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The Effect of Compulsory Schooling on Skills: Evidence from a Reform in Germany

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  • Franziska Hampf

Abstract

Based on high-quality skill data from PIAAC, this paper provides evidence on the effect of schooling on labor-market relevant cognitive skills. For identification, I exploit the staggered introduction of a compulsory ninth grade in basic track schools across German states, as well as a simultaneous reform that introduced short school years to harmonize the start of the school year nation-wide. Instrumental-variable results suggest that the additional year of compulsory schooling increased numeracy skills of basic-track students by about 0.2 standard deviations. Using superior skill data, the results contrast with previous evidence of zero skill effects of compulsory schooling in Germany

Suggested Citation

  • Franziska Hampf, 2019. "The Effect of Compulsory Schooling on Skills: Evidence from a Reform in Germany," ifo Working Paper Series 313, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifowps:_313
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Josefine Koebe & Jan Marcus, 2020. "The Impact of the Length of Schooling on the Timing of Family Formation," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1896, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Drewek, Peter, 2020. "Bildungsdefizite coronabedingter Schulschließungen? Eine bildungshistorische Analyse," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-073, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Katharina Werner & Ludger Woessmann, 2021. "The Legacy of Covid-19 in Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 9358, CESifo.
    4. Ardington, Cally & Wills, Gabrielle & Kotze, Janeli, 2021. "COVID-19 learning losses: Early grade reading in South Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Kamila Cygan‐Rehm, 2022. "Are there no wage returns to compulsory schooling in Germany? A reassessment," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(1), pages 218-223, January.
    6. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2022. "Lifetime Consequences of Lost Instructional Time in the Classroom: Evidence from Shortened School Years," CESifo Working Paper Series 9892, CESifo.
    7. Ludger Wößmann, 2020. "Follow-up Costs of Not Learning: What We Can Learn from Research on Coronavirus-Related School Closures," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(06), pages 38-44, June.
    8. Silke Anger & Malte Sandner & Alexander M. Danzer & Axel Plünnecke & Olaf Köller & Enzo Weber & Samuel Mühlemann & Harald Pfeifer & Bernhard Wittek, 2020. "School Closures, Lack of Apprenticeships, No Jobs: Generation without a Future?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(09), pages 03-24, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Returns to education; compulsory schooling reform; skills; PIAAC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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