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Students exposed to more informative grading are less likely to graduate from high school
In education, it is commonplace for students to receive feedback in the form of grades. Yet, despite the widespread use of grading feedback in today's schools, we have little knowledge about how the type and, in particular, the precision of feedback affects performance. The findings of a new PhD thesis from Lund University show that exposure to a more granular grading scale has negative consequences for students.
School absence reduces education and labor market outcomes throughout the life cycle
Student absence from school is pervasive around the world and a central policy issue. Although it is an important determinant of student’s total amount of time spent in school, there is limited knowledge on its’ impact on student’s socio-economic outcomes over the life cycle. A novel research paper shows that student absence may have long run consequences (Cattan et al., 2022). It not only reduces contemporary academic performance, but also reduces final education and worsens labor market outcomes later in life. An important mechanism seems to be that instructional time losses of this kind affects students’ early levels of skills, which then accumulate over time.
Do students benefit from being surrounded by high achievers at college?
Does the social environment at college determine students’ achievement? A recent study shows that exposure to high achievers during the first week at college can lead to lower course grades and higher dropout rates among academically weaker students. This finding shows that the social environment plays a key role in the transition to college life.
Are women less productive than men due to their unwillingness to take higher risk?
In working with economic development, it is important to understand the underlying factors that influence how successful various projects become. A study from Lund University shows that women are less productive than men when they take more risk. This study is based on a panel survey of 10,800 households from the sub-Saharan African country of Burkina Faso.
Does monetary policy affect the distribution of wealth?
This is a question that is frequently asked by researchers and policymakers. Monetary policy can redistribute wealth through its direct impact on interest rates that, for example, creates a wealth flow between savers and borrowers. This means that there may be winners and losers from a policy change by a central bank. The findings in a new PhD thesis from Lund University suggest that an unexpected monetary policy contraction by the Riksbank redistributes wealth from richer to poorer, from older to younger, and from individuals living in larger cities to individuals living smaller cities. These findings suggest that monetary policy impacts wealth inequality, but the effects are small and uncertain.
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Working papers
The Working Paper Series at the Department of Economics are published on the S-WoPEc page. S-WoPEc (Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics) acts as a clearing house and central repository for bibliographic data about Nordic working papers in Economics.