Maresa Sprietsma

We estimate the short-term effects of the introduction of the Bachelor degree system in Germany, a change in degree regulations such that students need less time to earn a first degree, on college enrollment and dropout rates. We use variation in the timing of the reform at the university department level to identify the effects of the reform based on longitudinal administrative student data. Results differ between subjects, but for most subjects we find no significant effects on college enrollment or dropout rates.

The number of schools that have access to computers and the Internet has increased rapidly since the beginning of the 1990s. However, evidence of their effectiveness as pedagogical tools to acquire reading and math skills is still the object of debate. We use repeated cross-section data from Brazil to evaluate the effect of the availability of a computer lab and the use of computers and the Internet by teachers on pupils' math and reading test scores at age 15.

In this paper, we estimate the effect of pupil’s relative age within the first grade of primary school on mathematics and reading test scores at age 15. The main objective is to evaluate the long‐term causal effect of relative age in the first grades of primary school on pupil’s test in 16 different countries. We use the national rule for admission to primary school to construct the predicted relative age of each pupil. We find that relative age at the start of primary school has a significant positive effect on test scores in about one‐half of the considered countries and regions. Moreover, we identify some of the channels through which the effect occurs.