Full Citation
Title: Essays on the Economics of Education
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: This dissertation consists of three essays in the economics of education. The first essay considers the impact of charter school openings on student achievement, behavior, and demographics in the traditional public sector. Using longitudinal school- and student-level data, I estimate the effect of charter school openings on traditional public schools in Massachusetts and North Carolina by comparing schools near actual charter sites to those near proposed charter sites that were never ultimately occupied. I find that charter openings reduce public school enrollment by around 5 percent. I find no impact of charter openings on student achievement in math or ELA, and my 95 percent confidence interval rules out effects larger than 0.05 standard deviations in either direction. I find no effects on attendance or suspensions. The second and third essays contribute to the literature on immigrant integration, education, and language skills. The second essay, which is co-authored with Blake Heller, considers the effect of English language training on the civic and economic outcomes of adult immigrants in Massachusetts. Using a randomized enrollment lottery for one of the largest public adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs in the state, we estimate the causal effect of English language training on voting behavior and employer-reported earnings. We find that attending ESOL classes more than doubles rates of voter registration and increases annual earnings by $2,400. We show that increased tax revenue from earnings gains fully pay for program costs over time, generating a 6% return for taxpayers. The third essay of this dissertation considers the effects of English language skills on the civic integration of childhood immigrants in the United States. This work is single authored. Using an age-at-arrival instrumental variable strategy, I identify the causal effect of English language skills on naturalization, voting behavior, military service, volunteerism, and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. I find that English ability positively affects the probability of naturalization (men), military service, and volunteerism but does not affect voter registration or measures of social cohesion. I find suggestive evidence that the effect on naturalization may be mediated by the effect of language skills on educational attainment. Taken together with my second essay, these findings confirm the role of language skills as a determinant of the civic incorporation of immigrants while highlighting potentially important heterogeneity across outcomes and gender.
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Authors: Slungaard Mumma, Kirsten
Institution: Harvard University
Department: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
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Publisher Location: Cambridge
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration
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