Economics of Education

Readings

Readings by Session

SES #	TOPICS	Readings
1-2	Introduction: Defining the educational problem	Autor, David, Frank Levy, and Richard J. Murnane. “The Consequences of Increasing the Nation’s Supply of College Graduates.” Policy Brief Written for the Gates Foundation. December, 2003. Wessel, David. “Moving up: Challenges to the American Dream; Escalator Ride: As Rich-poor Gap Widens in the U.S., Class Mobility Stalls; Those in Bottom Rung Enjoy Better Odds in Europe; How Parents Confer an Edge; Immigrants See Fast Advance.” The Wall Street Journal (May 13, 2005): A1. Jorgenson, Dale W., Mun S. Ho, and Kevin J. Stiroh. “Will the U.S. Productivity Resurgence Continue?” Current Issues in Economics and Finance 10, no. 13 (2004). (PDF)
3	Human capital theory: The basic economic perspective on education	Borjas, George. Labor Economics. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2005, chapter 7. ISBN: 9780072871777.
4	Early childhood education: How important?	Knudsen, Eric I., James J. Heckman, Judy L. Cameron, and Jack P. Shonkoff. “Economic, Neurobiological, and Behavioral Perspectives on Building America’s Future Workforce.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, no. 27 (2006): 10155-10162. Feinstein, Leon. “Inequality in the Early Cognitive Development of British Children in the 1970 Cohort.” Economica 70, no. 277 (2003): 73-97. Krueger, Alan B. “Inequality, Too Much of a Good Thing.” Paper to the Princeton University Industrial Relations Section. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, April 16, 2002, pp. 12-23. (PDF)
5	When did earnings become so dependent on education?	Freeman, Richard B. The Overeducated American. New York, NY: Academic Press, 1976, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780122672507. Krueger, Alan B. “Inequality, Too Much of a Good Thing.” Paper to the Princeton University Industrial Relations Section. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, April 16, 2002, pp. 38-39. (PDF)
6-7	Do our regression estimates overestimate the impact of education on earnings? The case of ability bias.	Card, David. “Using Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schooling.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 4483, October 1993. Duflo, Esther. “Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment.” American Economic Review 91, no. 4 (2001): 795-800.
7-8	If the return to education is real, does it reflect skills learned or is it a signal?	Tyler, John H., Richard J. Murnane, and John B. Willett. “Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of a GED.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 155, no. 2 (2000): 431-468. Murnane, Richard J., John Willett, and Frank Levy. “The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination.” Review of Economics and Statistics 77, no. 2 (1995): 251-266. Optional Spence, Michael. “Job Market Signaling.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 87, no. 3 (1973): 355-374.
9-10	Why has the rate of return to education increased?	Levy, Frank, and Richard J. Murnane. “Computers, Offshoring, and Skills.” Working Paper. September 18, 2005. Levy, Frank, and Peter Temin. “Inequality and Institutions in 20th Century America.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 13106, May 2007. Freeman, Richard B. “Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 3 (1995): 15-32.
11	What skills are now rewarded in the workplace?	Bransford, John, Ann Brown, and Rodney Cocking, eds. “How Experts Differ from Novices.” Chapter 2 in How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780309070362. Murray, Nick. “Planning for the Five Great Goals of Life.” Chapter 8 in The Excellent Investment Advisor. Mattituck, NY: The Nick Murray Company, Inc., 1996. ISBN: 9780965516105. Optional Frederick, Shane. “Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 19, no. 4 (2005): 25-42.
12	Midterm
13-14	Do smaller classes raise achievement?	Hanushek, Eric A. “Assessing the Effects of School Resources on Student Performance: An Update.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19, no. 2 (1997): 141-164. Murnane, Richard J., and Frank Levy. “Evidence from Fifteen Schools in Austin Texas.” Chapter 4 in Does Money Matter? Edited by Gary Burtless. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780815712756. Krueger, Alan B. “Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, no. 2 (1999): 497-532. Optional Angrist, Joshua, and Victor Lavy. “Using Maimonides’ Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, no. 2 (1999): 533-575.
15-16	School vouchers and parental choice	Greene, Jay P., Paul E. Peterson, and Jiangtao Du. “Effectiveness of School Choice: The Milwaukee Experiment.” Education and Urban Society 31, no. 2 (1999): 190-213. (PDF) Cullen, Julie Berry, Brian A. Jacob, and Steven Levitt. “The Effect of School Choice on Participants: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries.” Econometrica 74, no. 5 (2006): 1191-1230. Optional Rouse, Cecilia. “Schools and Student Achievement: More Evidence from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.” FRBNY Economic Policy Review 4 (1998): 61-76.
17-18	School accountability, standards and testing	Rose, Lowell C., and Alec M. Gallup. “The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes toward the Public Schools.” Phi Delta Kappa International Inc., 2006, Summary Tables. Clotfelter, Charles T., and Helen F. Ladd. “Recognizing and Rewarding Success in Public Schools.” Chapter 2 in Holding Schools Accountable. Edited by Helen Ladd. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780815751038. Jacob, Brian A. “Accountability, Incentives and Behavior: The Impact of High-stakes Testing in the Chicago Public Schools.” Journal of Public Economics 89, no. 5-6 (2005): 761-796. Murnane, Richard J., and Frank Levy. “The Fourth Principle: Measure Progress Regularly.” Chapter 7 in Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy. New York, NY: Free Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780684827391.
19-20	Teacher quality and teacher training	Loeb, Susanna, and Marianne E. Page. “Examining the Link between Teacher Wages and Student Outcomes: The Importance of Alternative Labor Market Opportunities and Non-pecuniary Variation.” Review of Economics and Statistics 82, no. 3 (2000): 393-408. Kane, Thomas J., Jonah E. Rockoff, and Douglas O. Staiger. “What Does Certification Tell Us about Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 12155, April 2006. Murnane, Richard J., and Frank Levy. “The Third Principle: Train the Frontline Workers.” Chapter 6 in Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy. New York, NY: Free Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780684827391. Optional Angrist, Joshua A., and Victor Lavy. “Does Teacher Training Affect Pupil Learning? Evidence from Matched Comparisons in Jerusalem Public Schools.” Journal of Labor Economics 19, no. 2 (2001): 343-369. Corcoran, Sean P., William N. Evans, and Robert M. Schwab. “Women, the Labor Market, and the Declining Relative Quality of Teachers.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 23, no. 3 (2004): 449-470.
21-22	Can technology complement what teachers do?	Rouse, Cecilia Elena, and Alan B. Krueger. “Putting Computerized Instruction to the Test: A Randomized Evaluation of a ‘Scientifically Based’ Reading Program.” Economics of Education Review 23, no. 4 (2004): 323-338. Burstein, Jill, Martin Chodorow, and Claudia Leacock. “Criterion Online Essay Evaluation: An Application for Automated Evaluation of Student Essays.” Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 2003. Optional Klopfer, Eric, and Kurt Squire. “Environmental Detectives - The Development of an Augmented Reality Platform for Environmental Simulations.” Forthcoming in Educational Technology Research and Development.
23	Higher education: Basic issues and structure	Dynarsky, Susan. “Building the Stock of College-educated Labor.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 11604, September 2005, pp. 1-10. Winston, Gordon. “Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of Higher Education.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13, no. 1 (1999): 13-36. Optional Avery, Christopher, Mark Glickman, Caroline Hoxby, and Andrew Metrick. “A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 10803, October 2004.
24-25	Higher education policy	Dynarsky, Susan. “Building the Stock of College-educated Labor.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 11604, September 2005, pp. 13-39, and relevant tables. Bettinger, Eric P., and Bridget Terry Long. “Addressing the Needs of Under-prepared Students in Higher Education: Does College Remediation Work?” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 11325, May 2005. Angrist, Joshua, Daniel Lang, and Philip Oreopoulos. “Lead Them to Water and Pay Them to Drink: An Experiment with Services and Incentives for College Achievement.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 12790, December 2006.
26	Wrap up