The Long-Run Economic Consequences of High-Stakes Examinations: Evidence from Transitory Variation in Pollution

Abstract

A lthough many countries use high-stakes testing to rank students for college admission, the consequences of this policy are largely unknown. Does having a particularly good or bad performance on a high-stakes examination have long-term consequences for test takers, after accounting for a student's cognitive ability? Cognitive acuity can be affected temporarily by a variety of factors, including the intake of caffeine, nicotine, sleep deprivation, and noise (Jarvis 1993;Angus, Heslegrave, and Myles 1985;and Goriounova and Mansvelder 2012). Insofar as there are permanent consequences to variation induced by completely random shocks to student performance, it suggests that the use of high-stakes testing as a primary method for ranking students may be unfair. Furthermore, aggregate welfare may be reduced by relying too heavily on examinations that provide noisy measures

Air pollution, educational achievements, and human capital formation

“…Another study also examines this relationship by estimating the effect of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) on scholastic performance of students in standardized exams in Israel [1], which are taken on multiple days in the same location after each grade (see illustration on page 1). The authors are able to exploit these in order to explore the impact of pollution by looking at the varying performance of individual students across the exam period.…”

“…For example, repeated exposure to air pollution may affect cognition and therefore scholastic achievement. The study on Israeli students examines this possibility when looking at the relationship between PM 2.5 exposure during exams at the tenth and eleventh grades and average test scores at the conclusion of the twelfth grade [1]. The authors find no evidence that such a link exists, but it is important to emphasize that their analysis relies on exposures during previous exams and not during the entire academic year.…”

“…Previous work of the author contains a larger number of background references for the material presented here and has been used intensively in parts of this article [1], [13]. The author would also like to thank Ghazala Azmat.…”

Severe Air Pollution and School Absences: Longitudinal Data on Expatriates in North China

“…The economic impact of ozone, an oxidizing agent and very different pollutant formed under radiation and heat, has been studied in US settings (e.g., Graff Zivin and Neidell, 2012;Deschenes et al, 2017). Lines of enquiry relating air pollution to morbidity include households' avoidance behavior to mitigate health damage (Moretti and Neidell, 2011), and the short-run impact of pollution on test scores, which may operate through morbidity (Ebenstein et al, 2016;Ham et al, 2014).…”

Projetos ambientais corporativos: do gerenciamento ao sucesso

“…Além disso, a exposição a MP2,5 está relacionada à menor realização de estudos pós-secundários e a menores salários (Ebenstein, Lavy, & Roth, 2016 desses planos e possibilitam a proteção da saúde pública (CETESB, 2014a(CETESB, , 2014bDecreto n. 59.113, 2013). …”