earnings

AERA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 233285842092898
Author(s):  
Tyler W. Watts

The current article reexamines the correlation between achievement test scores and earnings by providing new evidence on the association between academic skills and measures of adult earnings assessed when participants were in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Results suggest that math and reading scores are strong predictors of economic attainment throughout participants’ careers, but these associations may also be sensitive to controls for other characteristics—including measures of the early family environment, general cognitive functioning, and socioemotional skills. Although these associations demonstrate the likely importance of achievement skills in determining labor market productivity, the variability in the achievement-to-earnings correlation suggests that researchers should apply caution when using the correlation to project the long-run effects of educational interventions.

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Leigh ◽  
Chris Ryan

Outside the United States, very little is known about long-run trends in school productivity. We present new evidence using two data series from Australia, where comparable tests are available back to the 1960s. For young teenagers (aged 13–14), we find a small but statistically significant fall in numeracy over the period 1964–2003 and in both literacy and numeracy over the period 1975–98. The decline is in the order of one-tenth to one-fifth of a standard deviation. Adjusting this decline for changes in student demographics does not affect this conclusion; if anything, the decline appears to be more acute. The available evidence also suggests that any changes in student attitudes, school violence, and television viewing are unlikely to have had a major impact on test scores. Real per child school expenditure increased substantially over this period, implying a fall in school productivity. Although we cannot account for all the phenomena that might have affected school productivity, we identify a number of plausible explanations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1015-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Falk ◽  
Xiang Lin

This article provides new evidence on the stability of the long-run income elasticity of tourism and travel demand by use of the recently developed smooth time-varying cointegration regression model. The estimations control for relative purchasing power parity of the source country and make use of a specific country dataset where domestic and foreign overnight stays are available over a longer period of time (Switzerland, 1934–2015). Results show that the income elasticity of foreign overnight stays peaks at approximately two in the early 1960s, drops to around one in the early 1980s and from then on remains stable until the end of the sample. Domestic income elasticity reaches its highest levels in the 1930s, then steadily falls towards one in the mid-1960s, and therefrom remains stable until 2015. Different phases in the tourism area life cycle might be a major explanatory factor for variation in income elasticities over time.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Kaffenberger ◽  
Danielle Sobol ◽  
Deborah Spindelman

Using unique longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data, we examine the role that low learning plays in driving dropout in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Regression analysis using IRT-linked test scores and data on schooling attainment and dropout shows a strong, significant association with one standard deviation higher test scores associated with 50 percent lower odds of dropping out between the ages of 8 and 12, and a similar association between the ages of 12 and 15. Qualitative analysis indicates a direct relationship between low learning and dropout, with children and parents choosing to discontinue school when they realize how little is being learned. Qualitative findings also show that low learning interacts with and exacerbates more proximate causes of dropout, with low learning often contributing to choices of early marriage (for girls) and of leaving school to work (for both genders), with families making practical decisions about which options will best provide for children in the long run. Finally, learning, work, and poverty often interact, as the need to work to help provide for the household reduces the opportunities to learn, and low learning tilts the opportunity cost of time in favor of working. These findings suggest that low learning may play a larger role in dropout decisions, by underlying and interacting with other causes, than has been typically recognized.


2019 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith S Bartfeld ◽  
Lawrence Berger ◽  
Fei Men ◽  
Yiyu Chen

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe School Breakfast Program (SBP) has grown and evolved substantially since its inception, yet relatively little is known about its impact on school engagement and academic outcomes.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of the SBP on school attendance and standardized test scores, as well as how impacts differ among student subpopulations and between traditional and nontraditional program models.MethodsThe study uses administrative data from ∼1000 Wisconsin elementary schools during 2009–2014, including almost all public elementary schools in the state except those in Milwaukee Public School District. Over the 5-y period, 168 schools in our sample introduced a new SBP and/or changed the location of breakfast (classroom or cafeteria) or the payment structure. The impact of breakfast availability and type was evaluated using multivariable regression models with school fixed effects and extensive demographic controls, leveraging within-school changes in SBP availability and type.ResultsImplementing the SBP was associated with a 3.5-percentage-point reduction in the percentage of students with low attendance and an increase of 0.08 SD in normalized reading scores among likely-participant boys (P = 0.015), with no impact among girls. When breakfast was offered free to all students, the probability of low attendance was 3.5 percentage points lower than with traditional SBP for a broad cross-section of students (P < 0.001), and math and reading scores were 0.07 and 0.04 SD higher among the higher-income sample, respectively (P = 0.001 and P = 0.035, respectively). When breakfast was offered in the classroom, neither attendance nor reading scores differed relative to cafeteria-based SBP, whereas math scores among likely-participant boys were 0.05 SD lower (P = 0.045).ConclusionsOffering breakfast at school can modestly improve educational engagement and performance, but benefits differ across children and by program structure. Universally free breakfast appears particularly beneficial to both attendance and test scores.


2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 1225-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Òscar Jordà ◽  
Katharina Knoll ◽  
Dmitry Kuvshinov ◽  
Moritz Schularick ◽  
Alan M Taylor

Abstract What is the aggregate real rate of return in the economy? Is it higher than the growth rate of the economy and, if so, by how much? Is there a tendency for returns to fall in the long run? Which particular assets have the highest long-run returns? We answer these questions on the basis of a new and comprehensive data set for all major asset classes, including housing. The annual data on total returns for equity, housing, bonds, and bills cover 16 advanced economies from 1870 to 2015, and our new evidence reveals many new findings and puzzles.


Author(s):  
David K Evans ◽  
Mũthoni Ngatia

Abstract In recent decades, the number of evaluated interventions to improve access to school has multiplied, but few studies report long-term impacts. This paper reports the impact of an educational intervention that provided school uniforms to children in poor communities in Kenya. The program used a lottery to determine who would receive a school uniform. Receiving a uniform reduced school absenteeism by 37 percent for the average student (7 percentage points) and by 55 percent for children who initially had no uniform (15 percentage points). Eight years after the program began, there is no evidence of sustained impact of the program on highest grade completed or primary school completion rates. A bounding exercise suggests no substantive positive, long-term impacts. These results contribute to a small literature on the long-run impacts of educational interventions and demonstrate the risk of initial impacts depreciating over time.


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