The effect of schooling and ability on achievement test scores

Karsten T Hansen (), James Heckman and Kathleen Mullen
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Karsten T Hansen: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Postal: Evanston, IL 60657, USA

No 2003:13, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: This paper develops two methods for estimating the effect of schooling on achievement test scores that control for endogeneity of schooling by postulating that both schooling and test scores are generated by a common unobserved latent ability. These methods are applied to data on schooling and test scores. Estimates from the two methods are in close agreement. We find that the effects of schooling on test scores are roughly linear across schooling levels. The effects of schooling on measured test scores are slightly larger for lower latent ability levels. We find that schooling increases the AFQT score on average between 2 and 4 percentage points, roughly twice as large as the effect claimed by Herrnstein and Murray (1994) but in agreement with estimates produced by Neal and Johnson (1996) and Winship and Korenman (1997). We extend the previous literature by estimating the impact of schooling on measured test scores at various quantiles of the latent ability distribution.

Keywords: Education; ability; latent variables; selection; MCMC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 C35 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 71 pages
Date: 2003-05-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Published in Journal of Econometrics, 2004, pages 39-98.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of schooling and ability on achievement test scores (2004)
Working Paper: The Effect of Schooling and Ability on Achievement Test Scores (2003)
Working Paper: The Effect of Schooling and Ability on Achievement Test Scores (2003)
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