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Against the background of the worldwide expansion of shadow education, research shows that students from high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds participate more in shadow education than students from disadvantaged SES backgrounds. We relate these social inequalities in shadow education participation to institutional features of educational systems. More specifically, we argue that the effect of socio-economic background on participation in shadow education will be stronger in countries characterized by high-stakes testing. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment for the year 2012 (PISA 2012), we show that higher SES students participate more in shadow education. For three out of four indicators of shadow education, this relationship is stronger in countries that are characterized by high-stakes testing but only when accounting for unobserved country differences.

Despite the vast body of research focusing on peer effects in education, the role of the immediate peer environment in school choice has been understudied to date. We study the extent to which students from the same primary school cluster in the same secondary school, and how this effect varies by a student’s socio-economic background. We use register data from the Netherlands, covering six cohorts of students (2013–2019), that enable us to account for selection into primary schools and other endogeneity issues when identifying peer effects. The results indicate that students are more likely to choose a secondary school when students from their primary school cohort also choose this school, even after accounting for school popularity trends. We find evidence that students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to cluster in the same secondary school as their primary school peers, yet these differences are small.

PurposePrevious research has shown that self-employed workers are more likely than employees to retire late or to be uncertain about retirement timing. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This study aims to fill this gap, by focusing on the explanatory role of various job characteristics – flexibility, autonomy, skills-job match and job security – for explaining differences in retirement preferences between the solo self-employed and employees.Design/methodology/approachData were used of 8,325 employees and 663 solo self-employed respondents (age 45–64) in the Netherlands, who participated in 2016 in the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability, and Motivation (STREAM). The outcome variable distinguished between early, on-time, late and uncertain retirement preferences. Multinomial logistic regression models were estimated, and mediation was tested using the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method.FindingsThe solo self-employed are more likely than employees to prefer late retirement (vs “on-time”) and to be uncertain about their preferred retirement age. Job characteristics mediate 21% of the relationship between solo self-employment and late retirement preferences: the self-employed experience more possibilities than employees to work from home and to choose their own working times, which partly explains why they prefer to retire late.Originality/valueIn discussions about retirement, often reference is made to differences in retirement savings and retirement regulations between the solo self-employed and employees. The current study shows that differences in job characteristics also partly explain the relatively late preferred retirement timing of solo self-employed workers.

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