IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v60y2025i2p578-606.html

Birth Cohort Size Variation and the Estimation of Class Size Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Maximilian Bach
  • Stephan Sievert

Abstract

We show that in school systems with grade retention or redshirting birth cohort size is negatively related to the grade-level share of students who are too old for their grade. This compositional effect gives rise to an upward bias in estimates of class size effects based on commonly used research designs exploiting within-school variation in birth cohort size. Using data for all primary schools in one federal state of Germany, we find support for this compositional effect. Correcting for the resulting bias, we find that not only are smaller classes beneficial for test scores, but also for reducing grade repetitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Maximilian Bach & Stephan Sievert, 2025. "Birth Cohort Size Variation and the Estimation of Class Size Effects," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 60(2), pages 578-606.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:60:y:2025:i:2:p:578-606
    Note: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0919-10430R2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/60/2/578
    Download Restriction: A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Kedagni, Desire & Krishna, Kala & Megalokonomou, Rigissa & Zhao, Yingyan, 2021. "Does class size matter? How, and at what cost?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Bach, Maximilian, 2019. "Strategic grade retention," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-059, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other

    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:uwp:jhriss:v:60:y:2025:i:2:p:578-606. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    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.