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Are We Spending Too Many Years in School? Causal Evidence of the Impact of Shortening Secondary School Duration

Author

Listed:
  • Bettina Büttner

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg)

  • Stephan Thomsen

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of shortening the duration of secondary schooling on the accumulation of human capital. In 2003, an educational policy reform was enacted in Saxony-Anhalt, a German state, providing a natural experimental setting. The thirteenth year of schooling was eliminated for those students currently attending the ninth grade. Tenth grade students were unaffected. The academic curriculum remained almost unaltered. Primary data collected from the double cohort of 2007 Abitur graduates reveals signficantly negative effects for both genders in mathematics. Only females were negatively effected in English and the results obtained in German literature were statistically insignificant.

Suggested Citation

  • Bettina Büttner & Stephan Thomsen, 2010. "Are We Spending Too Many Years in School? Causal Evidence of the Impact of Shortening Secondary School Duration," FEMM Working Papers 100008, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:mag:wpaper:100008
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    student performance; school duration; learning intensity; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

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