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Essays in economics of education Ahn, Sejin
Abstract
Education policy not only impacts the quality of education in the short term but also has long-term effects on the quality of the labour force, ultimately affecting the productivity of the economy. Through these three essays on the Economics of Education, I study how education policy and reforms shape the quality of education, school segregation, and labour market outcomes of students. Chapter 2 examines the effects of changes in school attendance boundaries on students' educational and labour market outcomes. Students attending high schools with expanding catchments show improved post-secondary and labour market outcomes, while those in shrinking catchments remain unaffected. These improvements are linked to increased course offerings and specialized elective teachers in expanding schools. The findings suggest that boundary adjustments, despite controversy, may provide long-term benefits. Chapter 3 investigates how boundary adjustments affect racial segregation. Our findings from the event study demonstrate that adjustments to school attendance boundaries may lead to a decrease in school segregation. To further investigate whether there exist patterns or systematic preferences that guide school districts in adjusting school attendance boundaries, we conduct simulations of alternative school boundary changes based on the past proposed plans. The findings suggest there are no systematic patterns in school districts' decisions for the school attendance boundary adjustment concerning racial segregation. Chapter 4 studies an education reform resulting in delayed ability tracking for South Korean students during the 1960s-70s. The reform ended a practice of sorting students into elite and non-elite middle schools via admission exams, postponing ability tracking until the high school level. We find that the reform increased both the incidence of private tutoring as well as hourly wages amongst students from wealthy households. A causal mediation analysis shows that private tutoring is an important pathway for the effect of the reform on university graduation and hourly wage. Our findings suggest that education reforms can interact with household behaviour to yield unintended policy outcomes, especially in countries with well-established private tutoring markets.
Item Metadata
Title |
Essays in economics of education
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Creator | |
Supervisor | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2024
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Description |
Education policy not only impacts the quality of education in the short term but also has long-term effects on the quality of the labour force, ultimately affecting the productivity of the economy. Through these three essays on the Economics of Education, I study how education policy and reforms shape the quality of education, school segregation, and labour market outcomes of students.
Chapter 2 examines the effects of changes in school attendance boundaries on students' educational and labour market outcomes. Students attending high schools with expanding catchments show improved post-secondary and labour market outcomes, while those in shrinking catchments remain unaffected. These improvements are linked to increased course offerings and specialized elective teachers in expanding schools. The findings suggest that boundary adjustments, despite controversy, may provide long-term benefits.
Chapter 3 investigates how boundary adjustments affect racial segregation. Our findings from the event study demonstrate that adjustments to school attendance boundaries may lead to a decrease in school segregation. To further investigate whether there exist patterns or systematic preferences that guide school districts in adjusting school attendance boundaries, we conduct simulations of alternative school boundary changes based on the past proposed plans. The findings suggest there are no systematic patterns in school districts' decisions for the school attendance boundary adjustment concerning racial segregation.
Chapter 4 studies an education reform resulting in delayed ability tracking for South Korean students during the 1960s-70s. The reform ended a practice of sorting students into elite and non-elite middle schools via admission exams, postponing ability tracking until the high school level. We find that the reform increased both the incidence of private tutoring as well as hourly wages amongst students from wealthy households. A causal mediation analysis shows that private tutoring is an important pathway for the effect of the reform on university graduation and hourly wage. Our findings suggest that education reforms can interact with household behaviour to yield unintended policy outcomes, especially in countries with well-established private tutoring markets.
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Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2024-12-12
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0447489
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2025-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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DSpace
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Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International