Labor market frictions and production efficiency in public schools

Dongwoo Kim, Cory Koedel, Shawn Ni () and Michael Podgursky

Economics of Education Review, 2017, vol. 60, issue C, 54-67

Abstract: State-specific licensing policies and pension plans create mobility costs for educators who cross state lines. We empirically test whether these costs affect production in schools – a hypothesis that follows directly from economic theory on labor frictions – using geocoded data on school locations and state boundaries. We find that achievement is lower in mathematics, and to a lesser extent in reading, at schools that are more exposed to state boundaries. A detailed investigation of the selection of schools into boundary regions yields no indication of systematic differences between boundary and non-boundary schools along other measured dimensions. Moreover, we show that cross-district labor frictions do not explain state boundary effects. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that mobility frictions in educator labor markets near state boundaries lower student achievement.

Date: 2017
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Working Paper: Labor Market Frictions and Production Efficiency in Public Schools (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:60:y:2017:i:c:p:54-67

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.07.009

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