This paper looks at how education and family background shapes the occupation and earnings of a generation of Danes, and concludes that education plays a powerful role in explaining why children from advantaged backgrounds have higher earnings than chil-dren from disadvantaged backgrounds. The researchers studied all children born in Denmark between 1965 and 1971 and … Read more
Family Background, Educational Qualifications and Meritocratic Labor Market Allocation: Evidence from Danish Siblings
Students’ behavioural responses to a fallback option – Evidence from introducing interim degrees in German schools
This paper examines the outcome of a policy-change in Germany which was designed to ensure students who dropped out at a late stage still had an interim qualification. It finds the reform reduced the number who downgraded to lower-level educational tracks and also increased the number successfully completing higher-level tracks. The research uses data collected … Read more
Effect of Genetic Propensity for Obesity on Income and Wealth Through Educational Attainment
This paper shows that a genetic propensity to obesity affects women more than men in the labour market. The research draws on a representative sample of almost 6,000 Americans aged 50-65 and not yet retired from the US Health and Retirement Study. It looks at factors such as individual income, household wealth, health and retirement … Read more
Understanding the education gap in immigration preferences across countries over time: A decomposition approach
A large body of research shows that those with higher levels of education have more liberal preferences on immigration, but has that changed in recent years? This study finds little evidence of long-term change in preference on immigration across Europe, despite the rise of populism.
Destination as a process: Sibling similarity in early socioeconomic trajectories
This paper finds that when trying to better understand how individuals achieve a social position, it is key to consider not just where they start and finish, but how their lives unfold and change over time. The research makes use of rich Finnish register data to compare the education, work and earnings between the ages … Read more
Aiming High and Missing the Mark? Educational Choice, Dropout Risk, and Achievement in Upper Secondary Education among Children of Immigrants in Denmark
This paper finds that high aspiration among young people from ethnic minority backgrounds can be a double-edged sword: it helps close the gap between these young people and their native-origin peers, but at the cost of higher drop-out rates. The research looks at the choices made by Danish youngsters at the age of 16, when … Read more
Why is there an educational gradient in union dissolution? The strain thesis revisited
This study finds that lower educated couples are more likely to separate than their better educated peers, because they experience strain across multiple aspects of their life, including work, finance, social relationships, health and housing. The research shows that lower educated couples are not in themselves more likely to separate, but rather face a range … Read more
Tracking in the Italian Education System
In this report, we provide an overview of tracking, that is the choice of the type of secondary school, in Italy. First, we describe the structure of the Italian education system and its main reforms. We detail broad and curricular tracking both between and within schools. We focus on upper secondary school, since in Italy … Read more
Tracking and Sorting in the German Educational System. Literature review and analyses of the birth cohorts 1970-1980
This report reviews the key modes of creating social dispersion in the German educational system by sorting students into distinct groups based on performance or choice. It describes the basic structure of the German educational system and the specific modes of sorting at the different stages of education from early childhood education and care until … Read more
Tracking and Sorting in the French Educational System
This paper provides an overview of tracking policies in secondary education in France. Drawing on two large datasets on educational trajectories and labour-market outcomes, it identifies patterns of social inequalities associated with track allocation in secondary education. It assesses the long-term consequences of track assignment and its mediating role in the association between social origin … Read more