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To investigate the effects of reducing the intensity of tracking, this study exploits reforms across German states which combined the two lower secondary school tracks, sometimes additionally offering the possibility to acquire a university entrance qualification. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that reducing the tracking intensity significantly improves students' reading achievement. Lower-performing student groups – boys, students born abroad, and students from lower socio-economic status families – benefited in particular. In contrast, we find no effects on acquiring a middle school degree, attending the most academic track, or repeating a grade.

We investigate the short- and long-term effects of economic conditions at high-school graduation as a source of exogenous variation in the labor-market opportunities of potential college entrants. Exploiting business cycle fluctuations across birth cohorts for 28 developed countries, we find that bad economic conditions at high-school graduation increase college enrollment and graduation. They also affect outcomes in later life, increasing cognitive skills and improving labor-market success. Outcomes are affected only by the economic conditions at high-school graduation, but not by those during earlier or later years. Recessions at high-school graduation narrow the gender gaps in numeracy skills and labor-market success.

Does a high regional concentration of immigrants of the same ethnicity affect immigrant children\'s acquisition of host-country language skills and educational attainment? We exploit the exogenous placement of guest workers from five ethnicities across German regions during the 1960s and 1970s in a model with region and ethnicity fixed effects. Our results indicate that exposure to a higher own-ethnic concentration impairs immigrant children\'s host-country language proficiency and increases school dropout. A key mediating factor for this effect is parents\' lower speaking proficiency in the host-country language, whereas inter-ethnic contacts with natives and economic conditions do not play a role.

Wie treffen Personalleiter die Entscheidung, welche Kandidaten zum Vorstellungsgespräch eingeladen werden? Personalleiter können die Produktivität ihrer Bewerber nicht direkt beobachten, sondern müssen Schlüsse aus den Signalen schriflicher Bewerbungen ziehen. In einer neuen Studie analysieren wir, welche Fähigkeitssignale Arbeitgeber relevant und glaubwürdig fnden, indem wir eine repräsentative Stichprobe deutscher Personalleiter in einem Entscheidungsexperiment zwischen jeweils zwei Lebensläufen von Berufsanfängern mit verschiedenen, zufällig zugeteilten Fähigkeitssignalen auswählen lassen. Hierbei konzentrieren wir uns auf drei Kategorien von Fähigkeitssignalen: kognitive Fähigkeiten, soziale Fähigkeiten und Reife. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Signale in allen drei Kategorien für die Einstellungsentscheidung der Arbeitgeber wichtig sind. Welches Signal in der jeweiligen Kategorie relevant ist, hängt aber vom Bildungsstand und Geschlecht der Berufsanfänger ab: Wir unterscheiden zwischen Realschulabsolventen, die sich auf eine Lehrstelle bewerben, und Hochschulabsolventen, die sich auf eine erste Festanstellung bewerben. Abschlussnoten und soziale Fähigkeiten sind für männliche und weibliche Bewerber sowie für beide Berufseinsteigergruppen gleichermaßen relevant. IT- und Sprachkenntnisse spielen insbesondere bei weiblichen Bewerbern eine große Rolle, während bei männlichen Bewerbern die Reife besonders wichtig ist. Ältere Personalleiter sowie Geschäfsführer schauen weniger auf Abschlussnoten und mehr auf andere Fähigkeitssignale. In größeren Firmen wird besonders auf die Hochschulnote geachtet.

As skills of labor-market entrants are usually not directly observed by employers, individuals acquire skill signals. To study which signals are valued by employers, we simultaneously and independently randomize a broad range of skill signals on pairs of resumes of fictitious applicants among which we ask a large representative sample of German human-resource managers to choose. We find that signals in all three studied domains - cognitive skills, social skills, and maturity - have a significant effect on being invited for a job interview. Consistent with the relevance, expectedness, and credibility of different signals, the specific signal that is effective in each domain differs between apprenticeship applicants and college graduates. While GPAs and social skills are significant for both genders, males are particularly rewarded for maturity and females for IT and language skills. Older HR managers value school grades less and other signals more, whereas HR managers in larger firms value college grades more.

From 2014 onwards, Europe has witnessed an unprecedented influx of refugees. We conducted a survey experiment with almost 5,000 university students in Germany in which we randomly shifted the perception of refugees’ education level through information provision. We find that the perceived education level significantly affects respondents’ concerns regarding labor market competition, but these concerns do not translate into general attitudes toward refugees.

Was bringt ein höherer Bildungsabschluss unter dem Strich? Wer eine Lehre macht, nimmt während der Ausbildungszeit als Lehrling Einkommenseinbußen im Vergleich zu einer ungelernten Tätigkeit in Kauf, hofft dann in der Folge aber auf höhere Arbeitseinkommen. Noch viel mehr gilt dies für jemanden, der ein Studium aufnimmt: Statt in Vollzeit zu arbeiten, verzichtet er im Vergleich zur Lehre für mehrere Jahre auf Erwerbseinkommen – in der Hoffnung, später ein höheres Einkommen erzielen zu können. Aber reichen die späteren Einkommenszuwächse aus, um die ursprünglichen Einkommenseinbußen zu kompensieren? Wie sieht das auf dem zweiten Bildungsweg aus? Und lohnt sich das mehr als ein Meisterabschluss? Diesen Fragen ist das ifo Zentrum für Bildungsökonomik in einem Projekt im Auftrag von Union Investment nachgegangen. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind hier zusammengefasst. Es zeigt sich, dass sich die Investition in einen höheren Bildungsabschluss wirtschaftlich lohnt. Ein höherer Abschluss geht mit höheren Monatseinkommen einher, mit einem geringeren Risiko, arbeitslos zu werden, sowie insgesamt mit sechsstelligen Zuwächsen beim Lebenseinkommen. Über das gesamte Arbeitsleben betrachtet liegt das Einkommen von Personen mit einer Lehrausbildung um 143 000 Euro über dem Lebenseinkommen von Personen ohne beruflichen Ausbildungsabschluss. Bei Personen mit Meister-/Technikerabschluss wiederum fällt das Lebenseinkommen 129 000 Euro höher aus als bei Personen, deren höchster Abschluss eine Lehre ist; bei Fachhochschulabsolventen sind es 267 000 Euro, bei Universitätsabsolventen 387 000 Euro. Dabei zeigen sich aber auch große Unterschiede nach Region, Geschlecht und insbesondere Fachrichtung.

Ziel der Studie ist es, den nationalen und internationalen Wissensstand zu privaten und gesellschaftlichen Renditen von Promotionen zu untersuchen und gegebenenfalls Wege für eine Ausweitung der Evidenz in Deutschland aufzuzeigen, indem geeignete Modellierungsvorschläge inklusive der Datenanforderungen analysiert werden. Dafür wird zunächst in Kapitel 2 ein einleitender Überblick über die kausale Wirkungsforschung in der Bildungs-ökonomik gegeben und auf Schwierigkeiten bei der Identifizierung kausaler Effekte hingewiesen. In Kapitel 3 folgt eine Übersicht zu Studien privater und gesellschaftlicher Bildungs-renditen monetärer sowie nichtmonetärer Art. Dabei wird jeweils auf wichtige Ergebnisse einschlägiger Forschungsarbeiten aus der bildungsökonomischen Literatur ohne Fokus auf postgraduale Bildung eingegangen. Kapitel 4 gibt einen detaillierten Literaturüberblick über private und gesellschaftliche Renditen einer Promotion, indem nationale und internationale Forschungsarbeiten systematisch aufbereitet und bewertet werden. Bei der Literaturanalyse wird ein besonderer Schwerpunkt auf die Frage gelegt, inwieweit es diesen Forschungs-arbeiten gelingt, kausale Effekte zu identifizieren und wie sie mit dem oben beschriebenen Problem nicht beobachtbarer Merkmale umgehen. In Kapitel 5 werden existierende Daten-sätze in Deutschland beschrieben und anschließend bewertet, ob sie zur Analyse privater monetärer Erträge einer Promotion herangezogen werden können. In Kapitel 6 werden ein Modellierungsvorschlag zur Berechnung von Renditen einer Promotion in Deutschland auf individueller Ebene und ein Vorschlag zur Modellierung von Renditen einer Promotion auf 5 regionaler Ebene in Deutschland vorgelegt. Der Fokus liegt auf möglichen Forschungs-designs und methodischen Ansätzen, die es ermöglichen, eine kausale Wirkungsrichtung zu identifizieren. Kapitel 7 schließt mit einem kurzen Fazit zur Machbarkeit der kausalen Modellierung privater und gesellschaftlicher monetärer Promotionsrenditen in Deutschland.

In recent years, Europe has experienced an unprecedented influx of refugees. While natives’ attitudes toward refugees are decisive for the political feasibility of asylum policies, little is known about how these attitudes are shaped by refugees’ characteristics. We conducted survey experiments with more than 5,000 university students in Germany in which we exogenously shifted participants’ beliefs about refugees’ education level through information provision. Consistent with economic theory, we find that beliefs about refugees’ education significantly affect concerns about labor market competition. These concerns, however, do not translate into general attitudes because economic aspects are rather unimportant for forming attitudes toward refugees.

Während Haupt- und Realschüler vor der bayerischen Schulreform bis zum Ende der sechsten Klasse gemeinsam gelernt haben, werden sie seither bereits nach der vierten Klasse getrennt. Eine aktuelle Studie des ifo Instituts hat die Auswirkungen dieser Reform auf die Schülerkompetenzen anhand von PISA-Daten analysiert und kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass diese Reform die Leistungen von Haupt- und Realschülern verschlechtert hat.

This paper is the first to estimate a causal effect of immigrant students’ reading performance on their math performance. To overcome endogeneity issues due to unobserved ability, we apply an IV approach exploiting variation in age-at-arrival and the linguistic distance between origin and destination country languages. Using four PISA waves, we find a strong influence of reading performance on math performance, highlighting the importance of early language support for immigrants for their educational career.

Student performance in Sub-Saharan Africa is tragically low. We study the importance of teacher subject knowledge for student performance in this region using unique international assessment data for sixth-grade students and their teachers. To circumvent potential bias due to unobserved student heterogeneity, we exploit variation within students across math and reading. After measurement-error correction, a one-standard-deviation increase in teacher subject knowledge raises student performance by 4% of a standard deviation. Results are robust to adding teacher fixed effects and are not driven by student or teacher sorting. Furthermore, teacher knowledge and school resources appear to be complements in student learning.

How do alternative job opportunities affect teacher quality? We provide causal evidence on this question by exploiting business cycle conditions at career start as a source of exogenous variation in the outside options of potential teachers. Unlike prior research, we directly assess teacher quality with value-added measures of impacts on student test scores, using administrative data on over 30,000 teachers in Florida public schools. Consistent with a Roy model of occupational choice, teachers entering the profession during recessions are significantly more effective in raising student test scores. Results are supported by robustness tests and unlikely to be driven by differential attrition.

Can policymakers hire more effective teachers by increasing the relative economic benefits of teaching? We investigate this question by exploiting business cycle conditions at career start as a source of exogenous variation in the outside labor market opportunities of potential teachers. Using administrative data on 33,000 teachers in Florida s public schools, we find that teachers who entered the profession during recessions have significantly higher math value-added measures than teachers who entered the profession during non-recessionary periods. We explain these findings with a simple Roy model of occupational choice. Results are not driven by differential attrition or by any single recession.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 3 million people with German ancestors immigrated to Germany under a special law granting immediate citizenship. Exploiting the exogenous allocation of ethnic German immigrants by German authorities across regions upon arrival, we find that immigration significantly increases crime. The crime impact of immigration depends strongly on local labor market conditions, with strong impacts in regions with high unemployment. Similarly, we find substantially stronger effects in regions with high preexisting crime levels or large shares of foreigners.

Differences in teacher quality are commonly cited as a key determinant of the huge international student performance gaps. However, convincing evidence on this relationship is still lacking, in part because it is unclear how to measure teacher quality consistently across countries. We use unique international assessment data to investigate the role of teacher cognitive skills as one main dimension of teacher quality in explaining student outcomes. Our main identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in teacher cognitive skills attributable to international differences in relative wages of nonteacher public sector employees. Using student-level test score data, we find that teacher cognitive skills are an important determinant of international differences in student performance. Results are supported by fixed-effects estimation that uses within-country between-subject variation in teacher skills.

Student performance differs greatly across countries, but little is known about the role of teacher quality in explaining these differences. New international data from the PIAAC survey of adult skills allow for the first time to quantify teacher skills in numeracy and literacy, providing country-level measures of teacher subject knowledge. Our student-level regressions with PISA data exploit between-subject variation to overcome bias from unobserved country heterogeneity and control for parent skills to account for the persistence of skills across generations. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in subject-specific teacher skills raises student performance by 7 percent of a standard deviation in math and 6 percent in reading.

This paper evaluates a school reform in Bavaria that moved the timing of tracking in low- and middle-track schools from grade 6 to grade 4; students in high-track schools were not affected. To eliminate state specific and school-type-specific shocks, I estimate a triple-differences model using three PISA waves. The results indicate that the reform reduced the performance of 15-year-old students both in low- and middle-track schools. Further evidence suggests that the share of very low-performing students increased in low-track schools.

Theoretical work shows that grading on a curve, i.e., teachers assessing students relativeto their classmates, can negatively affect students’ learning effort. However, little isknown about its empirical incidence. To overcome bias from non-random sorting andomitted variables like teachers’ grading standards, we exploit within-student acrosssubjectvariation observing both teacher-assigned grades and test scores of German4th-graders in reading and math. We find that having classmates with one standarddeviation higher test scores lowers a student’s grade by about 10 percent of a standarddeviation. Importantly, only female teachers grade on a curve and there is no associationbetween students’ learning effort and relative grading.

Many countries use centralized exit exams as a governance devise of the school system. While abundant evidence suggests positive effects of central exams on achievement tests, previous research on university-bound students shows no effects on subsequent earnings. We suggest that labor-market effects may be more imminent for students leaving school directly for the labor market and, on rigid labor markets, for unemployment. Exploiting variation in exit-exam systems across German states, we find that central exams are indeed associated with higher earnings for students from school types directly bound for the labor market, as well as with lower unemployment.

This paper estimates the causal effect of an additional year of parents’ schooling on theirchildren’s education, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms that were implemented inall West German states between 1946 and 1969. Although previous research indicatesthat these reforms had no effects on earnings or political behaviour, I find that an additionalyear of schooling women strongly affects their sons’ education. Based on severaldatasets, numerous channels that might mediate the positive impact of mothers’ educationare investigated. Most importantly, individuals with more schooling value children’seducational success as more important.