The Effect of Schooling on Cognitive Skills

Magnus Carlsson, Gordon Dahl, Björn Öckert and Dan-Olof Rooth

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2015, vol. 97, issue 3, 533-547

Abstract: To identify the causal effect of schooling on cognitive skills, we exploit conditionally random variation in the date Swedish males take a battery of cognitive tests in preparation for military service. We find an extra ten days of school instruction raises scores on crystallized intelligence tests (synonyms and technical comprehension tests) by approximately 1 percent of a standard deviation, whereas extra nonschool days have almost no effect. In contrast, test scores on fluid intelligence tests (spatial and logic tests) do not increase with additional days of schooling but do increase modestly with age.

Keywords: cognitive skills; Sweden; military service; crystallized intelligence tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 L30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (114)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Effect of Schooling on Cognitive Skills (2012)
Working Paper: The Effect of Schooling on Cognitive Skills (2012)
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