Seminar Public Finance - Summer Term 2018

Education over the life-cycle

Content

The seminar will deal with recent research on the economics of education. It covers topics on education over the whole life-cycle starting from early childhood education to adult education.

In the last couple of years, the literature on the economics of education research has rapidly grown as new economic methods entered the education field and more data on education became available. From pre-school education over primary and secondary education and tertiary education to adult education (vocational and on the job training), researchers study the determinants of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Thereby, they contribute to education policy-making. (As an introduction to the literature of the economics of education, you might read: Dearden, L., S. Machin and A. Vignoles (2009): "Economics of education research: a review and future prospects", Oxford Review of Education 35(5), 617-632.)

Please note that you will have to read and understand original research papers as a part of this course. Many of these papers employ econometric techniques, and a basic understanding of econometrics, especially of regression analysis, is necessary. If you have not taken any econometrics courses before, we recommend taking "Empirical Methods" (MW24.1) first.

Timeframe

• January 2018
  Central registration
• 5 Feb 2018 (1pm, Room: SR 309)
  For those students allocated to this seminar: Meeting and presentation of topics
• 9 Feb 2018
  Choice of preferred topics and a preferred start date (see next item). The preferences serve as the basis for the allocation of topics.
• 20 Feb 2018 to 20 March 2018
  Start of your individual writing period.
  You can choose to receive your topic on any Tuesday between February 20 and March 20. After receiving your topic, you have 5 weeks to complete a first version of your seminar paper. The paper will then be refereed by another student within 1 week. After receiving the referee report you have 2 more weeks to improve your paper on the basis of the referee's comments.
• 17 April 2018 to 15 May 2018
  Submission of the final version of your seminar paper (by email to your supervisor).
• Soon after
  Time plan for the seminar (incl. allocation of discussants)
• End of May/ beginning June
  Seminar (blocked)

Requirements

Basic knowledge of econometrics is required. For example, you should be fine if you attended Empirical Methods (MW24.1) or a similar class at another university / in your BA program.

Guidelines

For guidelines and regulations, see here.