The Effects of School Entry Laws on Educational Attainment and Starting Wages in an Early Tracking System

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract Empirical evidence suggests that relative age, which is determined by date of birth and the school entry cutoff date, has a causal effect on track choice. Using a sample of male labor market entrants drawn from Austrian register data, I analyze whether the initial assignment to different school tracks has persistent effects on educational attainment and earnings in the first years of the career. I estimate the reduced-form effect of the school entry law on starting wages and find a wage penalty of 1.1-2.0 percent for students born in August (the youngest) compared to students born in September (the oldest). The analysis of educational attainment suggests that significant differences in the type of education exist. Younger students are more likely to pursue an apprenticeship and less likely to have higher education. After five years of labor market experience, the wage penalty amounts to 0.8-1.1 percent, suggesting a persistent (albeit decreasing) negative effect of the school entry rule on labor market outcomes in an early tracking system. Terms of use: Documents inJEL Classification: I21, J24, J31

Does early schooling narrow outcome gaps for advantaged and disadvantaged children?

“…Although there is some evidence of negative effect of SSA on earnings (Bedard & Dhuey, 2012;Solli, 2012), most papers (Lincove & Painter, 2006;Dobkin & Ferreira, 2010;Fredriksson &Öckert, 2006Fredriksson &Öckert, , 2013Crawford et al, 2013c) find that SSA does not affect earnings. Zweimuller (2012) shows that there is a positive initial wage gap between late and early school starters, but this wage gap disappears after three years. Moreover, Fredriksson &Öckert (2006Fredriksson &Öckert ( , 2013 find a small negative effect of SSA on lifetime earnings and Black et al (2011) provide evidence of negative SSA effect on wages at age 30.…”

“…Entering school later is usually found to positively affect educational attainment, but the effect on earnings is either zero or slightly negative. Fredriksson &Öckert (2006Fredriksson &Öckert ( , 2013, Crawford et al (2010), Solli (2012), andZweimuller (2012) show that delaying school entry positively affects level of education. On the other hand, Fleury (2011) and Lincove & Painter (2006) find no effect of SSA on schooling.…”

Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-Satisfaction in Adolescence

“…We conduct our analyses with an ordinary least square (OLS) regression model as in other studies on the RAEs (e.g. Zweimüller 2013;Grenet 2011;Robertson 2011;Sprietsma 2010;Kawaguchi 2009;Dhuey & Lipscomb 2008;Lawlor et al 2006). The outcome variable, lifesatisfaction, is measured on a 0-10 scale and is standardized to a z-score as in Mühlenweg et al (2012).…”

Evidence and Persistence of Education Inequality in an Early-Tracking System: The German Case

“…They attribute this finding to possibilities of up-or downgrading after the initial track placement. In contrast, evidence from Austria using a similar methodology suggests that initial track choice does hurt students who are younger when entering school in terms of their highest education level obtained and starting wage (Zweimüller, 2013). Opportunities for later upward mobility hence do not seem to sufficiently compensate for the initial disadvantage in Austria.…”