Does a Generous Welfare State Crowd out Student Achievement? Panel Data Evidence from International Student Tests

Torberg Falch and Justina A. V. Fischer

No 2383, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. We report results from a variety of model specifications and social expenditure components, and our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.

Keywords: student achievement; welfare state; government size; tax system; panel data; international tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 H20 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Does a generous welfare state crowd out student achievement? Panel data evidence from international student tests (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2383

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