The Library
An empirical analysis of the intergenerational effects of education and policy interventions targeted at socio-economically disadvantaged students
Tools
O'Sullivan, Vincent (2011) An empirical analysis of the intergenerational effects of education and policy interventions targeted at socio-economically disadvantaged students. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
Text
WRAP_THESIS_OSullivan_2011.pdf - Submitted Version Download (861Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2585072~S1
Abstract
The over-arching theme of this thesis is the effects of parental background on children and
the effectiveness of policies designed to improve the academic outcomes of socioeconomically
disadvantaged students. The first chapter of this thesis explores the causal link
between the education of one generation and that of their children by using IV to account for
the endogeneity of parental education and paternal earnings. The second chapter evaluates the
effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve the academic success at university of
students from socio-economically disadvantaged families. The third and final chapter
examines the potential issues in expanding a programme targeted at financially poorer
students beyond its initial pilot phase.
Chapter One addresses the intergenerational transmission of education and
investigates the extent to which early school leaving (at age 16) may be due to variations in
parental background. An important contribution of the chapter is to distinguish between the
causal effects of parental income and parental education levels. Least squares estimation
reveals conventional results – weak effects of income (when the child is 16), stronger effects
of maternal education than paternal, and stronger effects on sons than daughters. We find that
the education effects remain significant even when household income is included. However,
when we use instrumental variable methods to simultaneously account for the endogeneity of
parental education and paternal income, only maternal education remains significant (for
daughters only) and becomes stronger. These estimates are consistent to various set of
instruments. The impact of paternal income varies between specifications but becomes
insignificant in our preferred specification. Our results provide limited evidence that policies
alleviating income constraints at age 16 can alter schooling decisions but that policies
increasing permanent income would lead to increased participation (especially for daughters).
Chapter Two is an evaluation of a comprehensive university access programme that
provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic students using a
natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the programme
across high schools. Overall, we identity positive treatment effects on retention rates, exam
performance and graduation rates, with the impact often stronger for higher ability students.
Gender differences are also identified. We find similar results for access students entering
through the standard admissions system and those entering with lower grades. This suggests
that access programmes can be effective at improving academic outcomes for socioeconomically
disadvantaged students.
In Chapter Three, we compare the effects of the pilot implementation and the
subsequent national roll-out of a large programme, the Educational Maintenance Allowance,
in the UK which provides financial transfers to youth who remain in post-compulsory
education. While piloting policies is becoming standard in policy evaluation, little is known
of their external validity. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences methodology and
several cohorts of the Youth Cohort Study for England and Wales, we estimate the effect of
the Education Maintenance Allowance on post-compulsory school participation both in the
piloting stage and in its national implementation. We find that the pilot scheme and the
national extension had an effect on post-16 schooling but that the evidence in support of the
national extension is weaker.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman L Education > LC Special aspects of education |
||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Education -- Economic aspects, Poor children -- Education -- Statistics, Students -- Economic conditions, Students -- Social conditions, Academic achievement -- Social aspects, Educational equalization, Student aid | ||||
Official Date: | January 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Economics | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Walker, Ian, 1954- ; Naylor, Robin Andrew, 1959- | ||||
Sponsors: | Sixth Framework Programme (European Commission) (FP6) | ||||
Extent: | 195 leaves : charts, maps. | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year