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The Impact of a Primary School Reform on Educational Stratification: A Norwegian Study of Neighbour and School Mate Correlations

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Author Info
Raaum, Oddbjørn (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research)
Salvanes, Kjell G. () (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and IZA Bonn)
Sørensen, Erik Ø. (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

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Abstract

School quality is hard to define and measure. It is influenced by not only school expenditures, but also characteristics that are hard to measure like norms and peer effects among teachers and pupils. Furthermore, family background and community characteristics are important in explaining educational outcomes. In this paper we study the composite effect of primary schools and neighbourhoods on adult educational attainment controlling for family characteristics. Instead of identifying the effect of specific neighbourhood and school characteristics on educational attainment, we focus on correlations in final years of schooling among neighbouring children and school mates. We find a clear trend of declining influence of childhood location over the 24 year period (birth cohorts 1947-1970). Then we ask whether a change in the compulsory school law extending the mandatory years of education, can explain this pattern. We find some effect of the primary school reform on the change in the neighbourhood effect. Motivated by the fact that neighbouring children typically go to the same school, we estimate school mate correlations for children born in the 1960s. The overall impact of factors shared by children who graduated from the same school at the age of 15/16 is negligible. The variation in “school quality” and the impact of peers on final educational attainment seem to have been very limited in Norway.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 953.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2003
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp953

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Related research
Keywords: families; neighbours; schools; educational reforms; peer-effects;

Other versions of this item:

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
R23 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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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. Costas Meghir & Mårten Palme, 2003. "Ability, parental background and educational policy: empirical evidence from a social experiment," IFS Working Papers W03/05, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  2. Aakvik, Arild & Salvanes, Kjell G. & Vaage, Kjell, 2003. "Measuring Heterogeneity in the Returns to Education in Norway Using Educational Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 815, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Philip Oreopoulos, 2006. "The compelling effects of compulsory schooling: evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 22-52, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Christian Dustmann & Najma Rajah & Arthur van Soest, 2003. "Class Size, Education, and Wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F99-F120, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Gary Solon & Marianne E. Page & Greg J. Duncan, 2000. "Correlations Between Neighboring Children In Their Subsequent Educational Attainment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 383-392, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Oddbjørn Raaum & Kjell G. Salvanes & Erik O. Sørensen, 2006. "The Neighbourhood is Not What it Used to be," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(508), pages 200-222, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Marianne E. Page & Gary Solon, 2003. "Correlations between Brothers and Neighboring Boys in Their Adult Earnings: The Importance of Being Urban," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(4), pages 831-856, October. [Downloadable!]
  8. Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 2003. "The Impact of Length of the School Year on Student Performance and Earnings: Evidence from the German Short School Year," NBER Working Papers 9964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Eric A. Hanushek, 2003. "The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F64-F98, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Betts, Julian R, 1996. "Do School Resources Matter Only for Older Workers?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 638-52, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Lance Lochner & Enrico Moretti, 2004. "The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 155-189, March. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F34-F63, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Bratberg, Espen & Nilsen, Øivind A. & Vaage, Kjell, 2003. "Assessing Changes in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 797, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  14. Julian R. Betts, 1996. "Do School Resources Matter Only for Older Workers?," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 96-21, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  15. Lorraine Dearden & Javier Ferri & Costas Meghir, 2002. "The Effect Of School Quality On Educational Attainment And Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 1-20, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

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. Aakvik, Arild & Salvanes, Kjell G. & Vaage, Kjell, 2003. "Measuring Heterogeneity in the Returns to Education in Norway Using Educational Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 815, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Yuxin Li & Karen Mumford, . "Aspirations, Expectations and Education Outcomes for Children in Britain: Considering Relative Measures of Family Efficiency," Discussion Papers 09/26, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  3. Markus Jäntti & Bernt Bratsberg & Knut Røed & Oddbjørn Raaum & Robin Naylor & Eva Österbacka & Anders Björklund & Tor Eriksson, 2006. "American Exceptionalism in a New Light: A Comparison of Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in the Nordic Countries, the United Kingdom and the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 1938, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Bratsberg,Bernt & Røed, Knut & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Naylor, Robin & Jäntti, Markus & Eriksson, Tor & Österbacka, Eva, 2007. "Nonlinearities in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility : Consequences for Cross-Country Comparisons," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 782, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2003. "Why the apple doesn't fall far: understanding intergenerational transmission of human capital," CeMMAP working papers CWP16/03, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Black, Sandra & Devereux, Paul J. & Salvanes, Kjell G, 2003. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," CEPR Discussion Papers 4150, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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