Economics of Higher Education and Research

To study or to work? Education and labour market participation of young people in Poland

by Francesco Pastore

forthcoming in Eastern European Economics.

This paper proposes Heckprobit estimates of the determinants of labour market participation of a sample of young... more This paper proposes Heckprobit estimates of the determinants of labour market participation of a sample of young (15-30) Poles, controlling for the sample selection bias caused by excluding those in education. There is evidence of sample selection bias in the case of young men, suggesting that they obey more than women to economic factors in making their educational choices. Education is an important determinant of the success in the labour market. The instrumental variables used in the selection equation – the local unemployment rate, expected lifetime earnings and the opportunity cost of education – have a statistically significant impact on the probability to be in education. In contrast with several previous studies relative to mature market economies, in high unemployment voivodships young people prefer to seek a job, rather than studying. In turn, this contributes to make regional unemployment persistent.

Influence of education and training systems on participation of young people in labour market of CEE economies: a comparison of Poland and Slovenia

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Polona Domadenik.
International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Small Business, 3(5): 640-666.

Little attention has been given to youth unemployment in transition countries. However, it has significant detrimental... more Little attention has been given to youth unemployment in transition countries. However, it has significant detrimental effects in factors that affect welfare in the long term, such as human capital accumulation and fertility rates. The aim of this paper is to study the determinants of participation of young people in labour market in two countries (Poland and Slovenia) that implemented different reform paths to the market system. The analysis is carried out using individual level data drawn from the labour force survey in 1997 and 2002. The focus is on education and training systems. The results of a multinomial LOGIT model of the probability belong to six different labour market status suggests that tertiary educational attainment and participation in training programmes work as buffers against unemployment especially for adults.

Short-Run Production of Academic Achievement: Does Lecture Attendance Matter for Grades?

by Martin Ryan

Manuscript. Co-authored with Liam Delaney and Colm Harmon. This is one of the chapters in my Ph.D. thesis.

This is the first longitudinal study to examine the relationship between lecture attendance and grades across multiple... more This is the first longitudinal study to examine the relationship between lecture attendance and grades across multiple subject areas. There are a number of unobserved characteristics that may affect the decision to attend, as well as affecting exam-performance. Therefore, the econometric specification benefits from repeated measures of attendance and achievement. Besides the inclusion of individual fixed effects (which account for the stable traits of students that cannot be directly measured), the specification benefits from the direct measurement of noncognitive traits. This means that traditionally unobserved time-varying traits can be included in the specification: students’ attitude to risk and their future-orientation. In addition, an approximate measure of time-varying class-rooms is included in the specification (this is an interaction between subject area, university affiliation and year of enrolment). This accounts for time-varying factors such as quality of teaching, class-size, or assessment procedure. Results from fixed effects regression show that lecture attendance is not associated with higher grade-scores. Academic achievement appears to be mainly driven by unobserved individual differences, at least in the short-run.

The Production of Scientific Output by Early-Career Researchers

by Martin Ryan

Manuscript. This is one of the chapters in my Ph.D. thesis.

This study investigates the production of scientific output by early-career researchers in the university setting. The... more This study investigates the production of scientific output by early-career researchers in the university setting. The expectations of these individuals - in relation to the commercialisation of their research - are also examined. To date, few studies have examined the individual-level determinants of publication and patent production. Most of the studies on academic scientists’ careers are based upon U.S. data; and not much is known about the individual-level determinants of academic scientists’ output in Europe. In addition, this is the first study to examine expectations related to research-commercialisation: that the author is aware of. The key results (based on a sample from the seven universities in Ireland) show that institutional affiliation, gender, interest in area of research and years of experience all play a role in the postdoctoral production function. In particular, institutional affiliation and gender are the most economically significant drivers of scientific output. Notably, males are twenty-one percent more likely to expect that they will commercialise their research.

Tit-for-Tat Strategies In Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Games: Evidence From NCAA Football

by Brad Humphreys

Agency Behavior In a Nonprofit Setting: Effects of the 1984 Supreme Court NCAA Decision

by Brad Humphreys

Financing Intercollegiate Athletics: The Role of Monitoring and Enforcing NCAA Recruiting Regulations

by Brad Humphreys

The Relationship Between Big-Time College Football and State Appropriations to Higher Education.

by Brad Humphreys

Forthcoming.“Intercollegiate Athletic Success and Donations at NCAA Division I Institutions.”

by Brad Humphreys

Monitoring Cartel Behavior and Stability: Evidence From NCAA Football

by Brad Humphreys

The Relationship Between Big-Time College Football and State Appropriations to Higher Education

by Brad Humphreys

The Supply of University Enrollments: University Administrators As Utility Maximizing Bureaucrats

by Brad Humphreys

Nonprofit Decision Making and Social Regulation: the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Title IX* 1

by Brad Humphreys

An Inventory of Learning at a Distance In Economics

by Brad Humphreys

Equal Pay on the Hardwood: The Earnings Gap Between Male and Female NCAA Division I Basketball Coaches

by Brad Humphreys

Do Business Cycles Affect State Appropriations to Higher Education?

by Brad Humphreys

Evaluation of Computer-Assisted Instruction In Principles of Economics

by Brad Humphreys

“No Significant Distance” Between Face-to-Face and Online Instruction: Evidence From Principles of Economics

by Brad Humphreys