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Children in Liberia receive 2.2 learning-adjusted years of schooling, one of the lowest levels of educational attainment in the world. We study one approach to address low enrollment and low rates of learning: a 10-month accelerated learning program run by the Luminos Fund to help out-of-school children catch up to grade level. We conducted a randomized evaluation of the program across 100 communities in Liberia. We find that the program had large effects on reading and numeracy skills for out-of-school children, and that children in the program catch up to the learning levels of children in government schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited research assessing how AI knowledge affects employment prospects. The present study defines the term 'AI capital' as a vector of knowledge, skills, and capabilities related to AI technologies, which could boost individuals' productivity, employment, and earnings. Subsequently, the study reports the outcomes of a genuine correspondence test in England. It was found that university graduates with AI capital, obtained through an AI business module, experienced more invitations for job interviews than graduates without AI capital. Moreover, graduates with AI capital were invited to interviews for jobs that offered higher wages than those without AI capital. Furthermore, it was found that large firms exhibited a preference for job applicants with AI capital, resulting in increased interview invitations and opportunities for higher-paying positions. The outcomes hold for both men and women. The study concludes that AI capital might be rewarded in terms of employment prospects, especially in large firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the impact of racial matching between teacher and student on the academic performance of middle school students in Brazil. The data comes from an educational evaluation survey carried out by the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation – Ministry of Education of Brazil (FUNDAJ 2020), which followed the same cohort of students in the sixth and seventh years of public middle schools, between the years of 2017 and 2018. To address to the potential source of endogeneity, we use FUNDAJ panel data to estimate student fixed effects models, which makes it possible to compare students who have one race-matched and one non-race-matched teacher within the same subject in the two years of data. The results show that, when placed in a situation of racial equality with their Portuguese and Mathematics teachers, Black students will present better grades in both subjects, by about 30% of their average grade. The results also show evidence of heterogeneity, with stronger effects in female students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is currently the most important data source that provides information on the key skills possessed by workers, including literacy and numeracy. However, to assess skill mismatch, we also need information on the required skills in those domains, measured in the same metric and scale. In this article, we use the Job Analysis Method (JAM) to determine the required skill levels of literacy and numeracy for all four-digit International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) 2008 unit groups. JAM is often considered the 'gold standard' in estimating required levels but has never been used in the context of PIAAC. This article thus presents the first results on the prevalence of skill mismatches using JAM comparing different OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries and different occupations. We compare our results with alternative methods and show some advantages of using JAM. We discuss some of the limitations as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pursuing full-time postgraduate studies implies delaying gaining work experience. This study examines the extent to which postgraduate studies correlate with career advancement in South Africa. We use a quantitative methodology to understand the correlation between postgraduate qualifications and senior management and executive positions at 27 of the Top 40 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). We also identify qualifications required by recruiters for jobs advertised in January and May 2023 and find that less than 1% of advertised jobs required master’s and PhD qualifications. We also find that most senior managers and executives do not hold advanced education qualifications. We concluded that these JSE firms and the labour market in general place a greater value on value work experience and expertise acquired through practice, rather than study. The study casts doubt on the importance of advanced education qualifications to acquire jobs or career advancement in South Africa.

This study seeks to investigate the association between distinct tracks of secondary education—namely, vocational school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, SMK) and general school (Sekolah Menengah Atas, SMA)—and two key labor market outcomes: the duration required for graduates to attain their initial employment and their resilience in the face of pandemic, as measured by changes in average monthly income. While the former sheds light on the outcome under typical circumstances, the latter offers valuable insights into the outcome during periods of crisis. Focused on Indonesia, this research employs Heckman two-step model alongside ordinary least square (OLS) for the first outcome and ordered probit regression for the second. The research draws upon data extracted from the 2021 National Labor Force Survey (Survey Angkatan Kerja Nasional, SAKERNAS). Our results suggest that SMK provides an advantage in securing initial employment compared to SMA, with SMK graduates entering the workforce earlier than their counterparts. Moreover, in terms of resilience during the pandemic, as evidenced by changes in income, SMK graduates exhibit greater resilience, with a higher likelihood of maintaining or even increasing their income compared to SMA graduates. These findings offer valuable implications for both theoretical understanding and practical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new measure of human capital, calculated as a cohort-weighted average of the quality of education (PISA scores) and the quantity of education (mean years of schooling). Contrary to the existing studies, the relative weights of quality and quantity are estimated (and not calibrated). The quality of education is estimated to be three to four times more important for education than the quantity of education. The new measure has a strong link to productivity, which materialises with long lags. Productivity gains are much greater from improvements in the quality than quantity component of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pursuing full-time postgraduate studies implies delaying gaining work experience. This study examines the extent to which postgraduate studies correlate with career advancement in South Africa. We use a quantitative methodology to understand the correlation between postgraduate qualifications and senior management and executive positions at 27 of the Top 40 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). We also identify qualifications required by recruiters for jobs advertised in January and May 2023 and find that less than 1% of advertised jobs required master's and PhD qualifications. We also find that most senior managers and executives do not hold advanced education qualifications. We concluded that these JSE firms and the labour market in general place a greater value on value work experience and expertise acquired through practice, rather than study. The study casts doubt on the importance of advanced education qualifications to acquire jobs or career advancement in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does education make people more or less religious? The previous literature offers mixed findings on the relationship between education and religiosity. This may be due to endogeneity bias: education and religiosity can be caused by a third variable such as culture or upbringing. We instrument education by exposure to the 1997 education reform in Turkey which increased mandatory schooling from 5 to 8 years. The schooling reform increased the probability that young girls would complete 8 years of schooling and report lower religiosity later in life. The reform apparently did not influence such outcomes for boys. These effects are observed primarily in females growing up in strongly religious or poor areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main thrust of this study was to assess the infrastructure inequality and academic performance nexus. Education statistics (2018) from the Ghana Statistical Service was used for the study. Firstly, ANOVA was used to estimate whether district-level academic performance differed at various infrastructure distribution levels (Infrastructure Quintile levels). The study further assessed the relationship between infrastructure and academic performance based on the System General Methods of Moments technique. It was found that the difference in district-level academic performance is conditioned on the infrastructure inequality. Also, previous academic performance had a significant positive relationship with performance. A U-shaped relationship found to exist between academic performance and class size, The study recommends the pursuit of policies aimed at bridging the education infrastructure gap such as prioritisation of education infrastructure development in deprived communities, so as, to impact academic performance.

Adverse life events have short- and long-term effects on the livelihood of victims. This paper studies the effect of early life idiosyncratic shocks on labour market outcomes using five rounds of panel data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) of South Africa. Regression results from alternative panel data estimators suggest that the loss of biological parents early in life is negatively associated with the likelihood of employment and wage earnings. The association is stronger when one loses one's biological mother than one's biological father. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the loss of a biological father among Black South Africans leads to higher wage earnings compared to other race groups who have experienced the same shock. Education level, perceived health, cognitive ability, and occupation type are strongly associated with the loss of a biological mother, while only education is associated with the loss of a father. These could be the main channels that mediate the link between early life loss of biological parents and labour market outcomes. Therefore, strengthening and aligning child support programmes to reach the victims are required.

The 1970s witnessed violent, widespread, and highly-politicized student protests in Turkey. Small protests turned into bloody street clashes, the death toll exceeded 5,000, and a military coup came in—which resulted in mass arrests. The universities were at the center of violent conflict. We study the education and labor market consequences of this political turmoil on the cohorts exposed to educational disruptions. First, we document that the number of new admissions and graduates in post-secondary education declined significantly due to the turmoil. The decline in post-secondary graduation ratio is 6.6 percentage points for the exposed individuals. Second, we estimate a counterfactual wage distribution for the exposed cohorts and check whether the turmoil affected their wage and occupation distributions. We show that the decline in educational attainment pushed the exposed population toward medium- and low-income occupations, and compressed their wages toward the minimum wage. Finally, we use the unexpected decline in post-secondary education as an instrument to estimate returns to college. We find that the college-premium is around 15 percent per year for men.

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Lifelong education includes formal and nonformal forms of learning during an individual's life cycle for the conscious and continuous development of one's quality and the quality of life in society.

This paper evaluates the long-run effects of Head Start using large-scale, restricted administrative data. Using the county rollout of Head Start between 1965 and 1980 and age-eligibility cutoffs for school entry, we find that Head Start generated large increases in adult human capital and economic self-sufficiency, including a 0.65-year increase in schooling, a 2.7 percent increase in high school completion, an 8.5 percent increase in college enrollment, and a 39 percent increase in college completion. These estimates imply sizable, long-term returns to investments in means-tested, public preschool programs.

We study the relationship between locus of control and both educational attainment and college aspirations in adolescence, focusing on the potential channels through which locus of control may influence these outcomes. Even after controlling for a comprehensive set of socio-demographic factors and cognitive skills, there remains a strong correlation between locus of control, college aspirations, and attendance. We show that effort is an essential channel through which locus of control operates. Mediation analysis further reveals that this mechanism is more influential than future expectations in determining high-school graduation, college aspirations, and attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the causal effects of mother's and father's education on child-health outcomes in Zimbabwe, exploiting the exogenous variation generated by the 1980 education reform. We use four waves of Demographic and Health Surveys for Zimbabwe and estimate a simultaneous-equation model to take into account possible selection into co-residence between parents and children, endogeneity biases, and parental education sorting. Our results suggest that father's education affects the health outcomes of under-5 children and matters more than that of the mother. These results continue to hold in a number of robustness checks. Moreover, while there is selection into co-residence with the child, this does not affect the causal effect of education on child health. Last, parental educational sorting is also shown to be important. Our findings suggest that not taking the education of both parents into account simultaneously may yield misleading conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role and impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in higher education. The proliferation of AI models such as GPT-4, Open Assistant and DALL-E presents a paradigm shift in information acquisition and learning. This transformation poses substantial challenges for traditional teaching approaches and the role of educators. The paper explores the advantages and potential threats of using Generative AI in education and necessary changes in curricula. It further discusses the need to foster digital literacy and the ethical use of AI. The paper’s findings are based on a survey conducted among university students exploring their usage and perception of these AI systems. Finally, recommendations for the use of AI in higher education are offered, which emphasize the need to harness AI’s potential while mitigating its risks. This discourse aims at stimulating policy and strategy development to ensure relevant and effective education in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

We examine how first-in-family (FiF) graduates — those whose parents do not have university degrees — fare in the labor market in England. We find that among women, FiF graduates earn 7.4% less on average than graduates whose parents have a university degree. For men, we do not find a FiF wage penalty. A decomposition of the wage difference between FiF and non-FiF graduates reveals two interesting findings. First, two-thirds of the female FiF penalty is explained by certain characteristics, including having lower educational attainment, not attending an elite university, selecting particular degree courses, working in smaller firms, working in jobs that do not require their degree, and motherhood. Second, FiF graduate men also differ in their endowments from non-FiF graduate men; however, FiF men earn higher returns on their endowments than non-FiF men and thus compensate for their relative social disadvantage, while FiF women do not. We also estimate the returns to graduation for potential FiF and non-FiF young people. We find that the wage returns to graduation are not lower among FiF graduates compared to those who match their parents with a degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines whether additional time in elementary and secondary school affects economic well-being in adulthood. We leverage cross-municipality and cross-cohort variation in a reform that increased the Chilean school day by 30 percent between 1997 and 2010 and find that full-day schooling increased educational attainment, delayed childbearing, and increased earnings when students reached young adulthood. These findings are consistent with a human capital channel and demonstrate that large-scale investments in public education can yield long-term economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new benefit–cost estimates for the Tulsa universal pre-K program. These calculations are based on estimated effects, from two recent papers, of Tulsa pre-K on high-school graduation rates and college attendance rates of students who were in kindergarten in the fall of 2006. In the current paper, educational effects from these prior papers are used to infer lifetime earnings effects. Our conservative estimates suggest that per pre-K participant, the present value of earnings effects in 2021 dollars is $25,533, compared with program costs of $9,628, for a benefit–cost ratio of 2.65. Compared to prior benefit–cost studies of Tulsa pre-K, this benefit–cost ratio is below what was predicted from Tulsa pre-K's effects on kindergarten test scores, but above what was predicted from Tulsa pre-K's effects on grade retention by ninth grade. This fading and recovery of predicted pre-K effects as children go through K-12 and then enter adulthood is consistent with prior research. It suggests that pre-K may have important effects on "soft skills," such as persisting in school, and reminds us that short-term studies of pre-K provide useful information for public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]