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Shot Across the Bow, Stigma or Selection? The Effect of Repeating a Class on Educational Attainment

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Author Info
Fertig, Michael () (RWI Essen and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

The German practice of compelling weak students to repeat a class has come under heavy criticism recently. Many observers fear that this practice is, at best, useless or even counterproductive. However, little is known so far on the consequences of having to repeat a class, as compared to be confronted with new course material in the next class. This paper, therefore, aims at generating empirical evidence on the effect of class repetition on individual educational attainment. Since an experimental study is precluded, we utilize an instrumental variable approach to control for unobserved heterogeneity between respondents. Our estimation results suggest that there exists a negative association between repeating a class and educational attainment. However, taking unobserved heterogeneity into account yields a statistically significant and quantitatively substantial positive effect of class repetition on educational outcomes.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1266.

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Length: 15 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1266

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Related research
Keywords: schooling degree; instrumental variables estimation;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Florens, Jean-Pierre & Heckman, James & Meghir, Costas & Vytlacil, Edward, 2003. "Instrumental Variables, Local Instrumental Variables and Control Functions," IDEI Working Papers 249, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-75, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Murphy, Kevin M & Topel, Robert H, 1985. "Estimation and Inference in Two-Step Econometric Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(4), pages 370-79, October.
    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Michael Fertig, 2004. "What Can We Learn From International Student Performance Studies? Some Methodological Remarks," RWI Discussion Papers 0023, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. [Downloadable!]
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