Topics

The following pages offer non-technical access to different topics of my research:

Overview over the Topics

Schools

An analysis of the test performance of German students over time shows a "sad smiley": Performance had risen significantly after the PISA shock in 2000, but a clear downward trend is observable since 2010.

My research using the international student achievement tests such as PISA and TIMSS suggests that school systems play a central role why students in some countries perform much better than elsewhere.

In particular, institutional structures such as external exams, school autonomy, competition from private schools, and tracking contribute a substantial part to the international differences in student achievement and to the equality of opportunity of the school system.

By contrast, the role of spending, class size, and computer endowments is rather limited.

Reforms that terminated compulsory religious education in German schools reduced religiosity of affected students in adulthood and also affected their family and labor-market outcomes.

Educational Determinants

Beyond the important role of schools, there are various determinants of educational outcomes.

Mentoring is an important approach to improve the labor-market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents.

At a more fundamental level, the intertemporal cultural factors patience and risk-taking are important for international differences in student achievement.

To the extent that school closures and social-distancing rules during the Covid pandemic hindered the development of children's cognitive and socio-emotional skills, they will leave a strong persistent legacy in the skills of the population.

Lifelong Learning

To meet the challenges of the digital transformation, we propose a system of lifelong learning that is based on the dual training system and enables people to obtain new educational certificates with strong signals even at an advanced age.

The vast majority of the German population favors lifelong learning as a means of keeping pace with structural change.

A Swiss field experiment casts doubt that untargeted voucher programs for adult education are effective in promoting labor-market outcomes.

Growth

Based on early international student achievement tests, my research with Eric Hanushek shows that the skills of the population - the "knowledge capital" of nations - are a decisive factor why some economics grow much faster than others - and thus why some countries are rich and others poor.

Our analysis of global universal basic skills suggests that at least two-thirds of the world’s youth do not reach basic skill levels.

Therefore, the primary development goal should be that all youths everywhere on the world achieve at least basic skills.

In one project, I have studied the growth effects of the expansion of broadband internet.

Labor Market

Investments in education yield high returns on the labor market: Using data from the so-called "adult PISA," we show that better skills have large pay-offs on the labor market. For various educational degrees, earnings returns can be calculated over the entire working life.

The advantage of job-specific vocational education in the school-to-work transition can turn into a disadvantage over the life-cycle compared to general education programs due to continuous technological and structural change.

In an experiment with German human-resource managers, we study which skill signals on the CV during applications are important for successful entry into the labor market.

Digitalization

Studying the use of computers and the internet in schools, we find that the effect of digital technologies in the classroom depends on their specific usage.

The ifo Education Survey shows that the opinion of Germans on digitalization is rather positive.

The introduction and expansion of broadband internet had positive effects on economic growth.

In contrast to widely held fears that the internet may lead to social isolation of the population, we rather find positive effects on social contacts and societal engagement.

The technological change broad about by digitalization is a major challenge for vocational education because the specific vocational skills demanded are continuously changing.

Inequality

As an instrument to create equal starting opportunities, education policy takes a central role in the social market economy.

In our international research, early childhood education and tracking have proven important factors for equality of opportunity.

In the ifo Education Survey, we find a large educational aspiration gap by educational background. Information on economic returns and costs of higher education cannot reduce this gap.

In the United States, the educational achievement gap by socioeconomic background has been large and remarkably constant for a near half century.

Integration

Migration research has repeatedly shown that education in the form of language proficiency and qualifications is the key for a successful integration of migrants.

Studying German guest workers, we find that a higher regional concentration of migrants from the same country of origin in ethnic enclaves can impede the linguistic and educational integration of migrant children.

Public Opinion

In the ifo Education Survey, we survey the opinion of Germans on various topics of education policy every year.

In survey experiments, we study how the provision of different kinds of information affects public opinion.

Public opposition against university tuition turns into a plurality in favor when respondents are informed about the university earnings premium and into a strong majority in favor when tuition is designed as deferred income-contingent tuition.

Providing information about the extent of educational inequality strongly increases public concerns about educational inequality but only slightly increases (already high) support for equity-oriented education policies.

History

Using county data from 19th-century Prussia, my research with Sascha Becker shows that the educational push initiated by Martin Luther, rather than the Protestant ethic propagated by Max Weber, was responsible for the economic success of Protestants.

More generally, our research shows that the education of the population had positive effects on economic development already during the industrialization.

Furthermore, we find that increased attendance of advanced schools was an important cause of secularization at the turn to the 20th century (in contrast to increased income).

Even today, the Habsburg Empire, which ceased to exist a hundred years ago, leaves its marks in Eastern Europe in the trust of the population in state institutions and in corruption.

In Germany, differences in many socio-economic characteristics between what would later become the communist East and the capitalist West already existed long before the GDR came into being and are not necessarily the "effect" of communism.

Religion

Apart from the effects of the Reformation on the educational and economic development of Protestants and the role of increased advanced-school attendance for secularization, my research also shows that Protestantism increased suicide proneness, which had more to do with reduced social cohesion than with theological doctrine.

The termination of compulsory religious education in German schools reduced religiosity of affected students in adulthood.

Scientific Consultancy

As an element of evidence-based economic policy, the evaluation of economic policies can contribute to more effective policy-making. A precondition for this is transparency, which could be furthered in German education policy by greater comparability of educational achievement across German states and by better access to relevant data.

In times of Brexit and Trump, I have also given thoughts to the role of scientists in society, which should be neither under- nor overrated.