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Essays in education and family economics
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Florence : European University Institute, 2025
EUI; ECO; PhD Thesis
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DE FALCO, Adriano, Essays in education and family economics, Florence : European University Institute, 2025, EUI, ECO, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77736
Abstract
This thesis is composed of three essays. In the first chapter, titled “Grants vs. Loans: the Role of Financial Aid in College Major Choice,” co-authored with Yannick Reichlin, we analyze whether financing higher education through student loans or grants affects the college major choices of prospective university students. We exploit institutional arrangements that allocate either type of financing based on a standardized test to locally identify exogenous variation in access. Students who are marginally eligible for grants are more likely to enroll in STEM-related fields. We provide evidence that this effect is driven by grants acting as an insurance mechanism against uncertainty about degree completion. To do so, we rely on information from past graduates to characterize narrowly defined programs based on dropout rates, time to degree completion, and associated labor market outcomes, and estimate a discrete choice model. Students with access to grants value characteristics related to uncertainty about degree completion less negatively than those with student loans In the second chapter, ”Recruiting Better Teachers? Evidence from a Higher Education Reform in Chile”, coauthored with Sofía Sierra Vásquez and Benjamin Hattemar, we analyze the impact of a recruitment policy aimed at improving the quality of new teachers. The reform introduced a scholarship to incentivize the enrollment of high-achieving high school graduates in teacher training programs and imposed enrollment restrictions on low-achieving high school graduates. The screening device used to define achievement was the national standardized university entry exam. Using rich administrative data, we document that the reform was effective in improving the average test scores of new teachers. We construct teacher value-added (TVA) measures based on standardized test scores of their pupils and find that the reform led to a 30% standard deviation increase in the TVA of mathematics teachers. However, it did not affect the average TVA of Spanish teachers. We show that this heterogeneity can be explained by differences in the correlation of test scores and TVA across subjects. Finally, we show that only 20% of the increase in TVA can be explained by the selection based on the screening device, and the remainder can be attributed to beneficial but unintended effects of the reform. Using survey data, we show that a large share of this remaining effect is driven by the screening out of those low-achieving graduates who were less intrinsically motivated. In the third chapter, ”Sibship Size and Leaving the Parental Home” co-authored with Elia Moracci and Alberto Venturin, we investigate whether the number of siblings an individual grows up with influences the speed at which s/he leaves the nest. We use data from two large representative European surveys and exploit twin birth at second parity as an exogenous source of variation for sibship size. We show that an additional sibling speeds up the process of independent living. We provide evidence that the main mechanism is a decrease in the value of intergenerational coresidence implied by having an extra sibling.
Table of Contents
-- 1. Grants vs. Loans: the Role of Financial Aid in College Major Choice
-- 2. Recruiting Better Teachers? Evidence from a Higher Education Reform in Chile
-- 3. Siblings and Leaving the Parental Home
Additional Information
Defence date: 10 January 2025
Examining Board: Prof. Andrea Ichino (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Thomas Crossley (University of Michigan, co-supervisor); Prof. Steve Pischke (London School of Economics); Prof. Michela M. Tincani (University College London)
Examining Board: Prof. Andrea Ichino (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Thomas Crossley (University of Michigan, co-supervisor); Prof. Steve Pischke (London School of Economics); Prof. Michela M. Tincani (University College London)