Individualism and School Performance: Evidence from PISA Test Scores

Philipp Ehrl and Fabiana de Assis Alves

Journal of Human Capital, 2024, vol. 18, issue 3, 426 - 468

Abstract: This paper analyzes whether the cultural trait of individualism affects school performance by using Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. Our preferred empirical specification is an instrumental variable estimation with school fixed effects and individual control variables. We find that a 1 standard deviation higher individualism index is associated with an increase of between 19 and 36 score points in science, math, and reading tests, roughly equivalent to the content of 1.1–2.1 school years. The use of Hofstede’s index or a derived individualism index from the PISA data leads to the same conclusions.

Date: 2024
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