IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jhucap/doi10.1086-684017.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Important Is Secondary School Duration for Postsecondary Education Decisions? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Meyer
  • Stephan L. Thomsen

Abstract

To enable earlier graduation, most German states have abolished the final year of secondary schooling while leaving the curriculum unchanged. We evaluate how this reform affects postsecondary education decisions using primary data from the state of Saxony-Anhalt. In this state, the reform was implemented in a very short time, providing a natural experiment. The results show heterogeneous effects according to gender. Females delay university enrollment and are more likely to start vocational education. The reform also changes the pattern of university subject choice. These findings can be attributed to an orientation effect and a performance effect inherent in the reform effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Meyer & Stephan L. Thomsen, 2016. "How Important Is Secondary School Duration for Postsecondary Education Decisions? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 67-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/684017
    DOI: 10.1086/684017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684017
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684017
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/684017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Levine, Phillip B & Zimmerman, David J, 1995. "The Benefit of Additional High-School Math and Science Classes for Young Men and Women," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 137-149, April.
    2. Arcidiacono, Peter & Hotz, V. Joseph & Kang, Songman, 2012. "Modeling college major choices using elicited measures of expectations and counterfactuals," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 3-16.
    3. Paglin, Morton & Rufolo, Anthony M, 1990. "Heterogeneous Human Capital, Occupational Choice, and Male-Female Earnings Differences," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 123-144, January.
    4. Olga Shurchkov, 2012. "Under Pressure: Gender Differences In Output Quality And Quantity Under Competition And Time Constraints," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(5), pages 1189-1213, October.
    5. Louis-Philippe Morin, 2013. "Estimating the benefit of high school for universitybound students: evidence of subjectspecific human capital accumulation," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 46(2), pages 441-468, May.
    6. Büttner Bettina & Thomsen Stephan L., 2015. "Are We Spending Too Many Years in School? Causal Evidence of the Impact of Shortening Secondary School Duration," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 65-86, February.
    7. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2007. "The Impact of Length of the School Year on Student Performance and Earnings: Evidence From the German Short School Years," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1216-1242, October.
    8. Muriel Niederle & Lise Vesterlund, 2007. "Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1067-1101.
    9. Christofides, Louis N. & Hoy, Michael & Milla, Joniada & Stengos, Thanasis, 2012. "Grades, Aspirations and Post-Secondary Education Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 6867, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Juan Llach & Cecilia Adrogué & María Gigaglia, 2009. "Do Longer School Days Have Enduring Educational, Occupational, or Income Effects? A Natural Experiment in Buenos Aires, Argentina," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2009), pages 1-43, August.
    11. Krashinsky, Harry, 2009. "How Would One Extra Year of High School Affect Wages? Evidence from a Unique Policy Change," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-29, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Apr 2009.
    12. Vegard Skirbekk, 2006. "Does School Duration Affect Student Performance? Findings from Canton-Based Variation in Swiss Educational Length," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 142(I), pages 115-145, March.
    13. Bellei, Cristián, 2009. "Does lengthening the school day increase students' academic achievement? Results from a natural experiment in Chile," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 629-640, October.
    14. Evren Ors & Frédéric Palomino & Eloïc Peyrache, 2013. "Performance Gender Gap: Does Competition Matter?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 443-499.
    15. Hopland Arnt O. & Nyhus Ole Henning, 2016. "Gender Differences in Competitiveness: Evidence from Educational Admission Reforms," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 409-436, January.
    16. Spiess, C. Katharina & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2010. "Does distance determine who attends a university in Germany?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 470-479, June.
    17. Hendrik Thiel & Stephan L. Thomsen & Bettina Büttner, 2014. "Variation of learning intensity in late adolescence and the effect on personality traits," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(4), pages 861-892, October.
    18. Victor Lavy, 2010. "Do Differences in School's Instruction Time Explain International Achievement Gaps in Maths, Science and Language? Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries," CEE Discussion Papers 0118, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    19. Michael F. Lovenheim & C. Lockwood Reynolds, 2011. "Changes in Postsecondary Choices by Ability and Income: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 70-109.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Quis, Johanna Sophie & Reif, Simon, 2017. "Health effects of instruction intensity: Evidence from a natural experiment in German high-schools," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 12/2017, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    2. Huebener, Mathias & Marcus, Jan, 2017. "Compressing instruction time into fewer years of schooling and the impact on student performance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 58, pages 1-14.
    3. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian, 2022. "Inequality of Educational Opportunities and the Role of Learning Intensity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Hofmann, Sarah & Mühlenweg, Andrea, 2018. "Learning intensity effects in students’ mental and physical health – Evidence from a large scale natural experiment in Germany," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 216-234.
    5. Schwerter, Jakob & Netz, Nicolai & Hübner, Nicolas, 2024. "Does instructional time at school influence study time at university? Evidence from an instructional time reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Vincenzo Andrietti & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "The Impact of Schooling Intensity on Student Learning: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 679-701, Fall.
    7. Stephenson Strobel, 2024. "Effects of extending residencies on the supply and quality of family medicine practitioners; difference‐in‐differences evidence from the implementation of mandatory family medicine residencies in Cana," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 393-409, March.
    8. Stephan L. Thomsen & Johannes Trunzer, 2024. "Did the Bologna Process Challenge the German Apprenticeship System? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 635-667.
    9. Denteh, Augustine & Asare, Samuel & Senadza, Bernardin, 2022. "Is four better than three? The effect of the 4-year high school policy on academic performance in Ghana," SocArXiv jh9q6, Center for Open Science.
    10. Emmanuel Adu Boahen & Kwadwo Opoku & Simone Schotte, 2021. "Duration of Pre‐university Education and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Quasi‐experiment in Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 208-232, January.
    11. Stöver, Britta, 2017. "Empirical evidence in explaining the transition behaviour from school to studies - challenges in forecasting the number of first-year students in Germany," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-596, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    12. Marcus, Jan & Reif, Simon & Wuppermann, Amélie & Rouche, Amélie, 2020. "Increased instruction time and stress-related health problems among school children," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 70.
    13. Jakob Schwerter & Nicolai Netz & Nicolas Hubner, 2022. "Do school reforms shape study behavior at university? Evidence from an instructional time reform," Papers 2207.09843, arXiv.org.
    14. Michael Doersam & Verena Lauber, 2019. "The Effect of a Compressed High School Curriculum on University Performance," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2019-03, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    15. Quis, Johanna Sophie & Mehl, Simon, 2018. "Health Effects of Instruction Intensity: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in German High-Schools," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181619, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Jan Marcus & Vaishali Zambre, 2019. "The Effect of Increasing Education Efficiency on University Enrollment: Evidence from Administrative Data and an Unusual Schooling Reform in Germany," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 468-502.
    17. repec:osf:socarx:jh9q6_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Britta Stoever, 2017. "The transition behaviour from school to studies – Empirical evidence on the reasons of a delayed start of studies in Germany," EcoMod2017 10220, EcoMod.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meyer, Tobias & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2012. "How Important is Secondary School Duration for Post-school Education Decisions? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-509, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    2. Dörsam, Michael & Lauber, Verena, 2015. "The Effect of a Compressed High School Curriculum on University Grades: DiD-Evidence From a German Policy Shift," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112876, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Huebener, Mathias & Marcus, Jan, 2017. "Compressing instruction time into fewer years of schooling and the impact on student performance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 58, pages 1-14.
    4. Dörsam, Michael & Lauber, Verena, 2015. "The Effect of a Compressed High School Curriculum on University Performance," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 140876, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Stephan L. Thomsen, 2015. "The impacts of shortening secondary school duration," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 166-166, July.
    6. Quis, Johanna Sophie, 2015. "Does higher learning intensity affect student well-being? Evidence from the National Educational Panel Study," BERG Working Paper Series 94, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    7. Gordon Abekah‐Nkrumah & Patrick Opoku Asuming & Hadrat Yusif, 2022. "The impact of an additional year in high school on academic performance at university: Evidence from a policy experiment in Ghana," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(6), November.
    8. Jan Marcus & Vaishali Zambre, 2019. "The Effect of Increasing Education Efficiency on University Enrollment: Evidence from Administrative Data and an Unusual Schooling Reform in Germany," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 468-502.
    9. Schwerter, Jakob & Netz, Nicolai & Hübner, Nicolas, 2024. "Does instructional time at school influence study time at university? Evidence from an instructional time reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    10. De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2015. "Are females scared of competing with males? Results from a field experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 117-128.
    11. Cohen-Zada, Danny & Krumer, Alex & Rosenboim, Mosi & Shapir, Offer Moshe, 2017. "Choking under pressure and gender: Evidence from professional tennis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 176-190.
    12. John, June Park, 2017. "Gender differences and the effect of facing harder competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 201-222.
    13. Eber, Nicolas & François, Abel & Weill, Laurent, 2021. "Gender, age, and attitude toward competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 668-690.
    14. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian, 2022. "Inequality of Educational Opportunities and the Role of Learning Intensity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Halladay, Brianna & Landsman, Rachel, 2022. "Perception matters: The role of task gender stereotype on confidence and tournament selection," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 35-43.
    16. Meyer Tobias & Schneider Heidrun & Thomsen Stephan L., 2019. "New Evidence on the Effects of the Shortened School Duration in the German States: An Evaluation of Post-secondary Education Decisions," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 201-253, December.
    17. Almeida,Rita Kullberg & Bresolin,Antonio & Pugialli Da Silva Borges,Bruna & Mendes,Karen & Menezes Filho,Naercio, 2016. "Assessing the impacts of Mais Educacao on educational outcomes : evidence between 2007 and 2011," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7644, The World Bank.
    18. Muriel Niederle, 2014. "Gender," NBER Working Papers 20788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jens Mohrenweiser & Friedhelm Pfeiffer, 2016. "Zur Entwicklung der studienspezifischen Selbstwirksamkeit in der Oberstufe [The development of study-specific self-efficacy during grammar school]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(1), pages 77-95, July.
    20. Brent J. Davis, 2016. "Dispersion of female business students across MBA program rankings," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 2192-2202.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/684017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JHC .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.