Search

We exploit rich administrative matched data for students and institutions to obtain quality measures across higher education institutions in Norway. Our primary quality indicators are based on individual income after leaving higher education within a value-added approach. Estimated quality indicators reveal significant differences in student outcomes across institutions, although the differences are much lower than raw income differences. “Old” and traditional universities appear in the upper part of the estimated quality distribution, while most of the smaller regional university colleges appear in the lower part. Students’ migration is challenging to handle appropriately, but we show that the estimated quality distribution is fairly robust to different assignments of students to institutions. Simple correlational analyses demonstrate that publicly available indicators based on subjective student assessments do not give reliable information about quality in higher education. This confirms earlier findings in the literature.

This paper estimates the causal effect of the wage on the recruitment rate at the establishment level. During the 1990s, the wage setting for certified teachers in Norway was completely centralized, with a wage premium of about 10 percent at schools with severe recruitment problems in the past and located in one specific region. The empirical approach exploits within-school variation in wage premium eligibility and that teacher supply is observed at these schools with excess demand for teachers. In a difference-in-differences framework, I find that the wage premium increased the recruitment rate by 6-7 percentage points. The finding is robust to model specification and sample, but larger for young teachers than old teachers. The results indicate that the short-run labor supply elasticity towards the individual establishment is about 1.4.

This paper uses teacher assessments at age 16 in Norwegian comprehensive schools to measure different types of skills. While we follow the literature and interpret test scores in Mathematics and Science as proxy for cognitive skills, we use a novel measure for another type of skills: Performance in behavioral and practical subjects. Using individual register data, we find fairly strong and equal effects of the two types of skills on high school graduation probabilities. However, we find that non-cognitive skills has a much larger impact than cognitive skills on the probability to receive welfare benefits or being inactive (NEET) at age 22, while the findings are the opposite for the probability of college enrollment.

This paper analyzes the effect of assigning homework on student achievement using data from 16 OECD countries that participated in TIMSS 2007. The model exploits withinstudent variation in homework across subjects in a sample of primary school students who have the same teacher in two related subjects; mathematics and science. Unobserved teacher and student characteristics are thus conditioned out of the model and the identification rests on random relative homework assignment across the subjects at the teacher and classroom level. We find a modest, but statistically significant effect of homework. The effect varies across countries, and it is positively correlated with the amount of time students and teachers spend in the classroom.

Student achievement has been identified as an important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. These results are robust to a variety of model specifications, such as conditioning on educational expenditures, and alternative measures of student performance from the World Bank. Our estimates indicate that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.

This paper provides evidence on the socioeconomic gradient in dropout and progression in upper secondary education in Norway. Using a rich data set covering all students transferring from compulsory education to upper secondary education in 2002, we find that student achievement at the end of compulsory school is the main predictor of dropout and delayed progression. The socioeconomic gradient is sensitive to the inclusion of prior achievement in the model. We find that the gradient is modest and non-linear, and related to dropout behavior and not grade repetition. The results are remarkably robust to controlling for a full set of school fixed effects.

Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0)

This paper utilizes information on cognitive ability at age ten and earnings information from age 20 to 65 to estimate the return to ability over the life-cycle. Cognitive ability measured at an early age is not influenced by the individual’s choices of schooling. We find that most of the unconditional return to early cognitive ability goes through educational choice. The conditional return is increasing for low levels of experience and non-increasing for experience above about 15-25 years. The return is similar for men and women, and highest for individuals with academic education. Only a small part of the return can be explained by higher probability to have a supervisory position.

Using a panel of international student test scores 1980 2000 (PISA and TIMSS), panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of educational spending.

Student achievement has been identified as an important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the hypothesis that redistributive government activities have a negative effect on investment in human capital using data from international comparative student achievement tests in Mathematics and Science for over 70 countries during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects models, both the effects of government consumption and government social expenditures on student achievement are negative and seem to be robust across different model specifications. The effect of social expenditures appears to be driven by spending on pensions and active labor market policies.

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. We report results from a variety of model specifications and social expenditure components, and our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.

Student achievement has been identified as an important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the hypothesis that redistributive government activities have a negative effect on investment in human capital using data from international comparative student achievement tests in Mathematics and Science for over 70 countries during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects models, the impact on student achievement of both government consumption and government social expenditures are negative and seem to be robust across different model specifications. The effect of social expenditures appears to be driven by spending on pensions and active labor market policies.

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. We report results from a variety of model specifications and social expenditure components, and our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.

Using a panel of international student test scores, 1980 2000, panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of, or decentralization in, educational spending.

Student achievement has been identified as an important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the hypothesis that redistributive government activities have a negative effect on investment in human capital using data from international comparative student achievement tests in Mathematics and Science for over 70 countries during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects models, both the effects of government consumption and government social expenditures on student achievement are negative and seem to be robust across different model specifications. The effect of social expenditures appears to be driven by spending on pensions and active labor market policies.

We analyze whether the amount of schooling influences intelligence as measured by IQ tests. By use of a novel longitudinal dataset we are able to condition on early cognitive ability to account for selection into non-compulsory schooling when estimating the effect on cognitive ability at age 20. OLS estimates indicate that one year of schooling increases IQ by 2.8–3.5 points (about 0.2 standard deviations). When family income per family member and teacher evaluations of the individuals at age 10 are used as instruments for schooling and early cognitive ability, the return to schooling is estimated to 3.5–3.8 IQ points.

Evidence on teacher behavior is essential for the understanding of the performance of school systems. In this paper we utilize rich data to study the teachers? quit decision in Norway. We distinguish between decisions to move between public schools within school districts, to another school district in the same labor market region, across labor market regions, and whether to leave public schools. The results indicate that the quit propensity to all four destinations is negatively related to student performance. The result is qualitatively independent of whether student performance is measured by exam results or teacher graduation.

This paper identifies three possible outcomes of higher relative firm bargaining power in a unionized firm facing an upward sloping labor supply curve. The conventional regime with reduced wage and higher employment corresponds to firm bargaining power below a certain critical value. A supply constrained regime where increased firm bargaining power reduces both wages and employment occurs when the bargaining power is above another critical level. A novel result is that we identify a third regime, with firm bargaining power between these critical levels, where changes in relative bargaining power does not affect wages and employment.

This paper studies teacher mobility using matched employee-employer panel data from Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools. The Norwegian institutional set-up with completely centralized wage setting for teachers is ideal to analyze the effect of non-pecuniary job attributes on quit decisions. We find that teachers tend to leave schools with high share of minority students and high share of students with special needs. In addition, the composition of teachers and the school size affect the propensity to quit. These results are robust across different econometric specifications and sub-samples.

This paper analysis the link between political strength and public sector wages using a unique matched individual-employer data set for Norwegian local governments during the period 1990-1998. The results indicate that political strength, measured in several ways, has a positive effect on wages, while administrative strength, measured by the tenure of the chief executive, has a negative effect. The positive effect of political strength is consistent with a model in which the budgetary process is a multistage game and employment is determined in an interaction with interest groups prior to the wage bargain.

Using panel data for Norwegian schools, we establish a two-equation supply and demand model for teachers with approved education. Taking into account nationally determined teacher pay and a strict teacher appointment rule, the data enable us to separately estimate supply and demand functions for certified teachers. The results clearly indicate that the student body composition, and in particular students belonging to ethnic minorities, influences both teacher supply and teacher demand. The implied negative relationship between excess demand for certified teachers and the share of minority students is likely to be important for teacher quality.

This paper utilizes institutional features to identify the supply of labour directed towards individual enterprises. The labour market for Norwegian teachers is characterized by a high degree of central regulations. In the empirical period, the only variation in the wage level was determined centrally, and together with information on whether there is excess demand, this identifies the elasticity of labour supply. Using a sample selection model with fixed school effects, the estimated supply elasticity faced by the individual schools is close to unity and seems to be robust with respect to the model specification.

This paper compares union wage bargaining outcomes across different types of employers. Five different employer objectives are discussed; profit–, welfare– and output maximization, and two specifications of a Leviathan. The model shows that the ordering of the union wage level across employer types depends on the functional form of product demand. With constant elasticity of product demand, the wage tends to be lowest in the output maximization case, while with a linear product demand, the wage tends to be lowest under welfare maximization.

Lærere med kompetanse er av betydning for å sikre kvaliteten på undervisningen i grunnskolen. Imidlertid har vi en utfordring på skoler i norske kommuner med mangel på formelt kvalifiserte lærere. Denne masteroppgaven undersøker om arbeidsmarkedssituasjonen påvirker læreres valg mellom å bli i læreryrket eller finne andre jobber utenfor skolesystemet. Hypotesen er at når arbeidsledighetsraten reduseres fører det til økt lærermangel. I analysen defineres lærermangel som andelen årsverk utført av lærere uten formell kompetanse. Oppgaven baserer seg på en tidligere analyse gjort av Falch, Johansen og Strøm i 2009. I deres analyse fant de en negativ signifikant effekt av regional arbeidsledighet på lærermangel for tidsperioden 1981-2002. Utgangspunktet for oppgaven er et paneldatasett som inneholder data for norske kommuner og skoler i perioden 1995-2019. Datasettet omfatter informasjon fra alle skoler i Norge. I tillegg har vi arbeidsledighetsraten på kommunenivå og kommunestatistikk. I perioden 1995-2007 finner vi en negativ signifikant effekt av arbeidsledighet på lærermangel. Dette indikerer at en reduksjon i arbeidsledighetsraten er assosiert med økt lærermangel i grunnskolen. Imidlertid finner vi at denne effekten forsvinner i resten av perioden, 2008-2019, noe som tyder på en endring i løpet av tidsperioden. Qualified teachers are of importance to ensure the quality of teaching in primary school. However, we have a challenge in schools in Norwegian municipalities with a shortage of formally qualified teachers. This master's thesis examines whether the condition in the labor market affects teachers' choices between staying in the teaching profession or finding other jobs outside the school system. The hypothesis is that a reduction in the unemployment rate leads to increased teacher shortages. In the analysis, teacher shortage is defined as the proportion of full-time positions carried out by teachers without formal qualifications. The thesis is based on a previous analysis conducted by Falch, Johansen, and Strøm in 2009. In their analysis, they found a negative significant effect of regional unemployment on teacher shortages for the period 1981-2002. The starting point for the thesis is a panel dataset that contains data for Norwegian municipalities and schools from 1995 to 2019. The dataset includes information from all schools in Norway. In addition, we have the unemployment rate at the municipal level and municipal statistics. In the period 1995-2007, we find a negative significant effect of unemployment on teacher shortages. This indicates that a reduction in the unemployment rate is associated with increased teacher shortages in primary schools. However, we find that this effect disappears in the rest of the period, 2008-2019, suggesting a change over time.

Essays on the Effects of Early School Tracking Miroslava Federičová Dissertation Abstract This dissertation studies the transition process of the early-tracking school system that usually occurs at the age of 10, and focuses on its effects on student academic achievement. Moreover, as this early selection occurs at the time of changes in brain development that is different for boys and girls, all chapters also examine the topics from the perspective of gender. Chapter 1 is focused on the selection process itself and studies the role of grades in explaining the gender difference in application rates to selective schools. This selection is provided mostly according to cognitive skills that are signalled to pupils in the form of grades. Although grades play a very important role in the application process, conditional on cognitive skills, grades differ substantially between girls and boys. In this chapter, I propose the model of asymmetric signal of the probability of admission for girls and boys arising from grades. Data about transition from primary to selective schools in the Czech Republic shows that girls apply at significantly higher rates. I find that this difference also remains the same after controlling for probability of admission. Furthermore, test scores collected by an international testing...