Germans Support Measures to Reduce Inequality in Education
Germans support the introduction of measures to reduce inequality in education. This is the result of the latest ifo Education Survey, a representative opinion survey of 4000 respondents in Germany. Proposals that enjoy particularly strong support of about 80 percent include, for example, state coverage of preschool fees, increased public spending for schools with students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the expansion of scholarship programs for low-income students. Despite high approval rates for policy actions against inequality, most Germans are still in favor of distributing additional funds evenly with the watering can rather than targeting them on disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, the survey shows clear majorities for the Good Daycare Facilities Act and for income-contingent tuition fees. more...
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Better Education Would Bring Germany 14 Trillion Euros
In their new Analytical Report for the European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE), ifo Research Professor Eric A. Hanushek from Stanford University and Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education use results about the relationship between educational achievement and a country's economic growth to present new projections on economic benefits of educational improvement for the EU member states. Germany, for example, would achieve around 14 trillion euros in additional gross domestic product (GDP) in the long run if educational achievement was increased by 25 PISA points. This is equivalent to an average increase in future GDP of 7.3%. EU-wide returns would amount to more than 70 trillion euros. The analyses illustrate the enormous impact of educational reforms on EU member states. more...
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Career Starters in Recessions Are Better Teachers
Do better potential teachers select themselves into the teaching profession when there are few alternative job opportunities due to poor economic conditions? Markus Nagler from the University of Munich, Marc Piopiunik from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education, and ifo Research Professor Martin R. West from Harvard University show in their study, which is forthcoming in the Journal of Labor Economics, that this is true. Using detailed data from Florida, they find that people entering the teaching profession during a recession, on average, raise their students` achievement more than people who enter the teaching profession during boom times. more...
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One-year Parental Leave Increased Children's Life Satisfaction in GDR
How does a longer parental leave affect the long-term life satisfaction of children? In their new CESifo Working Paper, Katharina Heisig from ifo Dresden and Larissa Zierow from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education examine the introduction of the so-called baby year in the GDR. Since almost all women worked in the GDR, the analysis is not biased by selection of women into the labor market. The alternative to maternal care was comparable for all children due to standardized public child care available even for the youngest children. The results show that the extension of parental leave from six to twelve months increased life satisfaction among the affected children in adulthood. more...
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Groups Are More Patient than Individuals
Many future-oriented decisions are made by groups and not by individuals. For example, children often decide together with their parents what further educational path they will take. A new study by Daniela Glätzle-Rützler from the University of Innsbruck, Philipp Lergetporer from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education, and Matthias Sutter from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn examines whether such decisions are more patient if they are made by groups. Their laboratory experiment shows that the behavior of three-person groups is more patient than that of individuals. The presence of at least one group member with high incentives to wait is sufficient to make the whole group more patient. more...
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Dissertation: Conditions and Consequences of Education
In her dissertation written at the ifo Center for the Economics of Education and accepted by the University of Munich, Annika B. Bergbauer studies the conditions and consequences of education. Three chapters examine the influence on student achievement of standardized tests, of the specialization of teachers in a particular field of subjects, and of membership of Eastern European countries in the European Union. A fourth chapter examines the importance of human capital for regional development in Sub-Saharan Africa. more...
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CALL FOR PAPERS: CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL REFORMS
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On 15-16 May 2020, the ifo Center for the Economics of Education and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center will jointly host a conference on "Econometric Evaluation of School Reforms" at the ifo Institute in Munich. The submission deadline is 15 December 2019. The conference is part of the project "Efficiency and Equity in Education: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from School Reforms across German States (EffEE)" generously funded by the Leibniz Association under its competitive procedure. The keynote lecture will be delivered by Joshua Angrist (MIT). more... |
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IN THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Bernie Sanders and other Democrats are embracing free college. Europe shows there`s a cost
In an article on the advantages and disadvantages of studying for free, the Washington Post quotes Ludger Woessmann on a middle course between the US and the German situations. more...
Political battle in Romania reflects economic, cultural and historical fractures, but the future looks better than the past
An article on Business-Review.eu mentions Ludger Woessmann's research on the long-run effects of the former Habsburg Empire on the current political behavior of Romanian citizens. more...
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Comparable German Abitur
In a guest article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ludger Woessmann suggests Germany-wide uniform and thus comparable Abitur exams. more...
Free college? Not for the better-off of tomorrow!
In a guest article in the Wirtschaftswoche, Ludger Woessmann and Philipp Lergetporer explain why income contingent tuition fees, which only have to be paid after graduation and with sufficiently high income, would be a good idea. more...
Full-day school, comprehensive education, compulsory preschool: What Germans would change in the education system
Again, numerous media report on the results of this year`s ifo Education Survey. Germans' opinions on educational inequality are covered, for example, by Spiegel online, SZ, FAZ, Handelsblatt, Welt, Bild, tagesschau.de, and many more.
After moving, family experiences how unfair school system is - how it could be better
In an article on education federalism, Focus refers to Ludger Woessmann with his demand for a core Abitur for all federal states in Germany. more...
Which hobbies you should mention on your CV - and which not
The newspaper Welt reports on the results of the ifo study that hobbies are relevant for HR managers. more...
Women leave men alone in occupations with apprenticeship
Welt article on the educational pathways of women and men with quotes from Ludger Woessmann. more...
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Alumni meeting of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education
On 18 May 2019, 40 former and current employees of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education met at the ifo Institute. In a relaxed atmosphere, old and new research projects were discussed, anecdotes were given, and the interesting cultural history of the beautiful surroundings of the institute was explored in a "Bogenhauser Walk".
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11th CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education
Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann once again invited leading economists in the area of education to the CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education in Munich on 30 and 31 August. The researchers presented their current research projects and used the conference for scientific exchange. Magne Mogstad of the University of Chicago gave the Jacobs Foundation Lecture. more....
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Phoenix broadcasts press conference on the ifo Education Survey 2019 live
The video of the press conference in which Philipp Lergetporer presents the results of the ifo Education Survey 2019 is available online.
Marc Piopiunik wins ifo research prize
Marc Piopiunik from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education received the prize of the year 2018 for outstanding research contributions. His article in the Journal of Human Resources "Africa`s Skill Tragedy: Does Teachers` Lack of Knowledge Lead to Low Student Performance?" (together with Jan Bietenbeck and Simon Wiederhold) convinced the jurors. more....
Franziska Hampf discusses with Family Minister Giffey
At an event marking the centennial of the German adult education centers (Volkshochschule), Franziska Hampf from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education discussed the importance of adult education with Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey and others. more....
ifo Center for the Economics of Education with strong presence at the German Economic Association meetings
No less than seven members of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education were chosen to present their research at this year's annual conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik, the association of German-speaking economists. more....
Keynote at conference on university financing in Brasilia
Ludger Woessmann gave a keynote lecture at the "International Conference on Income-Contingent Financing" at the Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Ipea) in Brasilia on 11 July 2019. more....
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Articles in refereed journals
Markus Nagler, Marc Piopiunik and Martin R. West, "Weak Markets, Strong Teachers: Recession at Career Start and Teacher Effectiveness", Journal of Labor Economics, forthcoming.
Monographs
Annika B. Bergbauer, Conditions and Consequences of Education - Microeconometric Analyses, ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung 86, 2019.
Working papers
Annika B. Bergbauer, "How Did EU Membership of Eastern Europe Affect Student Achievement?", ifo Working Paper 299, May 2019.
Daniela Glätzle-Rützler, Philipp Lergetporer and Matthias Sutter, "Collective Intertemporal Decisions and Heterogeneity in Groups", University of Innsbruck, Working Papers in Economics and Statistics 2019-10, June 2019.
Katharina Heisig and Larissa Zierow, "The Baby Year Parental Leave Reform in the GDR and Its Impact on Children's Long-Term Life Satisfaction", CESifo Working Paper 7806, August 2019.
Further articles
Ludger Woessmann, Elisabeth Grewenig, Sarah Kersten, Franziska Kugler, Philipp Lergetporer und Katharina Werner, "Was die Deutschen über Bildungsungleichheit denken? - Ergebnisse des ifo Bildungsbarometers 2019", ifo Schnelldienst 72 (17):27-41, 2019.
Ludger Woessmann, "Ludger Woessmann Recommends "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood"by Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, and Jonah E. Rockoff", in: B. S. Frey, C. A. Schaltegger (eds.), 21st Century Economics: Economic Ideas You Should Read and Remember, Springer Nature, 157-159, 2019.
Sascha O. Becker and Ludger Woessmann, "Education and Socio-Economic Development during the Industrialization", in: C. Diebolt, M. Haupert (eds.), Handbook of Cliometrics, 2nd ed., Berlin: Springer, 2019.
Sascha O. Becker and Ludger Woessmann, "How Luther`s Quest for Education Changed German Economic History: 9+5 Theses on the Effects of the Protestant Reformation", in: J.-P. Carvalho, S. Iyer, J. Rubin (eds.), Advances in the Economics of Religion, International Economic Association Series, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 215-227, 2019.
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Ludger Woessmann spends his sabbatical as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University from September 2019 to February 2020.
Benjamin Arold spends the academic year 2019/20 at the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University.
Pietro Sancassani spends the secondment period of his EU-funded European Training Network OCCAM at KU Leuven during winter term 2019/20.
Lukas Mergele visited the University of California, Berkeley, in August and September 2019.
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