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| Issue 5/2016 |
Recent Research Topics |
The Economic Case for EducationThe case for education can be made from various perspectives. In a recent study published in the journal Education Economics, Ludger Woessmann, head of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education, makes the case for education based on economic outcomes. On the basis of current empirical evidence, he describes the crucial role of education for growth, employment, and income. Ignoring the economic dimension of education would thus endanger the prosperity of future generations, with widespread consequences for poverty, social exclusion, and the financial sustainability of social security systems. more... |
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New Volume of the Handbook of the Economics of EducationThe fifth volume of the Handbook of the Economics of Education edited by Ludger Woessmann together with Ifo Research Professor Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford University) and Stephen Machin (University College London), has just been published. On 765 pages, leading researchers provide an overview of the research that has exploded in recent years in various areas of the economics of education – from school competition, new technologies in the classroom, and behavioral approaches to field choice in college, student loans, and vocational education for adults. Nobel laureate James J. Heckman of the University of Chicago on the new volume: “The Handbooks of the Economics of Education provide valuable surveys of the state of the art in many aspects of this thriving field.” more... |
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Early Tracking Hurts Less Integrated Migrant ChildrenDoes early educational tracking after primary school into different school types enlarge the educational gap between native children and children of migrants? A study by Jens Ruhose, written as researcher at the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education together with Ifo Research Professor Guido Schwerdt of the University of Konstanz and recently published in the Economics of Education Review, attempts to answer this question using the individual student data of all PISA, TIMSS, and PIRLS studies from 1995 to 2012 in an international comparison. Overall, there is no significant effect on the achievement gap, but early tracking is particularly detrimental for first-generation migrant children and migrant children whose families do not speak the language of the new country at home. more... |
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Information Reduces Support for Higher Public SpendingIf the population is informed about the actual amount of government spending, its support for higher government spending weakens considerably in different areas ranging from social security to defense. This is the result of a new study in which Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner, and Ludger Woessmann of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education and Ifo Research Professor Guido Schwerdt of the University of Konstanz investigate the randomized information provision among 4,000 participants of the Ifo Education Survey. The effect of the provided information on preferred educational spending are significantly greater among those participants who had previously underestimated the level of current spending. more... |
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Team Building and the Hidden Costs of ControlTeam building and control are two common management practices that employers use to motivate their employees. To examine the impact of these practices, Simon Wiederhold of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education and Gerhard Riener of the University of Mannheim have conducted a laboratory experiment whose results have now been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. If the practices are applied separately, both have a positive effect on employee performance. But if they are used together, participants who were motivated to work in teams react to control by decreasing their effort more strongly. In the case of team players, control mechanisms thus entail costs that are often overlooked. more... |
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End of Serfdom Accelerated Educational Expansion in the 19th CenturyIn a study recently published in the Journal of Development Economics, Francesco Cinnirella of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education and Erik Hornung of the University of Bayreuth investigate whether the expansion of mass education in Prussia in the nineteenth century was related to large landownership concentration. Their findings suggest that increased private demand for education that came about with the liberation of peasants and the emancipation from labor coercion was an important driver of educational expansion. more... |
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The Historical Costs of DecentralizationIn a new study, Francesco Cinnirella and Ruth Schueler of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education argue that a decentralized education system can lead to under provision of education if the population has differing preferences. Reforms in the financing of primary schooling in the linguistically polarized society of eastern Prussia towards the end of the nineteenth century corroborate the result that a more centralized educational funding can contribute to a better provision of primary education especially in areas with a polarized population. more... |
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A European Perspective: EENEE | |
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The European Expert Network on the Economics of Education (EENEE)
commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture and directed by the Ifo Center for Economics of Education, has published a new EENEE Policy Brief, a two-page spotlight on a current policy debate:
3/2016: Maria de Paola and Giorgio Brunello: Education: A Tool for the Economic Integration of Migrants (based on EENEE Analytical Report 27) |
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In the English News | |
Billion-Dollar Gains through Student AchievementMedia in several US states have reported on the projections of economic returns to educational reforms in the individual US states by Eric Hanushek, Jens Ruhose and Ludger Woessmann that appeared in Education Next. more... | |
Australian Federal Election 2016: Retreat over School ClaimAs reported by The Australian, the OECD study “Universal Basic Skills” by Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann has entered the debates of the Australian election campaign. more... | |
In the German News | Call for More Transparency in Education PolicyThe Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung covered the new report of the Academic Advisory Council at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs (BMWi) on “More Transparency in Education Policy” to which Ludger Woessmann contributed. more (in German)... |
Outcry of ResearchersDie Zeit also reported on the report with the note, “How education ministries impede scientific work.“ more (in German)... |
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Learning from Each OtherIn a guest contribution in the Süddeutschen Zeitung, Regina Riphahn of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Ludger Woessmann report on the BMWi report. more (in German)... |
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Cartel of SilenceThe Handelsblatt quoted Ludger Woessmann in a report on the obstruction of scientific studies: “Educational policy could be made on the basis of facts and evidence and not in blind flight.” more (in German)... | |
Understanding why Children Fail or Succeed in SchoolThe German Caritas Association supports the recommendation of the BMWi report to use educational data for comparisons of German states. more (in German)... | |
Overqualification? Too Good for this JobThe Welt am Sonntag quoted Ludger Woessmann’s warning not to confuse alleged overqualification of employees with useless education. more (in German)... | |
The Integration of RefugeesThe Austrian Standard quotes Ludger Woessmann on the educational situation and labor-market chances of refugees. more (in German)... | |
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Selected Events | |
Marbach Conference “Economizing Education Policy”From 27-29 April 2016, leading international researchers and young scholars in the educational sciences came together in Marbach Castle on Lake Constance to discuss the topic “Economizing Education Policy: Tradeoffs, Incentives and Generalizing from Evidence.” The interdisciplinary program of the Jacobs Foundation Conference, which aims to strengthen the scientific foundations of successful child and youth development, was compiled this year by Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann. more... |
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Recent Publications |
MonographsEric A. Hanushek, Stephen Machin and Ludger Woessmann (eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 5, Amsterdam: North Holland, 2016. |
Articles in Refereed JournalsFrancesco Cinnirella and Erik Hornung, „Landownership Concentration and the Expansion of Education“, Journal of Development Economics 121: 135-152, 2016.Eric A. Hanushek, Jens Ruhose and Ludger Woessmann, „It Pays to Improve School Quality“, Education Next 16(3): 52-60, 2016. Gerhard Riener and Simon Wiederhold, „Team Building and Hidden Costs of Control“, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 123: 1-18, 2016. Jens Ruhose and Guido Schwerdt, „Does Early Educational Tracking Increase Migrant-Native Achievement Gaps? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries“, Economics of Education Review 52: 134-154, 2016. Ludger Woessmann, „The Economic Case for Education“, Education Economics 24(1): 3-32, 2016. |
Further ArticlesRaphael Brade and Marc Piopiunik, „Education and Political Participation“, CESifo DICE Report 14(1): 70-73, 2016. |
Working PapersFrancesco Cinnirella and Ruth M. Schueler, „The Cost of Decentralization: Linguistic Polarization and the Provision of Education“, CESifo Working Paper 5894, Mai 2016.Philipp Lergetporer, Guido Schwerdt, Katharina Werner and Ludger Woessmann, „Information and Preferences for Public Spending: Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments“, CESifo Working Paper 5938, June 2016. |
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Imprint | |
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The Newsletter of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education is a free e-mail service which informs about new research results, publications, events, and more from the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education. You can download previous issues of the newsletter in the archive. Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Feedback Your data will be stored internally by CESifo Group for dispatch of the Newsletter of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education. It will be treated confidentially and will not be handed on to third parties. For more information see Privacy Policy. You can also visit the website of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education. Or send us an e-mail at bildungsnews@ifo.de. Copyright © Ifo Institute 2016. Status: October 2016 Editor: Ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Poschingerstrasse 5, 81679 Munich
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